George Eastman Museum logoRochester, N.Y. (February 19, 2024) —The George Eastman Museum has announced that it will host five free In This Moment: Revolution, Reckoning, Reparation Volume 3 (ITM) Panel Discussions at the museum’s Dryden Theatre throughout 2024 and 2025. The first of five events will be held on Monday, April 29 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will feature Humanitarian Midge Thomas and Walter Cooper PhD, Regent Emeritus of the State of New York. The full schedule of events will be revealed at a later date.

ITM recently unveiled its third volume of the award-winning chatbook series, featuring noted Rochester-area leaders, essayists, and photographers.

  VOLUME 3 ITM CHAPBOOK SERIES FEATURES: (in order of publication)

Midge Thomas, humanitarian, with essayist Hawk Martin and photographer Jackie McGriff

Walter Cooper PhD, Regent Emeritus of the State of New York, with essayist Robert Vickers and photographer Adam Eaton

Jeiri Flores advocacy specialist, Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities with essayist CaTyra Polland and photographer Dominique Alexandria Simmonds

Arlette Miller Smith PhD, founding dean, Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Programs; associate professor of English; director of African American Studies minor; adjunct inaugural faculty member in the Executive Leadership Doctoral Program at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York; founder-artistic director of AKOMA, Rochester’s African American Women’s gospel choir with essayist Tokeya C. Graham EdD and photographer Erica Jae

Luvon Sheppard, professor, College of Art & Design, Rochester Institute of Technology with essayist Quajay Donnell and photographer Rashaad Parker

Myra L. Mathis-Uwanogho, MD, medical director, Addiction Psychiatry Services,

program director, Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, assistant professor of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center with essayist Irene Kannyo and photographer Chris Cardwell

Almeta Whitis, master storyteller, master teaching artist, award-winning educator, producer, director, writer, poet, performing artist, dancer/choreographer, licensed ordained Interfaith Minister, and community activist with essayist Gaya R. Shakes EdD and photographer Rudy Fabre

Joe Beard Legendary Blues guitarist and vocalist with essayist Monique Franz and photographer Selena Eyob

Pastor Reverend Julius D. Jackson, Jr. United Church of Pittsford with essayist Rob Bell and photographer Narada Riley

Stanley Martin, Rochester City Council member with essayist Tianna Mañón and photographer Mecca Starz

About In This Moment
The In This Moment Chapbook Series was created by curator Amanda Chestnut and project coordinator, Jeanne Strazzabosco, and is published by In This Moment Publishing. The New York Foundation for the Arts is ITM’s fiscal sponsor.

ITM co-creator and curator Amanda Chestnut says, “Contributing to the history record of Black Rochester is a critical portion of this project. ITM allows Rochester’s Black communities to report our history in our own voices. I am excited to include so many elders in our third volume. These books will not only contribute an accolade to their long list of accomplishments, but they will also give everyone a better understanding of how great Rochester truly is.”

The ITM chapbook series elevates the contributions, experiences and images of local Black leaders, photographers and writers to: provide educational resources that include the voices of people who are often underrepresented; increase student and community understanding of contributions of Rochester’s Black community and the importance of representation; increases student and community engagement around the effects of implicit bias, systemic racism, and inclusion; increase level of cultural competence among students, educators and community members; and reduce incidence of microaggressions.

ITM distributes a total of 10,000 free chapbooks to educators and students in over eighty schools, elementary through college, to community members through thirty-one Monroe County and Rochester Public Libraries, independent bookstores and at five free community book launches and panel discussions. For more information, visit https://www.inthismoment585.org/.

About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs, 41,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program and its L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation’s graduate program (a collaboration with the University of Rochester) makes critical contributions to film preservation. For more information, visit eastman.org and follow the George Eastman Museum account on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads.

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ITM Media Contact: Jeanne Strazzabosco

(585) 943-6031

jeannestrazzabosco@gmail.com 

GEM Media Contact: Nate Smith
(585) 327-4813

nsmith@eastman.org