Big Ideas in Improvisation: Fred Moten & Vijay Iyer

The ArtsEverywhere Festival was pleased to co-present the inaugural Big Ideas in Improvisation lecture with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). On May 28th, 2021, we invited cultural theorist/poet/scholar Fred Moten and composer/pianist/bandleader/Harvard professor Vijay Iyer into conversation, to explore how improvisation has shaped their lives, their works, and their worldviews. This event was co-presented by IICSI and was free and open to the public. Watch the full conversation on IICSI’s website.

The annual Big Ideas in Improvisation series will showcase provocative thinkers and creative practitioners in a public forum as they share ideas and insights about the power, expansive force, and urgency of improvisation. These public lectures, aimed at a general audience, will encourage us to consider how the artistic practices of improvisation developed by creative practitioners can translate into broader spheres of influence and action. Improvisational practices can put pressure on unquestioned assumptions, help us discover new ways of being, and put into action potential solutions to some of our most pressing contemporary global challenges.