American democracy and its discontents are on New Haven’s minds this week.
Monday, September 28
The first “Mondays at Beinecke” talk of Yale’s school year starts at 4 p.m., albeit without convening at the library itself and without the customary tea service (unless you make it at home). Focusing on Langston Hughes’s “The Ballot and Me: The Negro’s Part in Suffrage,” the talk is “led by Beinecke Library intern Brooke Harris MY’20, communications director Michael Morand, and communications associate Tubyez Cropper” and “will also include a reading of a Hughes poem or two on the topic of democracy.” Free; register here.
Wednesday, September 30
An hourlong virtual disaster preparedness seminar presented by the New Haven Free Public Library asks a simple but also complicated question: “Are You Ready?” If your answer is “no,” organizers invite you to “learn the basics of how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters,” and, relatedly, to “learn about emergency and survival kits.” 6:30 p.m. Free.
Thursday, October 1
For its first 22 years, the annual arts festival City-Wide Open Studios brought together viewers and artists inside normally restricted spaces, from small private studios to the hulking Goffe Street Armory or Yale’s West Campus. This year’s monthlong fest, starting today and organized (as ever) by Artspace, is having to do that mostly via the internet. According to a press release, the 2020 theme, “Who Governs?”—derived from the title of the seminal book that examined New Haven as a “case study of municipal decision-making”—provides “a jumping-off point for artists to imagine public projects that reference innovative city management and successful governance.” That dynamic plays out across “special digital viewing rooms” that allow visitors to engage with more than 200 artists from across Connecticut and learn more about their work and their practices,” plus “a limited number of by-appointment, socially distant visits” hosted by “a handful of area artists.”
Saturday, October 3
At 6:30 p.m., local groups including the Best Video Film & Cultural Center and host Spring Glen Church (1825 Whitney Ave, Hamden) present the finale of a three-part “Black Film Mini-Series”: Spike Lee’s messy, beautiful, street-level meditation on racism in America Do the Right Thing (1989). Free; RSVP requested.
Written by Dan Mims. Image features a moment from Do the Right Thing. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.