VCFA Friendsgiving, November 19

As a way of expressing our appreciation, please join us for the first-ever VCFA Friendsgiving: an exciting line-up of conversations, lectures, and screenings starting at 10 am ET on November 19 and including former and current faculty:

• 10 am ET — Ian Lynam presents “History Backwards: Collocating the Origins of Graphic Design & Manga/Anime,” a lecture exploring the origins of graphic design, manga, and anime as sectors of cultural production in Japan
• 2:30 pm ET — Former VCFA faculty member, National Book Award–winning poet, and best-selling memoirist Mark Doty joins Natasha Sajé for a conversation about the subjects of memoir and American poetry. Mark will also read from his new book What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life, which current student Anne Myles is reviewing for an upcoming issue of North American Review.
• 4 PM ET — Louise Hawes, Varian Johnson, Martine Leavitt, An Na, and Deb Noyes hold an informal chat about studying and teaching in the WCYA program and how the VCFA community sustains growth and learning.
• 5 pm ET — Longtime Visual Art faculty member Humberto Ramirez welcomes back former faculty Doug Ashford and Steve Kurtz, a powerhouse duo that taught at VCFA during the 1990s and early 2000s.
• plus more special guests, musical performances, and a film screening!

We are looking forward to a day of reflecting on VCFA’s history and the many ways in which connection is paramount to the creative process. We’ll also use this as an opportunity to kick off our year-end campaign to raise funds to support scholarships for VCFA students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Visit the Friendsgiving website today and click “Sign In” on the upper right-hand area of the page to register. You’ll receive updates as we announce the schedule and kick things off Thursday morning.