UPCOMING EVENTS
May 2024
Harvard Book Store, Nell Irvin Painter in conversation with Sarah Lewis
Harvard University, Women’s Philanthropy Initiative Summit
Pratt Institute, 2024 Commencement Ceremony
June 2024
PAST EVENTS
Apr. 2024
Washington National Cathedral, Sacred Spaces: Racial Justice & Spirituality in Action Convening
CENTER, The Democratic Lens: Photography and Civic Engagement, How We Teach The Truth: Vision & Justice
Harvard and The Legacy of Slavery Initiative’s 2024 Symposium, Memorializing Through the Arts: Honoring Ancestral Legacies
Harvard Kennedy School, Culture of Change: Racial Equity in Art, Entertainment, & Sports, In Conversation with Hank Willis Thomas
Mar. 2024
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, 2024 NCECA Conference
Brooklyn Public Library, Night at the Library
SXSW, Design as a Medium Within Visual Art
Feb. 2024
California Conference for Women, Reframing Failure into Success: Embrace the Near Win
Carnegie Corporation of New York, Keynote
Microsoft, Bing Signature Learning Program
Nov. 2023
Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Tyrone Maurice Adderley Lecture
MIT Museum, Book Launch event for Unmasking AI
Stephen Friedman Gallery, In Conversation with Deborah Roberts
The Gibbes Museum of Art, Distinguished Lecture Series
Oct. 2023
The Instructional Coaching Group, Keynote
Gartner IT Symposium / Xpo
Muhlenberg College, Vision & Justice, Keynote
Sept. 2023
2 Pages with MBS, How to be a Light in the Darkness
May 2023
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Opening Artist Conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, and Isaac Julien
All Of It with Alison Stewart, Richard Avedon at 100
PDT Women & Allies Speaker Series, Keynote
Facing History & Ourselves, The Power of Memorials and Public Art: Complex Histories and Legacies Today
Apr. 2023
Princeton Atelier, Sites of Memory: Gender, Performance, and the Law
Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective, Guest Lecture
Yale University, Eighteenth Annual American Art Graduate Symposium, Keynote
Mar. 2023
Activision Blizzard, Company-wide event, Keynote
Feb. 2023
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arcadia Library Lecture
Nov. 2022
Museum of Modern Art, LaToya Ruby Frazier Scholar's Day, Roundtable discussion
RBC Wealth Management, Women’s Association of Financial Advisors Conference
Seekonk Public Schools, Professional Development Day
U.S. Attorneys Conference
Oct. 2022
Studio in a School, 45th Anniversary Gala, Emcee
Sept. 2022
Harley-Davidson, Company-wide event
Wisdom From the Top with Guy Raz, The Rise
University of North Carolina - Charlotte, Convocation of Arts and Architecture
June 2022
Aspen Ideas Festival, What is Beauty?
Washington National Cathedral, Light in the Darkness: When Monuments Attack
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Ascendant: The Power of Descendant Communities to Shape our Stories, Places and Future
May 2022
Civil War History Journal, A Roundtable with Cheryl Finley, Matthew Fox-Amato, Sarah Lewis, Nell Painter, Anne M. Shumard, and Deborah Willis, moderated by Jim Downs, discussing The Black Civil War Soldier
Forrester, B2B Summit North America, Keynote
Apr. 2022
Capital Community College, Pennington Lecture
Columbia University, Bettman Lecture, Keynote
Marquette University, Excellence In Leadership Program Annual Banquet
Howard University, 32nd Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora, Opening Keynote
Feb. 2022
Vanderbilt University, The Curb Center for Art Enterprise and Public Policy
Prada Mode x Frieze, in conversation with Martine Syms
Harley-Davidson, Company-wide event
University of Southern Mississippi, Honors Forum Lecture Series
African-American Community Service Agency, Keynote
Jan. 2022
2022 APA Eastern Division Meeting, APA Committee Session: Danto/ASA Prize Lecture
Dec. 2021
Land of Broken Dreams, Convening and Concert Series, The Armory
YWCA Wisconsin, 17th Annual “An Evening to Promote Racial Justice”
Nov. 2021
Ralph Lauren, Company-wide event
Oct. 2021
Greenville Racial Equity and Economic Mobility Commission, Vision & Justice
Sept. 2021
Facebook Live Audio Room, featuring Sarah Lewis, Yara Shahidi, and Trevor Noah
Hirshhorn Museum, Black Art: Richard J. Powell with Sarah Lewis,
Rasmussen University, Annual Academic Symposium
Capella University, Commencement Address (Virtual)
Harvard Book Store, Tina M. Campt in conversation with Sarah Lewis
July 2021
Justice Works 2021, Building the Bigger We
MASS Superintendents General Session
June 2021
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Talks: John Edmonds and Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, Inaugural Convening
May 2021
Silicon Valley Bank, Quarterly Speaker Series
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, People: A Global Dialogue on Museums and Their Publics
ASALH and PBS Books, To Make Their Own Way in the World, A Conversation with Deborah Willis, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, and Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, moderated by Ilisa Barbash
Apr. 2021
Yale School of Architecture, 2021 George Morris Woodruff, Class of 1857, Memorial Lecture
Higher Learning Commission, 2021 Annual Conference
Mar. 2021
Roger Williams University, School of Architecture, “Groundwork: Race and Aesthetics. in the Era of Stand Your Ground Law”
New York Public Library, Work/Cited [Presentation on How Race Changed Sight in America manuscript]
Carnegie Mellon University, School of Architecture, Spring 2021 Lecture Series, "Groundwork: Race and Aesthetics in the Era of Stand Your Ground Law"
Peabody Essex Museum, PEM Dialogues
Feb. 2021
Arizona State University, School of Art, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Speaker Series, “Vision & Justice: Race, Citizenship, and America”
New York University, Center for Black Visual Culture/Institute of African American Affairs, The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship, A book talk with Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Matthew Fox-Amato and Deborah Willis
Museum of Modern Art, Forum on Contemporary Photography: A Tribute to Carrie Mae Weems
Jan. 2021
Nov. 2020
Isaac Julien in conversation with Angela Y. Davis, moderated by Sarah Lewis, A partnership with McEvoy Foundation for the Arts and Museum of African Diaspora
Oct. 2020
Harvard Book Store, Panel, To Make Their Own Way in the World book launch
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, CHANGE: How Artists Lead the Way
C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, “The Circassian Beauties and the Caucasian War,” Managing Sight: African American Visual Tactics
Vera List Center for Art and Politics, White Lies: A Tribute to Maurice Berger
Sept. 2020
University of North Carolina, Greensboro, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Virtual Master Class Series
Feb. 2020
Stanford University, “Vision & Justice”
Nov. 2019
Harvard University, 19th Annual Navin Narayan Memorial Lecture, The Committee on Degrees in Social Studies
June 2019
World Business Forum, Bogota
May 2019
World Business Forum, Lisbon and Barcelona
Yale School of Art, Commencement Address Speaker
Apr. 2019
Harvard University, Vision & Justice: A Convening [Organizer]
Dec. 2018
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Nov. 2018
Pomona College
WOBI, New York
Oct. 2018
Harvard University, Neiman Foundation, 80th Anniversary celebration
Sept. 2018
Annenberg Space for Photography, Conversation with Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress
Southern Utah University, “Images, Place, and Cultural Memory,” Tanner Lecture in Human Values
Brown University, Cogut Institute for the Humanities, Vision & Justice
Aug. 2018
University of Missouri: The Cockefair Foundation, Vision & Justice
June 2018
Aspen Ideas Festival, Conversation with Carrie Mae Weems
May 2018
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Vision & Justice
Apr. 2018
Pratt Institute, Keynote, Vision & Justice
Belmont Hill School, The Rise
Philadelphia University & Thomas Jefferson University, The Rise
The Harvard Campaign Celebration, Sanders Theater, invited faculty speaker
Mar. 2018
Central Michigan University, Vision & Justice
United States Artists, Annual Conference, Chicago
Black Portraiture(s) IV: The Color of Silence, Cambridge, MA
The Society for Photographic Education (SPE), Annual Conference
SXSW, Conversation with Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork about The Rise (2014)
Feb. 2018
Mississippi Museum of Art, “Vision & Justice”
Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA), “On monuments: place, time, memory,” Tribute to President Drew Faust
Jan. 2018
Milton Academy, All school address, The Margo Johnson Speaker series
The Brearley School, Martin Luther King Day address
The King School
Dec. 2017
Park Avenue Armory, The Shape of Things
TedxHarvard College, “How Images Shape Our Understanding of Justice”
Phi Beta Kappa address, Harvard University chapter, fall term induction ceremony
Oct. 2017
New York University, Dept. of Russian & Slavic Studies, Black Sea, Black Atlantic (now titled How Race Changed Sight in America) Manuscript-in-progress presentation
Sept. 2017
Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, Norma Lytton Lecture
Hofstra University, The Rise
June 2017
Harvard Alumni Association, Lecture by President Drew Faust, In conversation with Archon Fung, St. Paul, MN
Aspen Ideas Festival, conversation with architect Michael Murphy
The National Association of Colleges and Employers, Annual Conference
Apr. 2017
Harvard University, Committee on University Resources Symposium
Mar. 2017
SXSWedu, “Creativity & Social Justice”
Brooklyn Public Library, Vision & Justice, (3-part lecture in March and April, civic version of the Harvard Vision & Justice class)
Innoday, Stockholm, Sweden
University of Michigan, Slavic Studies Dept., Black Sea, Black Atlantic, Manuscript-in-progress presentation
University of Michigan, F. W. Thompson Critical Issues Forum, Flint, MI
Feb. 2017
Auburn University, The Rise
Jan. 2017
Baylor University
Dec. 2016
WNYC (Radio program), Segment on the “Vision & Justice” issue of Aperture magazine with Carrie Mae Weems, LaToya Ruby Fraizer, moderated by Rebecca Carroll
Nov. 2016
Harvard Art Museums, Conversation with LaToya Ruby Frazier, moderated by Sebastian Smee
Oct. 2016
International Baccalaureate, Annual Conference, Barcelona, Spain
Boston Book Festival
Rothko Chapel, Conversation with Ford Foundation President, Darren Walker on Art and Inequality
Sept. 2016
Harvard Art Museums, Vision & Justice: The Art of Citizenship
Hutchins Center, Harvard University, Du Bois Lecture
University of Pennsylvania
University of Virginia, National Endowment for the Humanities, 50th Anniversary Conference
Aug. 2016
Kent Presents, Panel on the legacy of Gordon Parks with Deborah Willis, LaToya Ruby Frazier, moderated by Carter Foster
July 2016
Aspen Ideas Festival, Vision & Justice
May 2016
Ford Foundation, Launch of the Vision & Justice issue of Aperture magazine. Co-hosted by Ford Foundation President, Darren Walker
The Getty, “What does blackness mean?” Los Angeles, CA
Apr. 2016
University of Iowa, Writers' Workshop, Creative Matters series
Jan. 2016
New York Public Library, Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars, Work-in-Progress presentation
Nov. 2015
The Hun School, The Rise
World Business Forum, Milan
Oct. 2015
Onassis Festival NY
World Business Forum, Madrid
Sept. 2015
Maritz Annual Innovation Summit
Texas Municipal League, Annual Conference Delegate Luncheon
University of Houston, Freshman Reading in Common, The Rise, selected as the Provost Summer reading for all incoming freshman
July 2015
Colorado Association of School Executives, Breckenridge, Colorado
June 2015
American Library Association, San Francisco, CA
House of Speakeasy, New York, NY
World Business Forum Hong Kong
May 2015
The Getty, “The Art of Justice,” Los Angeles, CA
Aspen Institute Arts Summit at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D. C.
Apr. 2015
Arts Orange County, 6th Annual Creative Edge Lecture, The Rise
Mar. 2015
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Houston, TX
Brown University, American Studies Department, Un-Conference on Racial Passing
International Association of Privacy Professionals
Northern California Human Resources Association
Feb. 2015
Case Western Reserve University
National Association of Independent Schools, Annual Conference, Boston, MA
3M
American Booksellers Association
Jan. 2015
Rancho Mirage Writers Festival
Duke University, Jean Fox O'Barr Distinguished Speaker Series
Brooklyn Historical Society, Conversation with Nell Painter
Nov. 2014
Annual Educator Expo, North Carolina Museum of Art
Oct. 2014
Boston Book Festival
Network of Executive Women Conference
PopTech, Camden, ME
Danville Regional Foundation
Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS)
World Knowledge Forum, Seoul, South Korea
Federal Reserve Bank, Annual conference
Morgan Stanley
Story Chicago Conference
Sept. 2014
Online Publishers Association
Harvard University, Du Bois Colloquium, Black Sea, Black Atlantic
MasterCard
Aug. 2014
Women’s Business Expo and Leadership Summit
June 2014
Aspen Ideas Festival
May 2014
Whitney Museum of American Art, Conversations on Art: Dawoud Bey
Sundance Author Series
99U Conference
Apr. 2014
TED, “Embrace the Near Win”
The Guggenheim, Carrie Mae Weems LIVE: Past Tense/Future Perfect
National Constitution Center, Conversation with Jeff Rosen, President and CEO
The Public Theater, Public Forum Solo
Mar. 2014
The New York Public Library, Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith [Book launch for The Rise]
Aspen Institute, The Rise
SXSW, The Rise
TED2014, “The Next Chapter,” Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC
Jan. 2014
Sundance Film Festival, Panel with Robert Redford, Dave Eggers, Chris Stone, and Jill Soloway, (Moderator), book launch event for The Rise
May 2013
National Gallery of Art, “Photography in the Federal Art in Embassies Program,” Washington, D. C.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, panel on “African Art, New York and the Avant-Gard”
Dec. 2012
92nd Street Y, “A Writers’ Celebration of Romare Bearden, with Elizabeth Alexander, Stanley Crouch, Kwame Dawes, Khalil G. Muhammad, Sarah Lewis, and John Edgar Wideman,” New York, NY
Oct. 2012
Library of Congress, “Nicola Green: Images of the 2008 Obama Campaign,” Washington, D. C.
May 2012
National Gallery of Art, “Art and Architecture: Creating Community,” Washington, D. C.
Dec. 2011
Yale University, History of Art Department, “Pictures and Progress: Frederick Douglass, The Circassian Beauties, and American Racial Formation”
Feb. 2011
Savannah College of Art and Design, deFINE Art Festival, Atlanta, GA