NYUAD Institute NYUAD Institute

There is a common sentiment that working in the arts is exceptional. It’s not just a workplace, it’s a passion. But loving it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a job. In Theatre Work: Reimagining the Labor of Theatrical Production, Brídín Clements Cotton and Natalie Robin investigate the question of artmaking, specifically theatrical production, as work. When the art is the work, how do employers navigate the balance between creative freedom and consistent personnel processes that promote accessibility, equity, and sustainability? Do theatrical production operations value the worker? Celebrating the release of the book, this event features a conversation with the authors about these questions and beyond.

Speakers
Brídín Clements Cotton, Co-author, "Theatre Work: Reimagining the Labor of Theatrical Production" (Focal Press, 2024); Instructor of Stage and Project Management, NYUAD
Natalie Robin, Co-author, "Theatre Work: Reimagining the Labor of Theatrical Production" (Focal Press, 2024); Organizer, United Scenic Artists / IATSE Local USA 829

Moderated by
Ntshadi Mofokeng, Cultural Worker
Delaney Teehan, Stage and Production Manager

Sport has the power to change lives by promoting values of health, education, and cooperation among people, neighborhoods, communities, cities, and nations. Programs like New York City FC's City In The Community and partnerships between the NBA, Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, and NYU Abu Dhabi are forging these relationships and achieving transformational results locally and globally. The UAE has positioned itself as a global sports hub, fostering international relations and showcasing its commitment to global engagement. This panel explores the ways in which sport and these forms of diplomacy are making a positive impact across society.

Panel Members
Dana Al Marashi, Head of Cultural Diplomacy, UAE Embassy in the US, Individuals
Emeka Okafor, NBA Legend, Individuals
Jennifer O'Sullivan, COO and Chief Legal & Administrative Officer, New York City Football Club
Lee Igel, Clinical Professor, Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport, NYU School of Professional Studies
Eric DiMiceli, Vice President, Social Responsibility, National Basketball Association

Moderated by
Chris Dawes, Associate Professor of Politics, NYU

This talk presents the design and development of a custom 3D printed haptic syringe interface aimed to augment a virtual reality local anesthesia simulation (VRLA) with realistic tactile feedback. The VRLA previously used an Oculus Quest 2 head mounted device (HMD) with out of the box hand controllers to immerse students in the simulation and complete the necessary tasks. One controller (with the dominant hand) was used to perform a local anesthesia injection with a virtual hand that held a virtual syringe. This was subsequently replaced with a custom 3D printed haptic syringe to simulate physical interactions between the syringe and the environment in an effort to enhance the students' training experience. A pilot research study investigating the effectiveness of the custom haptic syringe had positive outcomes.

Speakers
Mohamad Eid, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and former 19 Washington Square North Faculty Fellow, NYUAD
Marci Levine, Clinical Associate Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, NYU College of Dentistry; Former 19 Washington Square North Faculty Fellow, NYUAD
Elizabeth McAlpin, Director of Research and Outcomes Assessment, NYU IT
Avinash Gyawali, Research Assistant, NYUAD

In Collaboration with
19 Washington Square North Faculty Fellows Program

Modern science has done amazing things: creating covid vaccines, sending humans to the moon, finding the ultimate nature of light. What makes it so powerful—and so different from the attempts to understand nature made by the philosophers and monks of old? Vaulting from Aristotle to gravitational waves, Michael Strevens argues that much of science’s power derives from an epistemic limitation that can only be understood as irrational. The paradigmatic scientist is a paradigmatic reasoner in many ways, but in at least one way, their perfection as a scientist lies in the deliberate cultivation of a gaping intellectual blind spot.

Speaker
Michael Strevens, Professor of Philosophy, NYU

Often, the United Arab Emirates is envisioned as a land of ultramodern skyscrapers or vast sand dunes. Yet, the Emirates are much more: a diverse tapestry of ecosystems that are home to a surprising array of life forms uniquely adapted to the Arabian environment. This talk explores the UAE's unique ecosystems, its terrestrial and marine biodiversity, and humanity's role in this young, rapidly evolving nation.

Speaker
John A. Burt, Author, "A Natural History of the Emirates" (Springer Nature, 2023); Head of the Marine Biology Lab and Associate Professor of Biology, NYUAD

The Golden Harvest is a 6,000-year old love story in which the filmmaker tries to understand the profound, often troubled, relationship between olive trees and the people of the Mediterranean, including her own father. It is a complicated romance, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, set in a region that includes some of the poorest and most conflicted areas of Europe and the Middle East.

Alia Yunis, Writer/Film Director, "The Golden Harvest", NYUAD

In conversation with
Jamal Rayyis, Wine and Food Writer