Event

Focus on Justice: ‘Artivism’ With Liza Jessie Peterson

Image courtesy of Liza Jessie Peterson. Undated.

Image courtesy of Liza Jessie Peterson. Undated.

Thursday, October 29, 2020 - 04:00pm EDT (GMT -0400)
Zoom Webinar
Register Now!

On Thursday, October 29, at 4:00pm EDT, please join the Pulitzer Center for a virtual performance and conversation with Liza Jessie Peterson, a self-described “artivist” who uses her work as an actress, playwright, and poet to advocate for incarcerated populations through both art and teaching. 

In this intimate conversation, Peterson will present segments of her award-winning play, The Peculiar Patriot, and recent work, Do You Really Want to Know? Throughout, she will describe how experiences engaging with individuals in carceral systems and the school-to-prison pipeline have pushed her to make evocative, timely art that challenges assumptions. She centers the lived experiences of incarcerated people while firmly pulling audiences into her narratives.

Peterson also will explore how her work based on experiences at Rikers Island in the early 2000s continues to impact audiences 20 years later.  

Drawing on two decades of work on Rikers Island, Peterson wrote The Peculiar Patriot and has performed the play in more than 35 penitentiaries in the United States. Peterson’s book ALL DAY: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island details her year as a teacher in the GED program at Rikers Island in 2008.

Peterson is a grantee of the Art for Justice Fund, an organization that provides support to the Pulitzer Center.  

To attend this event, visit the Zoom registration page.