THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION on Screen and Canvas

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See how art shapes history in Ken Burns’ The American Revolution, with an exclusive sneak peek of the film,  art exhibit and film discussion

Williams Center for the Arts

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<h3>Experience history and art like never before.</h3> Join PBS39 at Lafayette College’s Williams Center for the Arts for an exclusive preview of The American Revolution, the new documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt.Welcome remarks by Lafayette College President Nicole Hurd, Lehigh Valley Public Media President and CEO Hasanna Birdsong, and LehighValley250 Administrator Jessica Edris, will open the event.Lafayette College provided three artworks to Florentine Films for use in The American Revolution. Gain new insights from a dynamic panel on how these and other artworks deepens the film’s storytelling, featuring:<ul><li>Drew Swedberg, Adjunct Instructor, Film and Media Studies, Lafayette College</li><li>Christopher Phillips, Professor of English, Lafayette College</li><li>Rico Reyes, Director of Galleries and Curator of Collections, Williams Center for the Arts</li><li>Jessica Edris, moderator</li></ul>The evening includes a cocktail reception from 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. in the Williams Center for the Arts lobby. VIP ExperienceVIP guests will get early entry at the Williams Center for the Arts, preferred seating in the theater, a curated tour of the exhibit "Facing Lafayette: Man, Image, Myth," cocktail hour refreshments, and a full year of membership benefits with Lehigh Valley Public Media.

Attendees will be able to explore Lafayette College's new exhibition Facing Lafayette: Man, Myth, Image.Curated by Peter Godziela ’25 and Lillian Sampson ’27 as part of the College’s bicentennial celebration, this exhibition showcasing General Marquis de Lafayette will feature his likeness in various forms, highlighting ideals that reflect the College’s mission. Visitors can explore paintings, sculptures, and prints while our student curators present a fresh narrative that reexamines Lafayette’s story and the myths surrounding him.Exhibitions and related programming are free and open to the public. The film screener is generously provided at no cost by WETA. Your donation entitles you to the cocktail reception, access to the Lafayette Galleries Exhibit, and expert discussion on art in documentary filmmaking Corporate funding for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation; and the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Major funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein; The Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation; Lilly Endowment Inc.; and the following Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt; Stephen A. Schwarzman; and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst. Additional support for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by: The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; The Pew Charitable Trusts; Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling; Park Foundation; and the following Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg; Perry and Donna Golkin; The Michelson Foundation; Jacqueline B. Mars; Kissick Family Foundation; Diane and Hal Brierley; John H. N. Fisher and Jennifer Caldwell; John and Catherine Debs; The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund; Philip I. Kent; Gail Elden; Deborah and Jon Dawson; David and Susan Kreisman; The McCloskey Family Charitable Trust; Becky and Jim Morgan; Carol and Ned Spieker; Mark A. Tracy; and Paul and Shelley Whyte. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was made possible, in part, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

<h3>About the Speakers</h3>

Ricardo J. Reyes, PhDDr. Reyes (Rico) is an artist, curator, and cultural theorist whose 30-year experience has focused on expanding the conversation around art-making and exhibitions to be more inclusive and equitable. He is currently the Director of Galleries and Curator of Collections at Lafayette College, overseeing the activities of the Williams Center Gallery, Grossman Gallery, Kirby Art Study Center, and Art on Campus. His art employs the idioms of performance, video, and installation while addressing issues of ethnicity, sexuality, and global politics. His curating focuses on elevating the voices of BIPOC and Queer artists, contemporary art from diasporic Filipino communities, and photography and cultural regeneration. He has curated exhibitions at the Orange County Museum of Art, UCLA Fowler Museum, and SF MoMA Artist Gallery. Rico received his BA in Sculpture from the University of California, Berkeley, his MFA in New Genres from UCLA, his Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology, and his Ph.D. from the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Rico participates in various boards and currently co-chairs Lehigh Valley 250, and is a member of the Visual Arts Board at ArtsQuest/Creative Factory.

Drew SwedbergPhoto: Wren ReneDrew Swedberg is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and educator. Through a collaborative process and poetic approach, his filmmaking orbits around the everyday dreams, relationships, and forces that shape the places he calls home. As a teaching artist based in Eastern Pennsylvania, he designs spaces for aspiring filmmakers to create media-based stories. Drew has led an array of film classes from elementary to college classrooms, most recently as a program facilitator for PBS39’s Production U and a visiting instructor in Lafayette College's Film and Media Studies program and LVAIC's Documentary Storymaking program. He was a Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow in 2022, Visiting Fellow at Skidmore College’s MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute in 2020 and 2022, and an Artist-in-Residence for the Cultural Coalition of Allentown in 2019 and 2021. He is currently an adjunct professor in Lafayette College’s Film and Media Studies Program, and is moving through his feature directorial debut IN LOVE, IN MEMORY with co-director Shalon Buskirk. His second feature ILLUSIONS OF WINTER is currently in pre-production, drawing him back to his hometown in New Hampshire as the climate crisis escalates.

Christopher PhillipsPhoto: Adam AtkinsonChris Phillips is a professor of English at Lafayette College, where he specializes in early American literature and book history. Among his publications is The Hymnal: A Reading History.

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