The Cooper Union Augusta Savage Colloquium

Wednesday, May 5, 2021, 6:30 - 8:30pm

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Harlem Community Art Center of the Works Progress Administration | Front row (left to right): Zell Ingram, Pemberton West, Augusta Savage, Robert Pious, Sarah West and Gwendolyn Bennett; back row (left to right): Elton Fax, Rex Goreleigh, Fred Perry, William Artis, Francisco Lord, Louise Jefferson and Norman Lewis. Photographer: Andrew Herman. Image credit: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library.

Harlem Community Art Center of the Works Progress Administration | Front row (left to right): Zell Ingram, Pemberton West, Augusta Savage, Robert Pious, Sarah West and Gwendolyn Bennett; back row (left to right): Elton Fax, Rex Goreleigh, Fred Perry, William Artis, Francisco Lord, Louise Jefferson and Norman Lewis. Photographer: Andrew Herman. Image credit: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library.

The biennial Cooper Union Augusta Savage Colloquium is in honor of the life and work of the artist and educator Augusta Savage A'25. The conference aims to explore the intersections of history, art-praxis, education, and social justice by bringing various scholars and practitioners together for a public conversation. Organizers will also aim to work closely with current students to develop the program.      

The Augusta Savage Colloquium invites an art historian or historian to present on a topic relative to the life and or legacy of Augusta Savage, directly or indirectly, an established artist or contemporary critic presenting original work on a similar or adjacent topic and an emerging BIPOC artist, art historian, architect or engineer addressing similar issues through their work and/or research. 

Registration details to come for this online program.        

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  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.