Led by scholars from more than a dozen countries
Free courses in Prospect Park from September 14–24
BROOKLYN, NY – Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance (PPA), announced a new semester of the immigrant-taught University Open Air. The pop-up university—a platform for globally-trained immigrants to share their knowledge with fellow New Yorkers—takes place September 14 through September 24 outside the Prospect Park Boathouse. All courses are free.
Led by professors and experts from countries around the world, including Tibet, Ghana, Pakistan, Israel and Taiwan, courses cover a wide range of subjects, from French literature to printmaking to a history of salsa dancing in New York. The faculty includes favorite courses from previous semesters along with a wide range of new professors and subjects.
“We are delighted that school is back in session at University Open Air,” said László Jakab Orsós, BPL’s Vice President for Arts and Culture. “This extraordinary group of professors—who have expertise in everything from the silk road to artificial intelligence—hail from every corner of the world, mirroring the diverse communities that make up Brooklyn. We are so fortunate to be outdoors in the historic and beautiful Prospect Park, enjoying the last days of summer, while learning from some of New York’s most talented and creative minds.”
For a full schedule of courses and the most current schedule visit, bklynlibrary.org/university-open-air. Registration is recommended.
The program is a part of BPL’s mission to provide free access to information for all who seek it; and an extension of Prospect Park Alliance’s mission to engage the diverse communities that consider the park “Brooklyn’s Backyard.”
"Prospect Park is Brooklyn's Backyard, where the diverse communities of Brooklyn come together, learn from each other and share experiences," said Maria Carrasco, Prospect Park Alliance Vice President for Public Programs. "As a gathering place for many immigrant communities, Prospect Park is a beloved setting for University Open Air's engaging programming, and we are proud to partner withe Brooklyn Public Library for another season of accessible classes."
University Open Air has welcomed well over 1,000 students to its classes since it launched in 2019. In addition to University Open Air, BPL provides a wide array of free services for immigrants, including programs in 14 different languages, conversation groups and citizenship application assistance. Furthermore, BPL is a partner of Emma’s Torch—the nonprofit provides concession services at Central Library—an organization providing refugees with in-depth culinary training as well as employability, equity and empowerment training.
In advance of the lectures, professors will participate in a training session to help structure the classes. All professors will be compensated for their work.
ABOUT THE PROFESSORS AND COURSES
Julia Adams (China) is a certified life coach and an educator at the Academy of Public Health and a private museum. She is also an expert in Chinese traditions and customs, skilled in the subject of Chinese tea ceremonies and traditional Chinese culture, especially Tang Dynasty culture. Julia is also a zither player, certified by Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Prior to relocating to New York from Shanghai, Julia was a news anchor at Jiangsu TV Station while also hosting citywide events; she then became an HR director and often hosted nationwide conferences on HR-related topics. Her courses will focus on Chinese culture, poetry, the benefits of drinking tea, the Zodiac and more.
Michal Alpern (Israel) is a New York-based artist with an MFA from Columbia University and a BFA from Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem. Alpern’s practice shifts between making series of objects to room-sized sculptures, reconciling spatial thoughts like gesture and materiality with abstractions like gender and domesticity. Her works were featured in museums and institutions in NY and Israel, including solo shows at M23 Gallery, NY; The Museum of Israeli Art, Israel; and group shows at False Flag, NY and the LeRoy Neiman Center, NY. In a talk and practical session, Alpern will consider abstract painting through poems, texts and intuition and explore the disarming nature of abstract painting.
Alon Andorn (Israel) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses drawing, collage, sculpture and video installation. He holds an MA in Fine Arts and a BA in Visual Communication, both from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Prior to immigrating to the United States, Andorn taught art and design in various higher education establishments for over a decade. He has also worked with children and teens, teaching Hebrew as well as art. His course will focus on the historical context of environmental consciousness in contemporary art and the various strategies artists employ in their sustainable creative practice. He will also teach a printmaking class where participants will use materials from nature.
Marcelo Arroyave (Spain) is a sociologist and urban anthropologist who has conducted quantitative and qualitative research in Colombia and the US. Since moving to NYC in 2014, he has worked in various urban settings as an after-school teacher, consecutive translator, marketing researcher, and community outreach specialist. Marcelo is also a creator, editor, and producer of fanzines and magazines. In English and Spanish, he will explore the origins of salsa music in the South Bronx through its sound and its connection to the territory and provide a special walking tour. See the calendar for all the details.
Hugh Ash (United States) has taken his trumpet around the globe, performing everything from new music to standard classical repertoire, jazz, rock and commercial music. Based in Brooklyn, Hugh is an active freelancer and educator as well as a teaching assistant at Rutgers University and a faculty member at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. In addition to solo performances, he currently plays with Ensemble Mise-En, The Curiosity Cabinet and spent the majority of 2019 subbing on the Off-Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. A lover of contemporary classical music, Hugh actively champions work by living composers. He has performed premieres by Philippe Manoury, Larry Sitsky, David Maslanka, Viet Cuong, Angelica Negron, Whitney George, Nicolas Nelson, Amir Shpilman, Jay Vilnai, and Harry Stafylakis. He has performed at the New Music Gathering, the Hartford Women’s Composers Festival, MoMA’s PopRally series and as part of the Art in Odd Places Festival. He will be playing trumpet morning and midday on September 17.
Alain Kamga Noubissi (Cameroon) is a mechanical engineer with more than 10 years of experience maintaining industrial machines and overseeing manufacturing facilities. He has hands-on experience in metal fabrication and designs projects for industrial use. He is a seasoned design instructor and teaches technical drawing. In this course, students will gain hands-on experience in technical drawing through learning the art of manual drawing and drafting techniques.
Nadia Batool Bokhari (Pakistan) has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She has previously worked as a freelance journalist and TV anchor in Pakistan and has over a decade of international reporting experience with a special focus on issues of social justice, human rights and health. She received various U.S.-based fellowships in a broad range of topics, including health reporting in journalism and the Census 2020. Her class will introduce the concepts of halal and haram and their importance to the Muslim community living in the U.S.
Nadia Bongo (France and Gabon) is a French language and literature teacher. With a Ph.D. in French language and literature from Aix Marseille Université, she taught French language, literature and research for the French Academy for six years. She feels fortunate to have two passions: teaching and writing. In 2021, Nadia was a Brooklyn Poets Fellow and Poet of the Week. Her work has appeared in a NYPL zine, Newtown Literary, Litro Magazine and elsewhere. In this course, she will consider French society’s obsession with taste and examine laudatory and critical devices used in some emblematic works to present the concept of beauty and ugliness, starting from XVII century literature and visual arts to arrive in modern times. As part of the course, participants will create a short film based on their conversations about beauty and ugliness.
Chia-Lun Chang (Taiwan) is the author of Prescribee (2022), winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize, and two chapbooks, An Alien Well-Tamed (Belladonna*, 2022) and One Day We Become Whites (No, Dear, 2016). She has received support from Jerome Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Tofte Lake Center, Poets House and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She has also received the Sarah Verdone Writing Award 2022, Governors Island Arts Center Residency 2021 and Process Space 2017. Born and raised in New Taipei City, Taiwan, she now lives in Brooklyn. Chang will lecture about contemporary Taiwanese poets and, through writing prompts, help participants pen their own verses.
Si-Min Chong (Min) (Singapore) grew up in the industrial west of Singapore, where the air smells of cacao. She makes work about vessels: women, trees and snakes. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, she holds an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University. In her class, students will consider the concept of Humanimal (between human beings and animals), reading works examining the ways animals, trees, mushrooms, the living beings around us make a home (art), gather food (sustenance) and experiment with ways of being and play.
haoyan of America (China) is a multidisciplinary artist who seeks to honor the mind and self through invisible landscapes of meaning. With over 175,000 hours of film, digital media and visual arts experience, haoyan's multidisciplinary art practice has been encoded in print, documentaries, music videos and on web servers across the world. In his workshop, students will learn the macro photography concepts/techniques used in nature, product, portrait photography, and filmmaking.
Liuba Kostanda (Ukraine) is a guide in subconscious empowerment, an emotional intelligence mentor, an experienced meditation and breathwork trainer, a skilled memory regression therapist and an energy healer. With a strong commitment to understanding and balancing the subconscious mind and the subtle energy systems that shape our bodies, minds and surroundings, her class will explore the subconscious mind's role in personal growth and empowerment.
Jiaoyang Li (China) is a poet and interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. Jiaoyang co-founded the Accent Sisters Speakeasy Bookstore Gallery and Accent Society, an online creative writing education platform that promotes writing across languages and mediums. Her work has been showcased or performed at New York Live Arts Center, Here Art Center, New Ohio Theatre, Chashama Gallery, Mana Contemporary, the Immigration Artist Biennial, Performa Biennial, Whitman’s Birthplace Museum, Life Magazine, Gulf Coast, LA Review of Books and elsewhere. Jiaoyang has received grants and support from PEN America, New York Foundation for the Arts, British Council and Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, among others. Jiaoyang is interested in intersecting poetry with fashion, audiovisual installations and performance art. The workshop will blend fashion and literature, focusing on how humans express or disguise their identity and feelings through what they wear. Participants will have the chance to create wearable text.
Matteo Liberatore (Italy) is an artist and composer working in experimental music and video art. Now based in Brooklyn, Liberatore spent much of his life in the medieval region of Abruzzo, Italy amidst dramatic landscapes that are reflected through a performance and composition style of “unsettling beauty” and “striking physicality” (The New York City Jazz Record). He studied classical guitar under Maestro Marco Salcito at Conservatorio di Foggia, philosophy at the University of L’Aquila, and obtained his M.M. in Jazz Performance at NYU. In addition to numerous collaborations, Matteo is currently focused on a solo audio/visual project called Molto Ohm, which is a sonic exploration of the interplay between digital life and social decay on an emotional level. His class will focus on making music drawing inspiration from everyday life; the class will create music working together to write scores and music from the score. No prior experience needed.
Alisa Minyukova (Russia) is an artist, researcher and educator. She is co-creator of the Dream Mapping Project which works to bridge dream science with the creative process resulting in an ongoing series of collaborative art, film and performance works. Her drawings, film and mixed media installations explore Slavic and Jewish mythology, symbols of the collective unconscious and that which is cast out of conscious awareness. Her research covers the topics of memories, dreams, emigration, heritage and the loss thereof and the exploration of the human condition by way of ancestral memory. Her current creative focus is on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the collective memory of war. Her course is a guided dream-sharing experience beginning with an introductory talk and evolving into a communal dream-sharing session. Participants will make a shared dream map.
Dr. Chok Tenzin Monlam (Tibet) is a Tibetan yoga and mindfulness instructor. He has over a decade of experience spreading Tibetan teachings including yoga and meditation methods around the world. He has spent ten-plus years dedicated to the study of Buddhist physical and mental healings. He has written and translated more than 30 books and numerous articles into English and Tibetan. During the pandemic, he has taught virtual courses all over the globe. His courses will focus on breathing, meditation and yoga.
Elizabeth Moylan (United States) is an artist and writer. She recently relocated to Brooklyn from Chicago, where she was an instructor of painting, print media and fiber and material studies. She is currently working on a body of writing inspired by the vivid nightlife of her new home. She has years of experience studying and translating classical Latin and Greek poetry. She considers that early immersion in poetic study as foundational to her artistic practice today. She holds a BA in gender studies from the University of Chicago where she also studied Russian language and literature, and an MFA in painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her course, co-taught with Tsai-Ling Tseng, will consider whether beauty is still relevant for artists.
Raul Olivan (Spain) works at the intersection of public, private and social. He transforms organizations into collaborative ecosystems, teams into innovation labs and professionals into agents of change, creating networks that assemble the local and the global. With an interdisciplinary background (philosophy, futures design, strategic planning, social work, communication), he designs new methodologies and tools that allow us to face complex challenges such as climate change, the rise of populism, the digital divide or structural inequality. His course will focus on the six roles of his hexagonal innovation model: open, mix, agile, prototype, collaborate and digitize.
Eugene Opoku-Mensah (Ghana) is an assistant professor at Middlesex’s College Department of Computer Science. He taught information technology to diverse students in Ghana. He then continued in China, where he worked for six years before moving to the United States. Dr. Opoku-Mensah uses an interactive approach with practical illustrations that attracts students’ interest in grasping the concepts being taught. His interest is data science and information security.
Adrian Patino (aka Adrian is Hungry) (Colombia) has been collecting and sharing vintage afro-rooted music for the past six years in New York City. He specializes in tropical sounds from Colombia, New York, the Antilles, Venezuela, Peru, Africa and more with an emphasis on danceable tunes that hit a nostalgia chord that bring you back to dancing at a family party. A traveler and cultural anthropologist at heart, he’s been exploring and rediscovering his cultural identity through music research and curation, creating spaces in his community to bring these sounds into the NYC nightlife. He will provide music for a class on the history of Salsa.
Dr. Dawa Ridak (Tibet) was born in Lhoka, Tibet. He learned basic medicine from his late uncle Professor Samten (a renowned professor at Lhasa Tibetan Medicine College) and Dr. Lobsang Wangyal (former Physician of H.H. Dalai Lama). After being exiled from Tibet, he studied in the Tibetan Medical and Astrological College, Men-Tsee-Khang College, Dharamshala, India and received a Menrampa (Doctor of Tibetan Medicine. Over the course of his medical career, Dr. Dawa has consulted with diverse patients with a variety of ailments and health issues. He integrates a compassionate and thorough approach, helping patients find their best path to a better quality of life and health. Dr. Dawa uses the traditional diagnostic methods of examination and analysis, then provides therapies such as massage and medicinal bath. In this class, participants will learn about the indigenous Tibetan holistic healing tradition Sowa Rigpa—”sowa” is healing and “rigpa” is “science”—that emerged in the 7th century alongside the flourishing of Buddhism and interactions along the Silk Road.
Mia Shah-Dand (India) is the founder of Lighthouse3, a California-based consultancy that focuses on responsible AI and governance. She is known for her work in promoting diversity and responsible AI practices. Mia excels at leading large cross-functional programs, managing multidisciplinary stakeholder teams and advising global organizations on responsible development and deployment of AI systems. She is actively involved in addressing issues such as bias, fairness, transparency and accountability in AI. Mia is also the founder of Women in AI ethics and frequently speaks at conferences on the issues of diversity and ethics in AI. She has hosted 100+ workshops and events to make AI and emerging technology education accessible to everyone. Mia is on the Selection Committee for Anita Borg ABIE Social Impact award committee and Advisory Board for Carnegie Council’s Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Politico, and Venture Beat. Her class will consider the history of AI and the role of women in the field.
Prachi Sheth (India) is a communication designer based in New York specializing in visual identity, packaging, creative coding, typography and UI/UX. Experiential visual identity and strategy give her joy. With strong focus on branding, print and typography, her aesthetic approach often merges minimalism with a distinct sense of gravitas. Strategically, her work is rooted in research, iteration and open dialogue. She delights in integrating storytelling throughout her work by pioneering imaginative solutions for complex problems and moving ideas from good to great. Sheth will discuss the importance of branding and how to market yourself as a brand.
Stephen Tekpetey (Ghana) is a cross-functional professional with over a decade and a half of experience as an educator, researcher and administrator. He earned a doctorate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and is an MBA student at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. His course will focus on Ghanian culture and the environment.
Tsai-Ling Tseng (Taiwan) is an artist. She earned her BFA from SVA in 2016 and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018. Tseng currently teaches at RISD and her studio practice focuses on transforming her daily life experiences into visual form. She works to capture the process of transformation itself—not only to make images, but also to use a canvas as a space to think through the possible relationships between art and experience. The objective is not only to surprise viewers, but to surprise herself with these unexpected collisions. Her course, co-taught with Elizabeth Moylan, will focus consider is beauty still relevant for artists.
Denise Wiley (Japan) is a journalist, public relations practitioner and ESL instructor. Prior to moving to the US, Ms. Wiley lived in Japan where she taught business English, business communication and cultural awareness. She holds a BA in media and communication and is currently reading for the MA in international migration studies at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Her courses will focus on heightening cultural awareness in an increasingly polarized world and the power of storytelling in conveying the immigrant experience.
ABOUT BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY
Brooklyn Public Library is one of the nation’s largest library systems and among New York City’s most democratic institutions. As a leader in developing modern 21st century libraries, we provide resources to support personal advancement, foster civic literacy and strengthen the fabric of community among the more than 2.7 million individuals who call Brooklyn home. We provide nearly 60,000 free programs a year with writers, thinkers, artists and educators—from around the corner and around the world. And we give patrons millions of opportunities to enjoy one of life’s greatest satisfactions: the joy of a good book. Learn more at bklynlibrary.org.
ABOUT PROSPECT PARK ALLIANCE
Prospect Park Alliance is the nonprofit organization that sustains, restores and advances Prospect Park, Brooklyn's Backyard, in partnership with the City. The Alliance provides critical staff and resources that keep the Park green and vibrant for the diverse communities that call Brooklyn home. Learn more at prospectpark.org.