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The Future Of NYC, Post COVID

KCC To Host A Two-Part Online Series

Two-Part Online Series On “The Future Of NYC, Post COVID”

KCC To Host A Two-Part Online Series On “The Future Of NYC, Post COVID”

The recent COVID pandemic has done much to throw the city’s present and future into question. It especially drew attention to existing forms of socio-economic inequality and systemic problems. To help find ways to make New York City more socially inclusive, Kingsborough Community College (KCC) will present a two-part virtual series titled “The Future of NYC, Post COVID.”

Hosted by KCC’s Department of History, Philosophy and Political Science, the first webinar takes place via Zoom on May 26, 2021 at 3pm. It will offer brief talks by experts from the academic and professional worlds on the subject “Culture and the Everyday,” followed by a Q&A moderated by professors Megan Brandow-Faller and Michael Spear.

The day’s topics include:

COVID-19’S BIOETHICAL CHALLENGES
Michael Barnhart, Professor of Philosophy, Kingsborough Community College/CUNY
COVID-19 has posed its share of bioethical issues. Few of them are new, but some of the more noteworthy include how public health is understood, the limits of private choice, balancing various social needs and public goods, and exacerbation of existing social inequities in medicine, including racism and other forms of discrimination. The talk explores these issues and the prospects for their resolution.

FINDING FASHION IN THE POST-COVID FUTURE
Sonya Abrego, Visiting Assistant Professor, Fordham University, FIT, and Parsons
The pandemic changed global fashion and retail in new and unforeseen ways. It has also shifted how fashion scholars work to understand clothing in and outside of cultural institutions. Will New Yorkers carry pandemic styles into the future or will we see fresh looks and a reevaluation of what it means to get dressed?

WHO STAYS AND WHO GOES? DIVERSITY AND JOB LOSS FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
Kristin Perkins, Adult Programs Coordinator at the Millbrook Library
Alongside widespread job loss, many cultural institutions responded to the economic devastation of the pandemic with terminations, hiring freezes, or budget shifts to part-time or contract labor. While this impacted all cultural workers, many recent graduates and new professionals have been re-envisioning careers and pivoting to other industries. The pandemic has only served to highlight the precarity in arts labor that already existed, but as class-vulnerable young professionals leave the arts sector, it’s worth examining who stays, who goes, and how arts advocates and industry workers might mitigate the loss of diversity and support young professionals.

THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM? EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS IN NYC
Speaker TBA
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and exacerbated a number of existing trends in museums and cultural institutions, especially those whose business model is based on maximizing in-person visitation. This talk will draw from the reopening experience of leading NYC museums and cultural institutions to highlight some of the lasting and universal impacts of the pandemic on the museum and cultural sector in NYC.

To join the May 26 webinar, go to https://zoom.us/j/95048557445?pwd=a3QvT2JxSkdGU0ZtSjdrbm9aL2l0UT09, Passcode: 589052.

Part two of “The Future of NYC, Post COVID,” titled “The City’s Economy and Labor Market, Housing, Public Health, and Urban Planning,” will take place in the fall.

About Kingsborough Community College
Founded in 1963, Kingsborough Community College is Brooklyn’s only community college and is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). Located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, Kingsborough remains firmly committed to its mission of providing both liberal arts and career education, promoting student learning and development, as well as strengthening and serving its diverse community. Kingsborough provides a high-quality education through associate degree programs that prepare students for transfer to senior colleges or entry into the workforce. Serving approximately 10,000 full- and part-time students annually and an additional 10,000 students in its expanding continuing education program, Kingsborough has earned recognition as a Leader College of Distinction for excellence in student success by Achieving the Dream, and has been identified as a Top Community College in the nation by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program six consecutive times.

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