Why We Play: Sport, Art, and Youth Identity
📍 Meatpacking District

Why We Play: Sport, Art, and Youth Identity

📆
📍Whitney Museum of American Art · 99 Gansevoort St Get directions ↗
🏷Price on the venue's site ↗

About this event

Join us at the Whitney for an evening celebrating the intersection of sport, art, and self-expression in partnership with the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Why We Play: Sport, Art, and Youth Identity brings together artists, athletes, and cultural leaders to explore how sports and creativity shape our identities—and why young people shouldn’t have to choose between the two. Throughout the evening, enjoy a live DJ set by Ty-Michelle in the Lobby, drop into the ArtSpace for an artmaking activity inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s bold visual language, and end the evening with a free hip-hop dance class led by Ailey Extension. Why We Play: Sport, Art, and Youth Identity panel discussion Floor 3, Theater 6:30—7:30pm Who says you have to choose between being an athlete and an artist? Join us for a lively Why We Play conversation featuring Michael Bennett, Super Bowl champion, former NFL player, and founder of creative studio Studio Kër, and Ashley Teamer, a contemporary artist and former athlete whose work explores basketball and women’s sports, and Constance Stamatiou, professional dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Together, they’ll explore how sport and creativity shape who we are, and what becomes possible when young people are encouraged to embrace both. Sport and art are both powerful ways we express ourselves, connect with others, and discover who we are. So why are young people so often encouraged to choose one over the other? Presented in partnership with the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), with support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Featured Speakers Michael Bennett, Multidisciplinary designer, artist, author, activist, and former NFL defensive end Ashley Teamer, Multimedia artist and DJ Constance Stamatiou, current dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Tom Farrey, Founder & Executive Director, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program Britt Salvesen, Curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department and Prints and Drawings Department at LACMA Laurie Tisch, President of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund Additional speakers to be announced.

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