Thank you for making the 2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium a success! We'll see you in 2027!

Actress and activist Erika Alexander (left) discusses her career in a conversation moderated by Ohio Wesleyan University Professor Phokeng Dailey during OWU's 2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium. (Photo by Paul Vernon) [See more event images]

'Lead, Love, and Act'

Ohio Wesleyan Celebrates Black Art and Culture at the Second Melvin Van Peebles Symposium

The University welcomed attendees March 27-29 to the 2025 symposium, themed "Disruption!! Signal Fires, Reckoning, and Jubilee Through Black Art." The event was highlighted by a conversation with actress and activist Erika Alexander, along with theater performances, film screenings, art exhibitions, and academic discussions.

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2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium

Theme: Disruption!! Signal Fires, Reckoning, and Jubilee Through Black Art
March 27-29, 2025

In Conversation with Erika Alexander

Erika Alexander is an actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, director, and one of the country's boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. Hear her story during the 2025 symposium!

Read more about Erika Alexander


Melvin Van Peebles at the Deauville Film Festival. (Photo by Georges Baird)

About Melvin Van Peebles

Best known as a trailblazing Black filmmaker, Melvin Van Peebles was a twentieth-century Renaissance man. The 1953 Ohio Wesleyan graduate transcended the boundaries of race and gender as an innovator in film, theater, music, art, literature, and business.

Read more about Melvin Van Peebles

Symposium Contact Info

Location

Ohio Wesleyan University
61 S. Sandusky St.
Delaware, OH 43015

Symposium Co-Chairs

Dawn Chisebe
Phokeng Dailey
Ashley Kennard