Director, actor and educator Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., examines the need for authenticity, the power of African poetic drama and how a single play changed her entire life.

This episode also features guest Desirée Dabney, head of musical theatre at VCUarts. 

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About Tawnya Pettiford-Wates
Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., is professor of graduate pedagogy in acting and directing at Virginia Commonwealth University and the artistic director of The Conciliation Project, a non-profit social justice theatre company.

Dr. T is a playwright, director, actor, poet, writer/scholar-activist and teacher. She appeared in the Tony Award-winning company of the N.Y. Shakespeare Festival’s production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the rainbow is enuf. She recently directed the regional premiere of Berta, Berta for TNT at The Firehouse Theatre. Other directing projects include Fences (Virginia Repertory Theatre Company), Deep River (Virginia Opera Company) and The Niceties (The Conciliation Lab). Her production of The Top of Bravery, produced by Quill Theatre and Theatre Lab, received an ARTSIE for Best Original Work from the Richmond Theatre Critic’s Circle. In 2022, The Conciliation Project, in association with VCUarts Theatre, produced WHITESPLAINING, an original piece funded by The Carpenter Foundation. The Conciliation Project also led workshops on themes surrounding DEI for the National Education Association's annual national conferences in 2023 and 2024.

Pettiford-Wates is a contributing author to Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches, edited by Sharell Luckett and Tia Shaffer, and continues to be voice talent for many national and regional brands such as Dukes Mayonnaise, Aetna Healthcare, GRTC, Hoyle and HALO. She has been teaching theatre at VCU since 2004. 

About Desirée Dabney
Desirée Dabney is an experienced professional actor, singer, director, producer and theatre educator/activist. Dabney received her B.F.A. in Acting in 2014 from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University. She received her Master of Teaching from the University of Richmond and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Education Curriculum. 

In 2022, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Shenandoah University. In 2023, Desirée was honored to be selected in Richmond’s Style Weekly Top 40 Under 40. The same year, she was featured in the Distinguished Black History Tribute on NBC12 that recognized her achievements in theatre education, which included the development of theatre courses for Richmond Public Schools and her selection as the first Black woman to develop theatre curriculum for the Virginia Department of Education. Dabney is also director of the Richmond Critics Award-winning production of How Black Mothers Say I Love You. Her 2023 VCUarts production of Rent was an overwhelming success with nightly sold-out performances. 

Dabney is currently head of musical theatre for the School of the Arts at VCU. She also serves as a Board Member for Fine Arts Education (Theatre)/Virginia Department of Education, the Yes And Theatrical Company Richmond Public Schools Fine Arts Advisory and Elected Board Director Educational Theatre Association. She is a Shuler Awards Adjudicator in Georgia and Owner/Executive Director of Theatre Diva Productions.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão.

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Amir Berbić reflects on his refugee experience and the power of design to shape identity, foster resilience, and build community, and discusses his work as a designer, educator and dean of VCUarts Qatar.

This episode also features guest Christiana Lafazani, associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts.

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About Amir Berbić
Amir Berbić is a graphic designer who works on questions surrounding identities of place. He collaborates on projects with cultural organizations, arts institutions, and publishers, with commissions that range from print design to three-dimensional typography to environmental graphics.

Prior to becoming dean of VCUarts in Qatar in 2019, he was a tenured professor and chair of Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where he also served as associate dean at the UIC College of Architecture, Design and the Arts, and as acting director of the UIC School of Design. Berbić was on the AIGA Chicago Board of Directors, serving as Vice President and Co-Chair of Education from 2015–2018. From 2004 to 2014, he was a faculty member at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Berbić moved to Chicago in the 1990s, where he completed his design education and began a career in editorial design and publishing. He holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from UIC, and an M.F.A. in Visual Communication from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

His works have featured in numerous academic and professional publications, conferences, and exhibitions, including Design Issues, Visual Communication, Print, Graphis, Wallpaper, the AIGA Design Educators Conference, TypeCon, the Society of Typographic Arts, ICOGRADA, the World Design Summit and Salone del Mobile in Milan. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

About Christiana Lafazani
Christiana Lafazani serves as associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts. She is also associate professor in the Department of Interior Design, where she previously held the positions of department chair and graduate program director. Since joining the VCUarts faculty in 2003, Lafazani has played a significant role in both departmental leadership and broader academic administration. She was appointed to her current role in 2019.

Lafazani brings extensive experience to her work as both a practicing designer and academic. Prior to her academic appointment, she held positions in the design industry, including work with an architecture and design firm specializing in corporate interiors, a role as prototype designer for a national electronics retailer and as a design manager for an office furniture manufacturer.

Her research explores the intersection of professional practice and design pedagogy within the discipline of interior design. Specific areas of focus include the integration of emerging technologies into student work while supporting individual artistic expression, and the incorporation of sustainable practices in both design education and professional application. More recently, her scholarship has shifted toward design strategies that support neurodiverse populations, particularly adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Lafazani holds an M.F.A. in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.S. in Interior Design from James Madison University.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão.

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Art historian and dean of VCU’s School of the Arts Carmenita Higginbotham, Ph.D., discusses her unexpected journey to becoming the go-to expert for everything from Edward Hopper to Mickey Mouse.

This episode also features guest Christiana Lafazani, associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts. 

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About Carmenita Higginbotham
Carmenita Higginbotham is an art historian whose research and scholarship examine 20th century American art, urban art, race and representation, and American popular culture. She has lectured extensively on the history of American art, popular visual culture and art film. She has been a featured scholar and consultant in documentaries and in interviews with PBS, The History Channel, CNN, CNBC and The Washington Post. She has served as a peer referee for Art Bulletin, Art Journal and the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies and has acted in various capacities for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, the College Art Association and the Space Between Society (Literature and Culture 1914-45).

Prior to her current role, Higginbotham served as department chair of the University of Virginia Department of Art, and as assistant and associate professor in the departments of Art and American Studies. She has been affiliated faculty for the Carter G. Woodson Center of African American and African Studies since 2005. She received a B.A. in English and Art History from the University of Minnesota; a M.A. in Art History from the University of Massachusetts; and a Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of Michigan.

About Christiana Lafazani
Christiana Lafazani serves as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research at VCUarts. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Interior Design, where she previously held the positions of Department Chair and Graduate Program Director for several years. Since joining the VCUarts faculty in 2003, Lafazani has played a significant role in both departmental leadership and broader academic administration. She was appointed to her current role in the Dean’s Office in 2019.

With a professional and academic career spanning over three decades, Lafazani brings extensive experience to her work as both a practicing designer and academic. Prior to her academic appointment, she held positions in the design industry, including work with an architecture and design firm specializing in corporate interiors, a role as prototype designer for a national electronics retailer, and as a design manager for an office furniture manufacturer.

Her research explores the intersection of professional practice and design pedagogy within the discipline of Interior Design. Specific areas of focus include the integration of emerging technologies into student work while supporting individual artistic expression, and the incorporation of sustainable practices in both design education and professional application. More recently, her scholarship has shifted toward design strategies that support neurodiverse populations, particularly adults with autism spectrum disorder, developed in collaboration with interdisciplinary colleagues across VCU.

Lafazani holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from James Madison University.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão.

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.