The Department of Performing and Media Arts leads students from all disciplines through artistic and scholarly explorations of live and mediated forms of creativity and expression. Students are challenged to think creatively, critically, and historically about the world around them as they identify and interpret the power of image, sound, gesture, and movement and cultivate their own artistic and academic voices.
Welcome to PMA!
We are excited to welcome you to Cornell or welcome you back! All of us here in Performing and Media Arts (PMA) look forward to helping you find opportunities to make your time in Ithaca more enriching, whether you are a budding performer, a seasoned auteur, an aspiring critic, or just a curious observer. Please use the page linked below as a springboard to the wealth of opportunities available to you in the Schwartz Center:
PMA Events
Mar
09
Monday
11:40 AM
Mar
13
Friday
12:30 PM
Professional Directions: Expand Your Scope: Working as a Creative in Entertainment with Carolyn Michelle Smith
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Room 220
Mar
19
Thursday
05:15 PM
An Evening with Nona Hendryx: A Conversation on Life, Music, and Creative Practice
Milstein Hall
Milstein Auditorium
Mar
19
Thursday
06:00 PM
Special Event Screening: SEEDS (2025) wth Q&A
Cornell Cinema
Mar
20
Friday
05:00 PM
PMAPS Colloquium with AE Stevenson: “‘Oh My Fucking God, She Fucking Dead’: Time in a Vine”
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Film Forum
Apr
10
Friday
12:00 PM
Chats with the Chair
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
220
PMA Links
PMA News
An Evening with Nona Hendryx: A Conversation on Life, Music, and Creative Practice
Join PMA for An Evening with Nona Hendryx: A Conversation on Life, Music, and Creative Practice, on Thursday, March 19, from 5:15 pm to 6:30 pm, in the Milstein Auditorium, Milstein Hall. This event is part of the Black Sound Series, organized by Mendi Obadike and Keith Obadike. Co-sponsored by the Department of Performing and Media Arts, Sounds of Blackness, Milstein Program, Department of Music, Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program, American Studies Program, and the Department of Art.
PENUMBRA: 2026 ANNUAL SPRING DANCE PRESENTING SERIES
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for PENUMBRA: 2026 ANNUAL SPRING DANCE PRESENTING SERIES, an evening of original dance work featuring choreography by Babatunji Johnson and Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo, on Friday, March 20, and Saturday March 21, from 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm, in the Class of ’56 Flexible Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.
Acting for the Camera Workshops
Former PMA Faculty Carolyn Michelle Smith returns to Cornell to offer two on-camera workshops for student actors, March 12-13.
Workshop #1: Building the Solo Scene On-Camera
Thursday, March 12, 4:45-6:45 pm, Black Box Theatre, Schwartz Center
Open to all students currently or previously enrolled in PMA 2800 and above
Workshop #2: On-Camera Audition Technique
Friday, March 13, 3:00-5:00 pm, SB10 Dance Theatre, Schwartz Center
Open to all students who have completed PMA 2800, as well as students currently/formerly enrolled in PMA 3800 and above
Please register using this link: https://forms.gle/2bFC9LDrAVL6tDyc8. Important additional information will be provided in advance of the workshop.
PMAPS Colloquium with AE Stevenson: “'Oh My Fucking God, She Fucking Dead': Time in a Vine”
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for PMAPS Colloquium with AE Stevenson: “'Oh My Fucking God, She Fucking Dead': Time in a Vine,” on Friday, March 20, from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, in the Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. AE Stevenson is Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. This event is free and open to the public.
Home and the Body: Multiplicities of Time and Memory, a Performance-Lecture with Kayla Farrish
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Home and the Body: Multiplicities of Time and Memory, a Performance-Lecture with Kayla Farrish on Tuesday, March 3, from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, in the Class of ’56 Dance Studio Theatre (SB10), Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Professional Directions: A Conversation with Kyle Abraham: Choreography as Practice & Profession
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Professional Directions: A Conversation with Kyle Abraham on Thursday, March 5, from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, in Reading Room 124, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required. The guest will join virtually on Zoom.
Professional Directions: Expand Your Scope: Working as a Creative in Entertainment with Carolyn Michelle Smith
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Professional Directions: Expand Your Scope: Working as a Creative in Entertainment with Carolyn Michelle Smith on Friday, March 13, from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm, in Room 220, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Open to all Cornell students. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to pma@cornell.edu by Wednesday, March 11.
PMA Chair Samantha Noelle Sheppard Writes Review About the Documentary “Natchez”
PMA Chair and Associate Professor Samantha Noelle Sheppard has written a review for The Guardian about the documentary Natchez, called “Plantation weddings and pre-civil war fashion: the film that critiques the historical fantasy of Natchez.”
Land Acknowledgement
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.