Kenan Arts and UNCSA to host Arts and Emerging Technology Residency, Aug. 29

The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts (Kenan Arts) and UNCSA will bring together artists, technologists, and thought leaders in the arts to examine the ethical, legal, technical and creative issues surrounding new technologies in the arts, including AI, for an Arts and Emerging Technology Residency on Saturday, Aug. 29 at UNCSA. The residency, open to the public as well as UNCSA students, faculty and staff, will offer an artist-centered opportunity to engage in dialogue around the myriad issues surrounding one of the most important conversations in the arts today.

In addition to topical discussions, the event will include the North Carolina premiere of “Letter to Nobody” by acclaimed choreographer and Martha Graham Dance Company member Xin Ying in collaboration with Mimi Yin and NUUM Collective, with an audience talkback to follow. Called “intriguing” by the New York Times following its premiere in April 2025 at the Joyce Theater in New York, the work uses archival footage and AI to revive Martha Grahams’s 1940 “Letter to the World,” including a striking live duet with Ying. "The result of this technological and artistic fusion between Graham, Xin, and Yin is quite personal, a communion between artists," reviewed Brooklyn Rail.

The Arts and Emerging Technology Residency will take place Saturday, Aug. 29 from 1-4 p.m. in Performance Place on the UNCSA Campus (1533 S. Main St.).

The residency will begin Friday, Aug. 28, with a free public film screening presented in collaboration with a/perture cinema. “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," an “essential documentary” (Variety) exploring AI and society, will be screened at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, in Main Theatre of the ACE Exhibition Complex on the UNCSA campus. A talkback with editor Davis Coombe, Chancellor Cole and Kenan Arts Technologist-in-Residence Koven J. Smith will follow the screening.

Both the Friday screening and Saturday residency are free and open to the public. Registration is required at uncsa.edu/performances.

“As a university that is dedicated completely to the training of the artists of tomorrow, it is our unique responsibility to address the impact of new technologies on the art and the industry, while always keeping the artist, and human, at the center,” said Chancellor Brian Cole. “Perhaps at no other time in our history has such a development so caused us to question the very meaning of art, the process of creating it, and who owns it. I am proud that, thanks to Kenan Arts, UNCSA is able to host several thought leaders who are exploring these issues in a meaningful way to help create dialogue on our campus and in our community around these critical issues.”

He continued, “I am also thrilled that audiences in our community will have the unique opportunity to experience Xin Ying’s moving work, which brings the legendary Martha Graham into the room in a conversation that will both entertain and cause us to think deeply about identity and legacy.”

“Kenan Arts is committed to creating platforms for dialogue around issues facing the arts and artists today, and forging collaborations to help the arts thrive in times of challenge and transformation,” said Kevin Bitterman, Executive Director, The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts. “It is our hope to continue hosting discussions like the Arts and Emerging Technology Residency around topics facing the arts at UNCSA, and beyond.”

The Saturday event will include two parts: the first half of the afternoon will feature a series of discussions focusing on specific issues related to emerging technology in the arts, and the second half of the afternoon will include the performance of “Letter to Nobody” and discussion with artists Xin Ying and Mimi Yin. Audience members will have the opportunity to submit questions and responses throughout the day.

UNCSA students will also have the opportunity to take a Graham technique class, led by Ying, and a workshop led by Yin to further explore integration of movement and technology in performance.

Panels and panelists (Saturday, Aug. 29)

Arts & Emerging Technology: Introduction

Where does generative AI fit within the history of emerging technologies? What should artists take into account when considering engaging with emerging technologies, and is generative AI different?

Panelist: Koven J. Smith, Kenan Arts Technologist-in-Residence and practitioner with over two decades of experience helping the arts sector navigate emerging technologies via work at the Knight Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Composers Forum, and others.

Arts & Conscience: The Ethics of AI

What values are at stake when generative products like AI are used in creative practice? What ethical factors should artists take into account when considering using generative products?

Panelist: Cézanne Charles, co-creator of rootoftwo, a hybrid art, design, and technology studio that investigates how invisible digital systems, automation and emerging technologies shape civic life, privacy and public spaces.

Arts & Rights: Intellectual Property and AI

What legal considerations should artists weigh when deploying AI, or when deciding whether their work should be used to train it? What protections exist, what gaps remain, and where is the legal and regulatory landscape headed?

Panelist: Dave Hansen, Executive Director of Authors Alliance, an organization that creates resources to help creators understand and enjoy their rights and promote policies that make knowledge and culture available and discoverable.

 Arts & Livelihoods: Creative Labor in the AI Era

How are artists navigating labor issues when generative AI is involved? What protections are emerging for artists in this new landscape?

Panelist: Jillian Arnold, President and Labor & Technology Intelligence Officer, IATSE Local 695.

A conversation with Xin Ying on use of technology in artistic practice

An in-depth conversation with choreographer Xin Ying and her creative partner Mimi Yin about “Letter to Nobody” and how emerging technologies may open new creative possibilities in dance and performance. A moderated talkback with the artists will follow a complete presentation of the work, including audience response and questions.

Film screening (Friday, Aug. 28)

From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Navalny,”“The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2026, is a hand-made, eye-opening documentary about the most powerful technology humanity has ever created, and what’s at stake if we get it wrong. The screening is part of a/perture’s “AI Double Feature” also including Steven Spieberg’s “AI Artificial Intelligence” from 2001 on Thursday, Aug. 27.

The a/perture film screenings are supported by Science on Screen, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The Arts and Emerging Technology Residency was funded by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts. It was programmed by Koven J. Smith, Project Director and Kenan Arts Technologist-in-Residence in partnership with UNCSA and Kenan Arts and in collaboration with a/perture in Winston-Salem, NC.

About the Artists + Panelists

Xin Ying, Dancer & Choreographer

Xin Ying is a dancer, choreographer, mother and interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of movement, technology, and digital legacy. An Onassis ONX Fellow and Dance Magazine Cover Star, she has been a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company since 2011. Beyond performance, Xin Ying creates work that moves across choreography, immersive media, and emerging technology.

Mimi Yin

Mimi Yin is a multidisciplinarian working across code, choreography, sound and visual art. Her work exploits the literal-mindedness of computation to activate the human desire for sense-making and connection. Her research and performance works have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Google and Center for Ballet and The Arts. Yin also co-runs Consent Lab, a Humanities collaboration devoted to developing new techniques that marry the scholarly practice of close reading and embodied encounter. Yin teaches and directs graduate curriculum at ITP NYU Tisch.

Jillian Arnold, President IATSE Local 695

Jillian Arnold is the IATSE Labor & Technology Intelligence Officer. In this capacity, she is working to bridge the gap between artificial intelligence and emerging technology’s role in the workplace, while maintaining the ideology that television and films are made authentically, for humans by humans. Arnold’s career launched in the aerospace industry at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has participated in JPL’s Juno orbital insertion, Cassini's farewell, and Mars Curiosity Landing. Arnold has participated in over a dozen missions, spanning the entire solar system. 

As an award-winning video engineer, Arnold specializes in recording workflow engineering, digital acquisition, and media management. She is one of the few experts in this lucrative, technically progressive area of live television. These shows include the FIFA Halftime show, MTV VMAs, the Emmys, the Oscars, Grease Live, NFL Honors, and more.

In 2020, Arnold became the first woman and the first video engineer to be elected president of IATSE Local 695 in the local’s ninety-five-year history. She is a member the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Cal Tech’s Athenaeum. Jillian Arnold has a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.F.A. from Chapman University.

Davis Coombe, ACE

Davis Coombe is an award-winning editor, producer and writer. Davis shot, edited and produced “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner,” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009, and produced and edited the Oscar-winning documentary “Saving Face” and the Emmy winning “Chasing Ice” in 2012. In 2021, he won Primetime Emmys for writing and editing “The Social Dilemma.” His other work includes “Casting JonBenet” and “Chasing Coral" which both premiered at Sundance in 2017. He was producer and editor on the Emmy-winning “The Rescue List” for POV as well as producer and editor on “Liyana,” which won over 35 festival Grand Jury and Audience Awards. He co-produced, co-wrote, and edited “Being Evel” which premiered at Sundance in 2015. Davis also co-wrote and edited “Keep On Keepin’ On,” which was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2014. His latest work, “The Grab,” premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Recently he was an editor on the Netflix series “Encounters,” and the Focus Features documentary “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptamist.” Davis is a member of the Academy and lives in Denver, Colorado.

Cézanne Charles, partner, rootoftwo

Cézanne Charles is a creative practitioner and researcher focusing on the intersection of design, technology, culture and public policy. She is a founding partner at rootoftwo, a Detroit-based creative and civic studio she runs with John Marshall. rootoftwo explores under-imagined futures and works to build civic imagination through innovative research, strategic frameworks, exhibition-making and public art. rootoftwo are recipients of a Knight New Works grant for 463NCY, a cooperative tabletop game where players navigate the complexities of digital information in a world where privacy is a commodity. They are Creative Capital Awardees for their project “Anyspace? Whatever.”, now on view as a solo exhibition at MOCAD through Sept. 20, 2026. Notable planning projects include the place-based art, tech and community strategic framework for Michigan Central, a 30-acre district, and the digital strategy for the Cultural Center Planning Initiative, an 83-acre center in Midtown Detroit. Charles has an M.P.A. from the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, with an emphasis in science, technology and society, and a B.A. in theatre studies from The Ohio State University. Charles serves on the boards of the National Arts Policy Alliance, the Processing Foundation, Design Core Detroi, and MOCAD, and is an active presenter focused on creative industries, urbanism and emerging technology.

Dave Hansen, Executive Director, The Authors Alliance

Dave Hansen is the Executive Director of Authors Alliance, a nonprofit that represents authors and other creators who want their work to reach the widest possible audience. Much of his work involves helping creators understand and use the rights they hold. A growing part of that work concerns how AI systems are trained on creative work, and how those systems value and credit human creators. He leads the organization's advocacy in copyright litigation, filing amicus briefs in federal cases that affect how authors and artists control their work, and he has testified before Congress, the U.S. Copyright Office, and the USPTO on copyright, AI, fair use and open access. Before Authors Alliance, Hansen was Lead for Copyright & Information Policy and an Associate University Librarian at Duke University. He is a copyright attorney licensed in North Carolina, holds a J.D. and M.S.L.S. from UNC Chapel Hill, and has taught and held academic positions at UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and UC Berkeley.

Koven J. Smith, Project Director and Kenan Arts Technologist-in-Residence

Koven J. Smith is an arts strategist and technologist dedicated to building thriving futures for cultural organizations. As Senior Director of Arts at Knight Foundation, he designed the Foundation's tech-forward arts funding strategy and directed more than $80M in grants supporting digital infrastructure for arts practitioners across eight U.S. cities. Previously, he shaped the digital foundations of the museum field through leadership roles at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum and Indianapolis Museum of Art. His consulting work includes engagements with the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Smithsonian, CultureSource, the Doris Duke Foundation and many others. Beyond his strategic work, Koven is a composer and former big band leader, and slept on many floors as a drummer for indie rock bands. He serves on the boards of the American Composers Forum and Western Museums Association and is a former board member of the Museum Computer Network.

About the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts (Kenan Arts)

Artists change the way we see the world. At the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, we make space for that change to happen. From our home at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, we support artists, spark collaboration, and connect creative communities across the Southeast and beyond. For more than three decades, Kenan Arts has backed bold ideas, nurtured partnerships, and helped the arts thrive in times of challenge and transformation. By expanding pathways to creativity for artists, students, and communities, we continue that work with a clear vision for a world where artists are valued and creativity is a driving force for change. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu/KenanArts.

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