Atelier

Born in Japan, Helen Waddell was an Irish writer and scholar who began her studies at Oxford at the age of 31. After two years in Paris as a fellow at the American University Women’s Club, she became a literary sensation in the late 1920s and 1930s.  Waddell first gained acclaim with The Wandering Scholars (1927), an exploration of 12th- and 13th-century goliards, followed by the widely prais...

Anna Ladd was an unconventional American sculptor whose work bridged art and humanity. During World War I, she founded the Studio for Portrait Masks under the American Red Cross, crafting face masks that restored both the appearance and self-esteem of soldiers disfigured by war. This remarkable contribution earned her France’s prestigious Legion of Honor. While she is best known for her wartime ef...

The Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination , established in 2018, brings together scholars and artists for a year-long exploration of ideas, creativity, and collaboration. In this episode, we delve into the vibrant intersection of intellectual rigor and artistic expression at the core of the Institute, with Mark Mazower, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Director, and Marie d’Origny, the Paris...

Two remarkable women brought humanity’s oldest stories etched in stone to light. Mary Boyle and Suzanne de Saint-Mathurin, pioneers in prehistoric art, were key collaborators of the renowned Abbé Henri Breuil. Together, they explored and documented ancient petroglyphs, spanning Europe’s caves to Africa’s cliffs. Boyle’s vivid illustrations and writings, combined with de Saint-Mathurin’s groundbrea...

Reid Hall’s Elizabeth Taylor was not the Hollywood icon, but a trailblazing 19th-century explorer. Scientific curiosity and unshakable independence led Taylor from her birthplace in Columbus, Ohio, to the bohemian heart of Montparnasse, to the icy wilderness of the Arctic. She chronicled her adventures in Alaska, Iceland, Norway, and the Faroe Islands through articles and sketches, published in va...

The vast, alien landscape of the Arctic is Marco Tedesco’s laboratory. Due to climate change, this region is the most endangered place on Earth. In this episode, Tedesco discusses what ice science can teach us about our environment and takes us through a day in the life of an arctic climate scientist, as he does in his book The Hidden Life of Ice. Marco Tedesco is a Lamont Research Professor at th...

We are joined by Mary Louise Taylor, great-granddaughter of Helen Rogers Reid, who will offer a glimpse into the lives and motivations of the Reid women and their significant global philanthropic contributions. After Elisabeth Mills Reid purchased the property in 1911, she oversaw a period of transformation, enhancing the estate and fostering a vibrant artistic community. Her daughter-in-law, Hele...

After a fire devastated Notre-Dame in 2019, only three photographers were chosen to document its reconstruction. Among them was Tomas van Houtryve, a 2024-2025 Fellow of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Over four years, van Houtryve captured the cathedral’s revival using a range of techniques—from the historic collodion process to drone photography—highlighting the moment's historical dept...

Brunhilde Biebuyck, Director of Reid Hall and the Columbia Global Center in Paris, welcomes you to 4 rue de Chevreuse. Today, this address houses several Columbia University initiatives in Paris, serving as a vibrant hub for intellectual exploration across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. But when, and how, did it become Reid Hall? In 1893, American philanthropist Elisabeth Mills Reid be...

Columbia Professor Frank Guridy's latest book, The Stadium , traces the history of the American stadium as a battleground for social justice since its inception. In this episode, he discusses his origins as a sports fan growing up in the Bronx and the experience of combing through vast digital archives to assemble a narrative filled with anti-fascist rallies, Black Power demonstrations, feminist p...

Launched in 2022, Génération Leaders is a training program dedicated to mentoring a new generation leaders committed to justice, equality, and the fight against all forms of discrimination. It was founded by Assa Traoré , an activist whose brother, Adama Traoré, died in police custody in 2016 on the day of his 24th birthday. The program highlights the power of collective decision-making, a strengt...

In 2022, Le Monde expanded its reach to English-speaking audiences, adapting its award-winning journalism for a global readership. In this episode, Elvire Camus , Editor-in-Chief and founder of Le Monde in English, shares insights on the translation process—from selecting key stories to preserving nuance and cultural context, to the unique challenges of multimedia reporting. She also reflects on b...

Discover the untold stories of remarkable women who shaped Reid Hall. Each episode highlights the lives and accomplishments of artists, scientists, philanthropists, or scholars, from 1893 to 1939. Providing rich historical context, “Women of Reid Hall” ensures that these women's contributions are not forgotten. “Women of Reid Hall” is a special series of Atelier , a podcast produced by the Columbi...

Since its founding in 2017, Forbidden Stories has delivered a powerful message: killing the journalist won’t kill the story. This Emmy-winning global network of journalists is committed to continuing the work of their colleagues who face threats, imprisonment, or have been murdered. In this episode, Laurent Richard , founder and executive director of Forbidden Stories , shares the origins of this...

Après six ans de lutte, Assa Traoré a créé en 2022 Génération Leaders , un programme visant à former une nouvelle génération de leaders engagés pour l'égalité et la justice, et à combattre les discriminations sous toutes leurs formes. Elle y souligne l'importance de la prise de décision collective et la force qu'elle puise dans ce modèle de leadership collaboratif. Dans cet épisode, Assa Traoré re...

The creative process offers a liberating counterpoint to other work, encouraging diverse thinking through varied mediums and perspectives, reframing failure as a first step toward innovation, and balancing professional and academic efforts. In this episode, Delphine Grouès discusses the role of creativity in education at Sciences Po and its influence on her career as an academic, teacher, and arti...

Ursula Kwong-Brown and Daniel Erdberg performed Driftscape on May 13, 2024, at the second annual Nuit de l’Imagination, exploring the theme of boredom. After discussing how boredom influences their creativity, we invited them to share a version of the performance with Atelier listeners. Ursula Kwong-Brown is an LA-based pianist/composer/arts technologist. Described as “atmospheric and accomplished...

What should be the role of academic institutions to lead the fight against climate change? Regrouping the expertise of Columbia faculty and researchers across the university, the Climate School aims to create and inspire solutions and educate future leaders for just, prosperous societies on a healthy planet. In this episode, Alex Halliday discusses why Columbia created a Climate School in the firs...

How can combining historical exploration and travel memoir reveal the poignant histories of diverse African Americans who left the United States over the past century? In this episode, Tamara Walker discusses her recent book Beyond the Shores: A History of African Americans Abroad (Crown, 2023). Her own travel experiences inform not only her written work, but also impelled her to co-create non-pro...

Anne Atheling’s advice to other travelers can best be summed up as follows: “Go young, go often, and go long.” A Barnard graduate of the class of 1950, she studied abroad at Reid Hall in the Summer of 1949 with the Smith Junior Year Abroad program, one of the first post-WWII and in the same year as future First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier. As she puts it, this “kicked off a life-long love of everythin...

Narrative medicine is a medical approach that emphasizes the importance of understanding and integrating patients' narratives into their healthcare. In this episode, Delphine Taylor and Nellie Hermann discuss this innovative field at the intersection of humanities, the arts, clinical practice, and health care justice. They were at Reid Hall in Paris for a conference with French and European collea...

How can journalists report on traumatic events, protect sources, and ensure a safe newsroom? In this episode, Juliana Ruhfus, director of Dart Centre Europe, a Columbia Journalism School project, explores their cross-cultural work through online resources, in-person retreats, workshops, and events at the Paris Center. Juliana Ruhfus took over as director of Dart Centre Europe (DCE) in 2022, a rela...

What does it mean to be bored, and what is the impact of boredom on creativity, connection, and inspiration? Ursula Kwong-Brown and Daniel Erdberg, in Paris for Reid Hall's annual "Nuit de l'Imagination," discuss their relationships with boredom and introduce listeners to their new composition, Driftscape , an immersive musical performance that attempts to create a space, both personal and collect...

Throughout his multi-disciplinary, international career, Mohamed Elshahed has found that the most apt description of his work is storytelling. In this episode, he guides us through Cairo, London, Mexico City, and Paris, intertwining histories and personal anecdotes to provide context for the book project he's currently undertaking as an Institute Fellow. Mohamed Elshahed is a writer, curator, and...

Lois Grjebine, Smith class of 1952, first came to Reid Hall as a study-abroad student over seven decades ago. In this episode, she talks about how the experience changed the course of her life, launching a pioneering career in journalism and women’s rights. In the 1960s, she worked first as editor-in-chief of the French monthly, Réalités, then as editor-in-chief of the weekly English-language edit...