2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium
Award-Winning Vegan Chef Bryant Terry Joins Lineup for Ohio Wesleyan's March 27-29 Event
DELAWARE, Ohio – Multidisciplinary artist, James Beard Award-winning chef, publisher, and author Bryant Terry will speak, design a small bites menu, and share his creative journey as part of Ohio Wesleyan University's 2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium. The March 27-29 event also will feature a conversation with actress and activist Erika Alexander.
Among his accomplishments, Terry is the author of the cookbook "Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed," named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks of all time by Bon Appétit; the editor of "Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora," named a Best Book – Lifestyle by Publishers Weekly; and one of "9 People Who Are Changing the Future of Food," according to Fast Company.
He will create the tasting menu for the March 27 opening reception of the Van Peebles Symposium, to be held in Ohio Wesleyan's Richard M. Ross Art Museum.
Terry joins accomplished actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, and director Erika Alexander ("Living Single") in headlining the 2025 Van Peebles Symposium, which will explore the theme of "Disruption!! Signal Fires, Reckoning, and Jubilee Through Black Art." The theme ties back to the Harlem Renaissance of the Roaring Twenties when a group of "disruptive innovators" in the Manhattan neighborhood launched Fire!!, a short-lived magazine dedicated to Black artists.
The three-day event will include academic presentations, roundtable discussions, art exhibitions, dance and theater presentations, and more. The latest list of presenters, topics, and bios is available online at owu.edu/VanPeebles. Ohio Wesleyan launched the symposium in 2023 in memory of Van Peebles, a 1953 graduate of the university and groundbreaking Black filmmaker whose best-known works include "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," "Watermelon Man," and "The Story of a Three-Day Pass."
Symposium tickets are available now at owu.edu/VanPeebles. Ticket prices are as follows:
- General admission – $135 per person.
- Ohio Wesleyan alumni, faculty and staff, and all non-OWU graduate and undergraduate students – $115 per person.
- Current Ohio Wesleyan students – $25 per person with a valid university ID. (OWU students volunteering to work at the symposium will be admitted free.)
- VIP meet-and-greet with Erika Alexander – $75 per person, available only with symposium ticket purchase. (This hour-long reception will precede the closing banquet. Limited VIP tickets are available.)
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit owu.edu/VanPeebles.
The 2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium is being planned by representatives of Ohio Wesleyan's Department of Africana, Gender, and Identity Studies; Department of Journalism and Communication; Department of Performing Arts; and Office of the Chief Diversity Officer in collaboration with a committee that includes representatives of Ohio Wesleyan's sister school, Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and the professional arts and education communities.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature experience, the OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to understand issues from multiple academic perspectives, volunteer in service to others, build a diverse and global perspective, and translate classroom knowledge into real-world experience through internships, research, and other hands-on learning. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives" and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review "Best Colleges" lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.