Video and Media

See Crystal Williams’ speeches on and off campus, and find interviews with and select writings by our president.

Videos

Watch Williams share her thoughts on equity, art and design, and her vision for RISD’s present and future.

Access the full playlist

sharing how she uses the RISD President's House to showcase the work of faculty, students and alums with The New York Times (2024)
discussing the central role of artists and designers in addressing the most urgent global challenges, and RISD’s participation in the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab with The Art Newspaper (2023)
highlighting the pivotal role of critical thinking in arts education and RISD's unique partnership with Hyundai Motor Group with The Korea Times (2023)
discussing her vision for RISD on The Public Radio’s Morning Edition (2023)
addressing the community during RISD’s October 7, 2022 inauguration ceremony (2022)
ARTnews coverage of her becoming the first black leader of RISD (2021)
Associated Press coverage of her election as RISD’s next president (2021)

discussing the business of art with Randi Zuckerberg on SiriusXM’s Randi Zuckerberg Means Business (2024)
on a panel with Design Miami championing women in the design world (2023)
in conversation with María Magdalena Campos-Pons as part of the Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 Conversation program (2023)
speaking with Chris Cermak of Monocle; the interview includes a tour of the Nature Lab and the Center for Complexity (2023)
discussing the lives and legacies of Lani Guinier and bell hooks with President Ruth Simmons of Prairie View A&M University as part of Brown University’s symposium event The Journey to Power - A Presidential Panel (2023)
speaking with host Alexa Gagosz on The Boston Globe’s Rhode Island Report podcast—available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify (2022)
in conversation with RISD alum Nafis M White for Rhode Island Monthly (2022)
sitting for 10 questions with Interior Design (2022)
speaking with Dezeen on her election as RISD’s first black president (2021)
as moderator of Black Boston: Transforming the Arts panel on inclusive access, equity and opportunity (2020)
in conversation with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker for MoMA’s Equity Series (2016)

sharing her sources of inspiration as part of Design Milk’s Friday Five series (2023)
reflecting in Metropolis on renowned author Toni Morrison’s memo to Angela Davis and her advocacy for Black creatives (2022)
reading her poem Elegy for Us in response to Faith Ringgold’s American People Series #20: Die for MoMA’s Poetry Project (2019)
on her path to college in Potential Matters for WORLD Channel’s Stories from the Stage (2020)
reading a selection of her poems including Double Helix, Surface, and Year After Year We Visited Alabama (2015)