14 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 February 28–March 5, 2020
Bklyn Public Library offering free, college-level courses
is a philosopher from Russia,”
said Jakab Orsós, vice
president of arts and culture
at Brooklyn Public Library,
whose team produces the lecture
series.
To take advantage of the
city’s wealth of untapped expertise,
the library system created
University Open Air, a
lecture series that offers migrant
academics a competitive
wage in exchange for brisk,
one-hour lessons that introduce
students to a wide variety
of compelling disciplines,
according to Orsós.
Among the many courses
on offer include lectures on
childhood development, urban
planning, photography,
futurism, meditation, Chinese
tea ceremonies, and Tang Dynasty
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China, to name a few — were
regarded as experts in their
chosen fields back home, but
due to professional and bureaucratic
challenges, many
were forced to adopt new, often
more menial professions
upon migrating to the United
States, according to the program’s
chief organizer.
“It’s the usual New York
story, where you get into a cab
and it turns out your driver
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Brooklyn Paper
An international cadre of
researchers and academics
are partnering with Brooklyn
Public Library to offer
more than 25 college-level
courses to curious Brooklynites
free of charge.
The instructors — who
hail from countries including
Pakistan, India, Cameroon,
Nepal, Tunisia, and
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poetry, along with a very
topical lesson on the impact
of the 2020 census.
University Open Air’s current
semester, which kicked
off on Feb. 24 and continues
through March 7, follows the
program’s debut last summer,
when the library system partnered
with the Prospect Park
Alliance to host three weeks of
outdoor classes in Brooklyn’s
Backyard, which attracted
hundreds of students to lessons
accompanied by free coffee,
a mobile library, and even
live music.
The classes are brief and
introductory by nature, but
the professors are liberal in
handing out their contact information
and will provide a
reading list for students keen
to continue their education,
Orsós said.
And while locals will be
attracted by the event’s offer
of free knowledge, Orsós —
himself an immigrant hailing
from Hungary — hopes that
students will also come to better
appreciate the challenges
faced by even the most accomplished
migrants in their
quest for a better life.
“It’s reminder to our community
that here are these
amazing people, some were
professors and some were
professionals before they
decided to move over here,
and reconstruct their careers,”
said Orsós. “It’s not easy anywhere,
but it’s especially not
easy in the US.”
Get a free education at
the Bedford Library 496
Franklin Ave. between Jefferson
Avenue and Fulton
Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant,
(718) 623-0012, universityopenair@
bklynlibrary.
org For more information
visit https://www.bklynlibrary.
org/university-openair
/registration
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