• CUNY Academic Commons
    • People
    • Groups
    • Sites
    • Courses
    • Events
    • Activity
    • About
  • Log In
  • Register
  • Help
  • Notifications
    Notifications
Skip to content
Back Home
Publics Lab
Transforming Doctoral Education in the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center
  • About
    • The PublicsLab
    • Public Fellows
    • Faculty Mentors
    • Practitioners & Speakers
    • Staff & Advisory Committee
    • P3 (PublicsLab Programming Panel)
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Programs
    • Fellowships
    • Curriculum Grants
    • Seminars & Workshops
    • Internships
  • Project Blog
  • Resources
  • PublicsLab Archive
  • Search
Back Home
Publics Lab
Transforming Doctoral Education in the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center
  • Search
  • About
    • The PublicsLab
    • Public Fellows
    • Faculty Mentors
    • Practitioners & Speakers
    • Staff & Advisory Committee
    • P3 (PublicsLab Programming Panel)
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Programs
    • Fellowships
    • Curriculum Grants
    • Seminars & Workshops
    • Internships
  • Project Blog
  • Resources
  • PublicsLab Archive
Home » The PublicsLab Blog » Archive » Learning through Play: A Conversation with PublicsLab Fellows Mica Baum-Tuccillo and Nic Benacerraf
Archive Fellow Interviews Posts

Learning through Play: A Conversation with PublicsLab Fellows Mica Baum-Tuccillo and Nic Benacerraf

by Jess Applebaum|Published 18 August 2023
Mushrooms
In this conversation, PublicsLab Fellows Mica Baum-Tuccillo and Nic Benacerraf talk about how, as both academics and practitioners, the PublicsLab gave them time and the resources to be accountable to the communities they serve. Their most recent collaboration was with Edge Effect Media Group, a “think-and-do tank” co-founded by Nic and the interview host, Jess Applebaum. Edge Effect’s work brings polydiscipinary scholars, artists, and activists together to create community, scholarship, and performances, using the principles of Participatory Action Research at its foundation.

The interview was recorded by Jess Applebaum on December 7, 2022.

 

 

https://plbeta.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/6059/files/2023/08/2023-8-19-Mica-and-Nic-PublicsLab-Interview-final.mp3

PDF Transcript: Interview with PublicsLab Fellows Mica Baum Tuccillo and Nic Benacerraf

“Coming in as a new scholar, early on I was working on Beyond Acceptance Research Collective and the Youth Justice Research Collaborative, which are both projects with young people, but what PublicsLab gave me was a space to articulate what that work meant to me, to my field, in the world, and where I thought we could work and make our processes stronger.”
– Mica Baum-Tuccillo
“…from the very beginning of my participation in the PublicsLab there’s been a lot of emphasis on accountability. And for me, in large part, that’s been my devised theater community in New York City, which has placed a large premium and a lot of energy into living and imagining better ways of being together.”
– Nic Benacerraf

Mica Baum-Tuccillo photoMica Baum-Tuccillo is a scholar, activist, educator, and licensed social worker. Mica has co-facilitated several community-based research projects, including The Beyond Acceptance Research Collective, And Still They Rise , and The Youth Justice Research Collaborative. In early 2023 Mica is launching a 2-year participatory action research study and universal basic income pilot with the Children’s Defense Fund-NY and young people who have direct experience of foster care in NYC. As a doctoral student in Critical Psychology, Mica uses eclectic methods to engage with urgent concerns of justice, to trouble boundaries around expertise, and to produce knowledge collaboratively and with joy.


Nick Benacerraf photoNic Benacerraf is a scholar and political artist who creates and studies live performance. As a doctoral student in GC’s Theatre & Performance program, Nic’s dissertation exposes the industry of Public Relations as form of anti-political theatre which uses theatrical techniques of mass persuasion to alter our sense of social reality, for the purpose of widening existing power inequities. As a creative director and scenographer, Nic engineers consent-based systems and environments for genuine human encounters in theaters, galleries, concert halls, and streets. He is founding partner of Edge Effect Media Group, following 15 years as founding co-artistic director of The Assembly. He holds a BA from Wesleyan and an MA/MFA from CalArts. www.nicbenacerraf.com/

Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Related

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

  • accountability
  • critical social psychology
  • devised theatre
  • edge effect media group
  • participatory action research
  • public fellow

You may also like

Published 15 September 2020

(CLOSED) Doctoral Curriculum Enhancement Grants (DCEGs) 2020-2021

Deadline: 13 November 2020 In 2018, The Graduate Center, CUNY received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation focused on transforming […]

Published 28 January 2020

Anonymity, Empowerment, and the Risks of Storytelling: Lessons from a Digital Archive Project

How do we––as researchers, as participants, as members of a community––balance the importance of speaking up against the potential consequences of doing so? Furthermore, how do we increase the agency and empowerment that participants have over their own stories? 

Mushrooms
Published 20 August 2023

Serving a New Generation of Students: How the History Program Used Its Curriculum Grant

Professor Annie Valk and doctoral student Deena Ecker discuss the role of the public historian, how to free the field of history from antiquated notions of academia, and the importance of advocating for up-and-coming scholars.

mushrooms
Published 20 August 2023

Catalog of Past Events

PublicsLab produced a variety of events that ranged from lectures, to workshares, to symposiums, and book launches.

Post navigation

  • Previous post Syllabus: Scholarly Praxis at Work in the World
  • Back to post list
  • Next post Call for Curriculum Grant Proposals
CUNY Graduate Center Logo
Follow Us
  • Twitter
Contact Information
365 Fifth Ave. | Suite 3300
New York, NY 10016
212-817-7224
publicslab@gc.cuny.edu

© 2025 Publics Lab – All rights reserved

Powered by WP – Designed with the Customizr theme

 

Loading Comments...
 

    Need help with the Commons?

    Email us at commonshelpsite@gmail.com so we can respond to your questions and requests. Please email from your CUNY email address if possible. Or visit our help site for more information:

    Visit our help site
    CUNY Academic Commons logo
    • People
    • Groups
    • Sites
    • Courses
    • Events
    • Activity
    • About
    • Help
    • Privacy
    • Terms of Service
    • Accessibility
    • Creative Commons (CC) license unless otherwise noted
    Built with WordPress Protected by Akismet Powered by CUNY CUNY logo