Centering Black Stories & Creating in Community with Joshuah Brian Campbell and Eli Wilson Pelton

Parsing intertextual memes; learning on the job with Cynthia Erivo and Issa Rae; collectively centering Black stories in entertainment -- these are some of the experiences GRAMMY- and Oscar-nominated composer/singer Joshuah Brian Campbell and HBO television writer Eli Wilson Pelton cover in their conversation. JOSHUAH BRIAN CAMPBELL is a singer, composer, songwriter, ministry worker and actor from Cheraw, South Carolina. He is the co-writer, along with Cynthia Erivo, of the Grammy and Oscar-nominated and World Soundtrack Award-winning “Stand Up” (performed by Cynthia Erivo and produced by William Wells and Gabe Fox-Peck '20). Joshuah grew up groomed by Southern Black gospel traditions, and this grounding serves as his vantage point to all the music he performs and composes. He's finishing a master of divinity at Union Theological Seminary (NYC) in May 2021, where he does work in Hebrew and Greek translation, Christian/faith education, biblical interpretation, and Black religious studies. Eli Wilson Pelton is a television writer living in Los Angeles, CA. He has written for High Fidelity on Hulu, Insecure on HBO, and Generation on HBOMax, among others. He studied History and Literature but somehow got out of writing a thesis because he’s lazy. He also hates bios and doesn’t know how to end this so just will. This podcast is presented in partnership with the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Harvard Alumni Association. Learn more at 16artists.com. #16artists