Yale School of Art mourns the passing of Greg Tate

The School of Art was heartbroken to learn the news of Greg Tate’s passing yesterday. As a leading voice of cultural critique, Tate expanded our understandings of the interwoven spaces between and within art, music, writing, and criticality. We’re grateful for his recent contributions to the School of Art, including his summer 2020 conversation with Leah Mirakhor, Lecturer in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale, as part of our “Speak to Me” series — and most recently, delivering the 2021 commencement address to graduating MFA students, which Tate titled “Now Dig This.”

He concluded his speech with a powerful “proposal and challenge” to students: “…to manifest ways that your collective creative voices can become more powerfully entangled in your generation’s pursuit of a more just, equitable, Earth-First, democratically enraged and engaged, motivated, enlightened 21st century and beyond. Now dig that.”

It’s our hope that we’re all able to engage in Tate’s pursuit towards a more enlightened era in his absence, and our hearts are with his family and friends in this moment. Greg Tate’s 2021 commencement speech is available to watch in full at yaleart.org/2021CommencementYouTube.