Robert Sember

Robert Sember works at the intersection of art and public health. He is a member of the international sound-art collective, Ultra-red, which helped establish Vogue’ology, an initiative by and for members of the African-American and Latino/a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in New York City. His ethnographic research in the U.S. and South Africa has focused on governmental and non-governmental substance abuse, mental health, and homelessness service sectors with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, and treatment access. Robert teaches Interdisciplinary Arts at Lang and is on the faculty of the Summer Institute on Sexuality, Culture, and Society at the University of Amsterdam’s Graduate School of Social Sciences. He is the recipient of the New School’s Distinguished Teaching (2016) and Social Justice (2018) teaching awards.

22 min Read Now

Ballroom Freedom School (9/9)

The Thing Beneath the Thing

Interview by Michael Roberson and Robert Sember, Edited by Ricky Tucker

In this interview with Odu Adamu, the co-founders of the Arbert Santana Ballroom Freedom School discuss Black gay organizations, the Ballroom scene, and the role of spirituality.

38 min Read Now

Ballroom Freedom School (7/9)

1986: An Elegy for Our Coldest War

By Michael Roberson Robert Sember Nikki Powerhouse Gio Exavier, and 1 more

1986: An Elegy for Our Coldest War Commemorating Gay Men of African Descent’s (GMAD) 30th anniversary alongside the legacy of black gay men organizing on behalf of themselves in response

23 min Read Now

Ballroom Freedom School (3/9)

Live to be Legend

By Robert Sember

In February this year, Arbert Santana, my friend and collaborator, died in a hospital in New York City. I miss him. Deeply. The last time I saw Arbert alive he