It Starts with a Question

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is pleased to announce the launch of It Starts with a Question, a new video interview series hosted by President Crystal Williams. The series features Williams in conversation with thought leaders, art and design luminaries, and other notable creatives and changemakers. Rooted in curiosity, these conversations touch on the lived experiences of each guest that shape their perspectives and growth as they explore and reflect upon the world around them. The title of the series illustrates RISD’s approach to inspiring young creatives and the way that curiosity generates new ideas, inspiration, and growth.

Season I launches with Williams in conversation with acclaimed visual artist, filmmaker, and RISD alum RaMell Ross, known for his potent exploration of the Black experience in the American South. Ross earned his MFA in Photography at RISD and is best known for co-writing and directing an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Nickel Boys, a project that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2025. He currently serves as an associate professor of visual art at Brown University. This conversation and future episodes can be found on RISD’s YouTube channel.

Williams became RISD’s 18th president in spring 2022. To usher in her tenure, RISD held a forward-thinking symposium that built on an idea she discussed in her inaugural address: “We seek to amplify, evolve, cultivate, engage, and connect with the world’s most promising and impactful creative people.” This theme acts as a framework for dreaming about RISD’s future and a guiding structure for It Starts with a Question. With each conversation, the series will explore emerging issues in arts and culture as well as higher education and reflect RISD’s role as a nexus of innovative ideas, where global perspectives are welcomed, celebrated, and shared. 

“Artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs transform the world. Through art, we influence the narratives that drive human belief and behavior; and through design we define how our lives function” says President Williams. “As a poet, I believe it is crucial to interrogate the self and the world around us. Through dialogue, we come to better understand each other–our needs and desires and dreams–and to, in so doing, make vital connections, unearth dynamic possibilities, and move toward each other with grace.”

Williams will engage with a wide range of creative thinkers, including RISD alums and honorary degree recipients. Other guests scheduled to appear this season include Cuban-born artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons, a 2025 RISD Honorary Degree recipient whose practice combines photography, painting, sculpture, film, video, and performance; mixed-media artist, RISD alum, and Honorary Degree recipient Rose B. Simpson, whose work engages ceramic sculpture, metals, fashion, performance, music, installation, writing, and custom cars; and celebrated graphic novelist and RISD alum Brian Selznick, author and illustrator of many books for children, including The Invention of Hugo Cabret, winner of the Caldecott medal and basis for the Oscar-winning movie Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese.