PROVIDENCE, RI.- Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is pleased to announce 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 1 launched with Williams in conversation with acclaimed visual artist, filmmaker, and RISD alum RaMell Ross MFA 14 PH, 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.

The latest episode features multimedia artist and RISD alum Rose B. Simpson MFA 11 CR (Kha’p’o Owingeh/Santa Clara Pueblo), whose work explores modes of empowerment and resilience to connect the past and present. Together, Williams and Simpson discuss authenticity and imposter syndrome, the possibility of taking the ego out of art-making, and advice for young artists navigating their creative paths.

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 explores emerging issues in arts and culture as well as higher education, and reflects 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. Upcoming guests scheduled to appear this season include celebrated graphic novelist Brian Selznick 88 IL, author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and Cuban-born artist, educator, and 2025 RISD Honorary Degree recipient María Magdalena Campos-Pons, whose practice combines photography, painting, sculpture, film, video, and performance.

Episodes of It Starts with a Question are available to watch on RISD’s YouTube channel.

Rhode Island School of Design

RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) is a creative community founded in 1877 in Providence, Rhode Island. Today, we enroll 2,606 students hailing from 62 countries. Led by a committed faculty, they are engaged in more than 40 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and supported by a worldwide network of over 33,000 alumni who demonstrate the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society.

Beyond facts and figures, what is the spirit of this community? Through a cross-disciplinary curriculum of studio-based learning and rigorous study in the liberal arts, RISD students are encouraged to develop their own personal creative processes, but they are united by one guiding principle: in order to create, one must question. In cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD seeks to activate a critical exchange that empowers artists, designers, and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world. RISD’s mission, at both the college and museum, is not only to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, but to transmit that knowledge and make global contributions. Visit risd.edu to learn more.