A photograph that stops someone mid-scroll, that makes them wonder about the person in the frame, that sparks a question or a conversation—that photograph has done something powerful.

A new documentary about George Frederick Bristow (1825-1898), America's first major symphonic composer, has secured major funding from The Robert and Joseph Cornell Memorial Foundation. The 30-minute film explores the Brooklyn-born composer's pioneering role in establishing American classical music, featuring his upcoming Carnegie Hall performance on January 30, 2026, and America's 250th anniversary celebration. Directed in part

Across painting, music, and the decorative arts, the exotic functioned as a field of projection—a way for Western culture to measure itself against the imagined other. Lévy’s brush, Tiffany’s glass, Bridgetower’s bow: each transformed foreignness into beauty, light, and sound that spoke as much about the Western imagination as about the East it sought to evoke.