Below are some recent talks, panels, podcast interviews, and classes. If you’re interested in hosting me for a conversation, drop me a line!

Funeral Service Insider Podcast (March 2024) In this conversation on all things related to the grave, we touch on cemetery tours, human remains in museums, the pandemic, and more.

Thinking Allowed (BBC): The Grave – Memorial Benches (October 2023) I joined this BBC program to talk about the grave alongside a discussion of memorialization on bench plaques.

All of It: Why Green-Wood Cemetery Matters (October 2023) In support of the Brooklyn Arcadia: Art, History, and Nature at Majestic Green-Wood book, I joined this conversation on WNYC on the importance to NYC of this local burial ground.

Late Night Live on ABC (August 2023) On this Australian radio program, I discussed the evolution of the American grave and how it has the potential for change.

Fields Podcast (July 2023) My NYC Microseasons creative collaborator Erin Chapman and I joined the Fields podcast on Heritage Radio Network to talk about noticing the small changes in nature in the city.

New Books Network Podcast (May 2023) Listen to this podcast interview for a conversation related to my book Grave and a discussion of how we care for the dead, how we could do better, and what can be revealed by investigating cemeteries.

Express Train to the Afterworld (October 2022) The talk I did with the New York Transit Museum on cemeteries and transportation in NYC and beyond is now available to watch online. From a ferry ride to Green-Wood in Brooklyn in the 19th century to a special train route to Woodlawn in the Bronx in the early 20th century, the pathways to the grave have changed over time.

Transit of the Dead (May 2022) I shared the history of NYC cemeteries as it relates to the transportation systems, from ferries to funeral trains, in this talk as part of the virtual program “Underworld Tales: A Transit Museum and Morbid Anatomy Variety Show.”

Great Trees of New York with Allison C. Meier (April 2021) I joined Turnstile Tours for an online conversation about some of New York City’s greatest trees, with special on-the-ground tree coverage in Prospect Park.

Odd Salon: Shock & Art (October 2020) I presented a short talk on the 19th-century spirit artist Georgiana Houghton, whose enigmatic drawings were guided by ghosts.

Witchhassle Podcast (October 2020) I discussed cemeteries, tombstone symbolism, and much more on an episode of this podcast about the occult, magic, and other wondrous topics.

Something Rather than Nothing Podcast (April 2020) I joined in a conversation on forgotten history, death, art, spirit photography, and more on this podcast that takes a philosophical and psychological approach to the act of creation .

And Now Podcast (April 2020) I was interviewed in an episode on pandemic art and how the art from past pandemics like the Spanish flu can speak to the present.

Brooklyn Brainery (2011 – ongoing) I have given recurring classes on cemetery symbolism and New York cemetery history at this local venue.

Manipulations & Manifestations: Allison C. Meier on Spirit Photography at Swann Auction Galleries in New York (October 2018) I gave a talk on the history of photographing ghosts.

TV interview on Tony Guida’s NY (May 2018) This discussion covers cemeteries, overlooked history, and more!

MoMA R&D Salon 19: Death (January 2017) I was part of a lineup of speakers invited by Museum of Modern Art curator Paola Antonelli to discuss modern death and culture.

Municipal Equation Podcast: Into the Alley (July 2017) I was part of a podcast episode on the alleyway in cities.

Rosenbach Museum, Philadelphia: Marianne Moore and the Camperdown Elm (January 2017) I presented a lecture on how the modernist poet Marianne Moore helped save a rare tree in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

London Skeptics Club: Is there anybody there? Victorian Spirit Photographs (July 2017) Can a camera capture ghosts? In this talk for the London Skeptics Club, I examined the history of spirit photography in the 19th century.

Visual Arts Center of New Jersey: Playground of My Mind (September 2017) I was part of this panel discussion on modern playground design, responding to Julia Jacquette’s exhibition at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey.

PechaKucha 20×20 NYC (September 2016) I discussed staging unconventional events in cemeteries at this evening of short-form presentations.

Placemaking in Places of Death: Governors Island (August 2015) I organized a discussion on holding events in places of death with Sextantworks on Governors Island in the New York Harbor.