Aymar Jean Christian

Aymar Jean Escoffery (formerly: Aymar Jean "AJ" Christian) is the Margaret Walker Alexander Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Media and Data Equity Lab (MADE) at Northwestern University. His research focuses on the political economy of legacy and new media, cultural studies and community-based research. His first book, Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television (NYU Press, 2018) explores how the internet opened television to independent creators, and is currently writing his second book, Reparative Media (MIT Press, forthcoming), which explores how to repair systemic harm and discrimination in media, technology and research. His scholarship has been published in numerous academic journals, including the International Journal of Communication, Television & New Media, Social Media & Society, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, among other journals and edited collections. Dr. Escoffery engages industry and community-based organizations as part of his research. He has given lectures for and collaborated with the Sundance Institute, Vimeo, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Black Public Media, and more. He has juried television and video for the Peabody Awards, Gotham Awards, and Tribeca Film Festival, among others. His work has been recognized by the MacArthur Foundation & Field Foundation (Leaders for a New Chicago, 2019), Variety (Top 50 Entertainment Instructor 2020 & 2021), Filmmaker (25 New Faces of Indie Film, 2018) NewCity (Film Leader 2017 & Film Hall of Fame 2020), Chicago magazine (New Power List, 2021) and Seed&Spark (Filmmaker to Watch 2018). Dr. Escoffery co-founded OTV | Open Television, a platform for intersectional television. OTV programs have received recognition from the Television Academy (Emmy Awards), Webby Awards, Streamy Awards, Gotham Awards, among others. Its programming partners have included the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Sundance Institute, and the city of Chicago, along with numerous galleries, community organizations, and universities. Artists supported by OTV have received offers from leading studios and distributors, including HBO, CBS and Hulu. From 2015-2020 while leading OTV's transition from experiment to independent non-profit, Dr. Escoffery and Executive Director Elijah McKinnon raised over $1 million in multi-year support to sustain its operations.