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Teddy Rashaan Reeves, Alumni Council Service Award
Teddy RaShaan is a multifaceted, award-winning producer and curator who uses his many strengths to capture and curate cultural moments. While transitioning industries might challenge some, it sparks joy for a creative like Teddy.
Poised at the intersection of culture, media, and preservation, Teddy’s work explores Black culture and history through film, web and docu-series, exhibitions, and more.
Teddy personifies creating something from nothing. Rooted in his commitment to the Black community, much of Teddy’s professional work has focused on helping organizations create digital footprints that embody culture at its core to reach audiences and preserve the richness and expansiveness of the Black experience.
As a curator of religion at the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC), Teddy has created innovative projects that have highlighted the influence of digital technologies in capturing and preserving Black spiritual and religious life in the Americas. Some of these influential, inaugural projects include the “Black Religion in the Age of COVID-19 Collections” project, capturing Black religious and spiritual communities’ digital response to COVID-19; the Black Religious Pluralism Project, conducting and preserving oral history interviews with more than 75 entertainers, activists, faith leaders, and business executives; and producing the upcoming featured documentary film, gOD-Talk (Fall ’23). The film explores the lives of seven Black millennials (atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and spiritualist) and how they are reimagining faith in the 21st century.
Most recently, Teddy’s essay “Moments” is featured in the publication Movement, Motion & Moments: Photographs of Religion & Spirituality.
His distinct perspective and background allow him to build a unique connection with millennial and Gen Z audiences. Through multimedia projects, Teddy delivers authentic, purposeful content that fosters conversation and engagement.
In 2018, Teddy created and executive-produced the web-based series gOD-Talk: A Black Millennials and Faith Conversation Series, to explore the dynamic ways Black millennials engage with faith and spirituality in the 21st century. With over 75,000 views and counting, the series continues to drive conversations today. The project continues to garner critical acclaim, having received more than 40 Telly Awards and five Shorty Awards. View the most recent episode, gOD-Talk: Hip-Hop & #BlackFaith, here.
Sought after as a cultural expert on Black spirituality and faith, Teddy helped to establish the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at one of the oldest theological institutions in the United States. It was during this time that he co-curated his first exhibition, Touching the Sacred: The Black Church and Material Religion, which explored the sacred objects of the Black church tradition.
Teddy’s commitment to community led him to create The Reeves Group to help educational, cultural, and faith-based nonprofit organizations, domestically and internationally, reach their fundraising and board goals. His work contributed to over $70 million in philanthropic revenue. Alongside these efforts, Teddy has also served as an English instructor (domestically and internationally), #DigitalTheologian, and teaching assistant at Princeton University Pace Center for Civic Engagement.
Most recently, Teddy founded Art Like Me Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to help empower Black and Brown boys and men to cultivate emotional intelligence through art and culture. One of the signature programs of the organization is gifting art prints by established visual artists to boys (newborn to 12th grade) for free.
Teddy has been featured on The Root, CBS News, The Washington Post, NPR, Religion News Service, and other outlets. Teddy additionally served as one of the youngest producers in the Miss Virginia Organization. Enriched from his educational experience, he earned his B.A. from Hampton University, M.Div. from Princeton Seminary, and Ph.D. from Fordham University.
His loves expand to being in nature, attending exhibitions, researching new artists, collecting Black art, and most of all, making new memories with his life partner, actress Briana Gibson Reeves. Teddy hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and now calls Baltimore and Brooklyn home.
