Wills Glasspiegel (born November 23, 1982) is an American filmmaker, artist, scholar and community organizer from Chicago. Dr. Glasspiegel has spent several years working alongside electronic musicians and dancers from Sierra Leone (bubu music), South Africa (Shangaan electro) and Chicago (Footwork (genre)). In 2017, he co-founded the arts and racial justice nonprofit, Open the Circle. He has produced public radio segments for All Things Considered and Morning Edition, and was recognized as a co-recipient of a Peabody Award in 2014 for his contributions to the public radio program Afropop Worldwide. Wills' collaborations have been featured in a variety of publications including CNN, FADER Magazine, Dazed Magazine, Pitchfork, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Chicago Tribune. He worked from 2016-2023 as an artist and filmmaker with The Era Footwork Crew, including as creative director for The Era's touring performance,IN THE WURKZ, a show that won the National Dance Project award in 2019 from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Glasspiegel's work has been recognized with prizes from the MacArthur Foundation, the Field Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Chicago. His films and installations have screened at Stony Island Arts Bank, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MANA Contemporary, Shibuya crossing in Japan (Neo Shibuya), and several times with Art on the Mart in Chicago.
Public work Film YearTitleCredited asDirectorEditorCinematographerProducer 2011Kenya ftr. Solange and Chris Taylor 2013Making Tracks: Chicago Footwork 2014Icy Lake Vogue Knights 2015Bang'n on King Drive Rural Roots: From Giyani to New York Urban Beats: Atteridgeville to Brooklyn 2016Dance to the Bubu Meet the Era Freetown Masks 2017Sabanoh 2018I Am the Queen 2020Eschecagou 2021Footnotes
Radio + Year Title2011Midwest Electric: The Story of Chicago House and Detroit TechnoSierra Leone: Celebration, War and Healing2012Nollywood: Nigeria's Mirror2014Proving the Bubu Myth: Janka Nabay, War and Witchcraft in Sierra Leone
Publications + Year Title2014Footwork: 10 Essential Tracks (Pitchfork)2018My Friendship with Ahmed Janka Nabay, Genius of Bubu (NPR Music)2020Kicking a Leg2021"Dancing the Wall of Respect" (in Fleeting Monuments to the Wall of Respect, edited by Romi Crawford)2022Each One, Teach One: Footwork in Minnesota2022Darlene Blackburn, Dancer of Time
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