Teddy Reeves, PhD
www.teddyrreeves.com
IG & Twitter: @teddyrreeves
Teddy is a multifaceted, award-winning producer and curator that 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, spirituality, and digital media, Teddy’s work explores Black culture and history through tv, film, web series, docuseries, documentaries, and more.
Teddy personifies creating something from nothing. rooted in his commitment to the Black community, much of Teddy’s professional works have focused on helping organizations create digital footprints that embody culture at its core to reach audiences and preserve the richness 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, and producing the upcoming featured documentary film, gOD-Talk, releasing in 2023. The film explores the lives of seven Black millennials (Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Spiritualist, and African Traditional Religion) and their challenges and discoveries with faith in the 21st century.
Most recently, Teddy’s forthcoming essay “Moments” will be featured in the nmaahc’s publication, Movement, Motion, Moments: Photographs of Religion & Spirituality from the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
His distinct perspective and background allows 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 more than 75,000 views and counting, the series continues to drive conversations today. The project continues to garner critical acclaim–having received more than 24 telly awards and four shorty awards.
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 scared 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 non-profit organizations 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; theologian; and teaching assistant at princeton university pace center for civic engagement.
Teddy’s work has been featured on The Root, CBS news, Washington Post, NPR, Religion News Service, Revolt TV, and other outlets.
Enriched from his educational experience, he earned his BA from Hampton University, m.div. from Princeton Seminary, and PhD from Fordham University.
His loves expand to being in nature, attending exhibitions, researching new artists and 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.
