“If These Walls Could Sing,” a documentary about the history of Abbey Road Studios, was screened in advance of its Dec. 16 release in the Humanities Quadrangle. This event was open to the public and featured a discussion with the movie’s director, Mary McCartney.

“I really want the viewers to feel that they have been invited into Abbey Road, they’ve been taken through a lot of the main… historic things that have happened there,” McCartney said. 

Although Abbey Road Studios are most commonly known as the namesake of the Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road, this location was the preferred recording studio for many other artists, including Elton John, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and conductor John Williams.

“If These Walls Could Sing” recovers old footage of these artists recording in the studio and features interviews with them in the present day. Although the documentary covers events in roughly chronological order, it also touches on the artists’ emotional connection to the studio. The documentary also explores how film scores such as John Williams’ compositions for the Star Wars franchise brought the studio back to life amid a decrease in overall record sales in the 1970s.

The film’s director, Mary McCartney, is the daughter of Paul McCartney, bassist and co-lead singer of the Beatles. She hosts the vegetarian cooking show “Mary McCartney Serves It Up” and is the author of multiple cookbooks. “If These Walls Could Sing” will be her feature documentary debut.

McCartney shared how she was approached by the documentary’s producer John Battsek and offered the job of director. This differs from how she approached her cooking show, which she remembers starting from the ground up.

McCartney, who lives near Abbey Road, remarked on how she often saw tourists visiting the exterior of Abbey Road Studios. Due to the studio’s busy schedule, though, visitors never enter the building.

“I filmed the interiors and some of the tape machines, and some of the details to make the viewer feel that they’ve been inside,” McCartney said. “When I go into Abbey Road I get this, really this feeling, this sort of a magic feeling…that’s what I’m aiming to give.”

McCartney said that she does not currently have plans to direct another documentary, but is looking for another opportunity. She said that although it was challenging, she “loved the process” of directing and interviewing. 

When asked why she held a screening at Yale, McCartney explained that her family has a particular connection to the University: 

“My son, Arthur, went to Yale and my dad has an honorary doctorate,” she said. “I really admire it, I love the museums and the culture.”

Following the film screening, Rachel Fine, executive director of the Schwarzman Center, moderated an audience discussion with McCartney. 

Fine, who officially took on her role on October 24, said that events such as this documentary screening are crucial to her goal to expand the Schwarzman Center’s role across campus and New Haven. 

“There’s no better way to do that than to collaborate with other Yale departments in supporting the work of and presenting an outstanding artist with a transformative cultural project and warmly inviting the community in to experience it,” Fine said.

When asked about the screening’s intended audience, Fine said that the documentary was accessible and intended to “strike a chord — no pun intended — with anyone who is passionate about music.”

Joe Edwards, GRD ‘23 attended the screening on Thursday. 

“I came for the Beatles side of things, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the other artists that had worked there,” he said. 

“If These Walls Could Sing” was officially released by Disney+ in the United States on December 16, 2022. 

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The collaborative journal, founded in the Spring of 2022 by Sarah Feng ’25 — currently the editor in chief — features Yale student creatives. Writers produce works encompassing both STEM and the humanities. These works include fiction, non-fiction and poetry and are published twice a year in an issue. With 22 people now on staff, CORTEX is organizing unconventional yet exciting events tied to their literary roots.

Suraj Singareddy ’25, lead poetry editor at CORTEX, along with Feng, is planning the new monthly event series titled “Once in a Blue Moon.” Singareddy is a member of the News’ podcast staff. Future locations for “Once in a Blue Moon” events include the Leitner Observatory and the Yale School of Art.

Each event features speakers that bridge STEM and the humanities. Their most recent iteration happened on Saturday, Nov. 5, in the Cushing Center’s brain room. This event featured a conversation between painting and printmaking artist V Yeh ART ’24 and visiting Linguistics and Philology Professor Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal.

“We wanted to create this series as a way to … bring CORTEX more into the community,” said Singareddy.

Singareddy found that many of the topics that CORTEX members were discussing would be interesting to Yalies. Although speakers are the highlight of these events, Yalies are encouraged to explore these topics further and inspire future discussions.

Jordan Davidson ’25, lead fiction editor at CORTEX Magazine, not only enjoys the CORTEX community, but also savors the creative opportunities offered, like these events. Davidson is contributing to CORTEX’s second issue, which will be released online by Nov. 25th and is focused on sci-fi fairy tales. 

Many written works are later supplemented by musical compositions and graphics before publication. But Davidson remarks that CORTEX also produces a “reverse-engineered” version of this traditional publication method, instead producing standalone artwork.

An example of CORTEX’s standalone artwork will be available in a fairytale themed installation taking place at three separate exhibitions, the first of which will be displayed from Nov. 16 to 17. Although the installation is not directly drawn from CORTEX’s second issue, it mirrors the themes involved. 

“We wanted something both magical and spooky and whimsical and a little bit haunting,” Feng says.

Anasthasia Shilov ’23, creative director and lead illustrator at Cortex, is excited to contribute to CORTEX’s art installation. Shilov and Feng have started buying objects secondhand to add to the collection and more is yet to come. Visitors can expect everything from antique pieces to nature-themed cyanotypes to fairytale books.

Although Shilov and Feng have been instrumental in starting to shape the new exhibition, Shilov says that it will look best once everyone contributes something to it. Davidson, for example, will be crocheting an octopus for the installation.

The installations will also include original musical compositions from Ilana Zaks MUS ’23, Michael Gancz MUS ’22 and Antonis Christou ’23. Zaks is the News’ arts editor. Issue I, titled “The Great Reversal,” is available digitally and on Amazon. CORTEX will be hosting a launch party for this issue on Saturday, Nov. 12 from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Trumbull Common Room.

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The festival features artists specializing in a variety of practices, from visual art to music, starting on Oct. 21 and ending on Oct. 30. Spectators can experience artwork in many places, including in Artspace’s open studio sites, neighborhood platforms and even online. The event acts as an opportunity for artists to directly share their work with the public and network in the process.

“We have painters, folks working in new media, like video art, we also have folks working in drawing, sculpture, installation art, fiber art, ceramics — it really runs across the board,” said Artspace Director of Curatorial Affairs Laurel V. McLaughlin.

Artspace events are free and open to the public.

Gabriel Sacco, visual culture producer at Artspace, said the festival is not just about studios, exhibitions and different platforms, but it also is about “combining everything together and creating one large common space throughout the whole city.”

Creating a common space throughout the city is very important for this iteration of the Open Source festival, especially coming out of the pandemic, according to Sacco. He says that Artspace is “really trying to bring it back up to pre-pandemic speed,” meaning engaging the artist community and patrons by doing things like inviting audiences into artists’ home exhibits.

Yet, Artspace acknowledges that the pandemic is still going on. They encourage visitors to wear masks and social distance. For people who might not want to visit artists in person, Artspace has various Zoom events. These are later archived on their website and can be viewed for months after.

The pandemic isn’t the only way this year’s festival is different. McLaughlin was hired as the Director of Curatorial Affairs in June 2022 but has worked with Artspace as a guest curator since April of 2021. When she looked at Artspace’s archives, she recognized issues in their community outreach strategies.

“I realized that a lot of the neighborhoods that [Artspace has] gone into previously were predominantly white and predominantly affluent neighborhoods in the city,” McLaughlin said. 

This year, she says Artspace is providing opportunities for BIPOC artists to curate neighborhood platforms.

McLaughlin sought community leaders who would work with Artspace to get neighborhood platforms off the ground.

One such leader, Doreen Abubakar, is the founder and executive director of the Community Placemaking Engagement Network. Abubakar runs the Newhallville Learning Corridor, in the historically black neighborhood of Newhallville. This is the site of the exhibition titled “AfroCentric Expressions.” 

Before organizing this event, Abubakar visited art organizations in New Haven and asked if they had a list of Black artists. She was not able to obtain one.

But beyond the difficulties of finding Black artists in the area, Abubakar praised Artspace for the infrastructure they provided in the Newhallville Learning Corridor. 

“[I]f you’re designing something to empower people in certain areas to thrive then you need to build the infrastructure and then provide activities and events around it,” Abubakar said.

This project will allow her to continue providing events in the future, each of which is different from the next. 

One such artist interested in non-traditional media is Evelyn Massey. Massey is the owner and curator of @noirvintageandcompany, an online vintage business. 

Her installation is titled “Vintage Noir Fashion Speaks Through The Eyes Of Black Culture” and celebrates clothing worn by People of Color from the 1930’s through the 60’s. Her installation features (among other things) mannequins dressed in vintage attire.

This is the first year that Massey has participated in “Open Source,” but she’s already had a positive experience. 

“The interaction is great, everyone is so gracious,” Massey said. “I love how people can go to different places to check out all of the artists.”

She is soon looking to expand her business to a brick and mortar store, so Open Source is an opportunity for her brand to gain visibility and for her business to build momentum.

Massey’s installation will take place at the Dixwell Q House on Saturday, October 29 from 11:30am to 5:00pm. 

Newhallville’s Open Source exhibition will take place in the Newhallville Learning Corridor on Friday, Oct. 28 from 4pm to 6pm. More information on the festival is available here.

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