Keke Palmer will bring her experience as an Emmy-winning actor, entrepreneur and digital media founder to UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television as its 2026-27 artist-in-residence.
TFT announced Tuesday morning that Lauren (Keke) Palmer will lead a residency titled “Know Yourself, Own Yourself, Free Yourself to Build New Frameworks for Change” beginning in the fall. Across three quarterly sessions, she will work with TFT students to examine what it means to build a creative career on one’s own terms. Curated by TFT Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu, the program will focus on self-authorship and using artistic freedom to build opportunities for others.
Tuesday’s announcement marks Palmer’s first university-based artist residency. Rather than focusing solely on Palmer’s career accomplishments, Shimizu said the program will examine the practices that have shaped her approach to creative independence and community.
“The power and the resources that come with success, she (Palmer) says, mean nothing unless you lift up your community with you,” Shimizu said in a July interview.
The “Nope” star is using the residency to foreground herself as a cultural thinker and institution builder. Shimizu said Palmer will help provide students with the frameworks to guide their early careers, using Palmer’s experience as an actor introduced to the industry at 11 years old. Since her first appearance in “Barbershop 2: Back in Business,” her career has spanned acting, music, producing, authorship and the founding of KeyTV Network – a digital media platform that aims to create opportunities for new creators.
The residency builds on UCLA TFT’s broader five-year partnership with KeyTV, which the school announced in June. The program, titled “From Blocking to Broadcast,” will connect students with KeyTV through workshops, mentorships and opportunities to distribute student work on the platform. Under the partnership, KeyTV plans to distribute at least three student projects per year.
[Related: Keke Palmer announces 5-year residency with TFT, plans to spotlight student work]
The newly announced residency adds a personal and academic dimension through Palmer meeting directly with students across three sessions throughout the academic year. The sessions will incorporate readings from critical theory, philosophy and Black feminist thought, which students will apply to each meeting. The residency arrives along with other recent TFT developments, such as the July 14 announcement of a collaboration with the Sundance Institute that seeks to provide students professional knowledge and industry access.
[Related: UCLA TFT, Sundance partnership aims to teach filmmaking beyond the classroom]
Shimizu will moderate each of Palmer’s three sessions. She will also curate the readings for the sessions, drawing from the actor’s conversational citations of sociologist Jean Baudrillard’s and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s philosophies, Shimizu said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
“For the past few months, I’ve had the honor of knowing her (Palmer) as a secret genius: a rigorous thinker whose philosophy of self-authorship––built through hard-won experience on the frontlines of culture––teaches us to claim our stories, own our work, and use our freedom to lift up others,” Shimizu said in the statement.
The fall 2026 session, “Your Voice. Our Story,” will explore the tension between how artists’ self-perception versus public perception – and the opportunities for developing one’s artistic voice through those identities.
In winter 2027, “Owning Your Creative Power” will look at Palmer’s work behind KeyTV. The session will examine how Palmer responded to gaps in the entertainment industry by building her own platform and creating opportunities for those often neglected by existing structures.
Finally, the spring 2027 session, “The Modern Multi-Hyphenate: Freedom Through Community,” will concentrate on Palmer’s work across acting, producing, entrepreneurship, media and authorship. The session will examine her belief that creative independence encourages artists to give back to the broader community.
The residency sessions will be held in Freud Playhouse and be open to TFT students.
“This is going to be a dimension of Keke Palmer you’ve never seen before,” Shimizu said.
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