Join us on April 17–19, 2026 (Friday–Sunday) for #IWonderU40, a *HYBRID* symposium, celebrating two landmark anniversaries: ten years since Prince’s passing and forty years since his visionary 1986 releases, the Parade album and his second narrative film Under the Cherry Moon.
Subscribe to this newsletter to pre-register now and stay up to date on all the latest news about the symposium.
The schedule at a glance, speakers + more will be forthcoming on the symposium website at https://iwonderu.polishedsolid.com.
This will be our first hybrid symposium, designed to support both our international and local community.
Friday
Fully virtual on Zoom Events + YouTube to accommodate our global audience.
The FREE Zoom Webinars & Events registration link for Friday, April 17, 2026, will be released here on Substack 24 hours before the event begins.
Saturday and Sunday
In person at NYU Tandon in Brooklyn, NY, at 370 Jay St., where we previously celebrated #EroticCity40.
This time around, in-person sessions will not be livestreamed. However, all sessions will be professionally recorded and posted later on YouTube and/or Vimeo.
#IWonderU40 is the 11th polished solid Prince symposium and the 16th Prince event, curated by De Angela L. Duff!
The Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is not affiliated, associated, or connected with the ‘Prince #IWonderU40 Symposium’ nor has it endorsed or sponsored the ‘Prince #IWonderU40 Symposium.’ Further, the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson has not licensed any of its intellectual property to the producers, advertisers, or directors of the ‘Prince #IWonderU40 Symposium.’
This symposium is FREE, but please consider donating to the DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice, a 501(c) nonprofit that empowers and inspires youth living in underserved communities in NYC and, now, MPLS to use tech and visual arts to promote social justice and become change makers in their communities. On Juneteenth 2024, DIVAS opened its first satellite office in South Minneapolis. The organization will launch a social justice makerspace designed by and for the community. 💜
To learn more about DIVAS, watch the trailer below and visit divasforsocialjustice.org!
Symposia consist of roundtable discussions and presentations, while the virtual celebrations and other events are ONLY roundtable discussions. All of them are archived at https://youtube.com/polishedsolid (and https://vimeo.com/polishedsolid for the videos we can’t upload to YouTube).
In both formats, we occasionally feature keynote conversations with people who worked with Prince. Over the years, we have had the honor and privilege of speaking with Cbabi Bayoc, Joe Blaney, Jerome Benton, Mathieu Bitton, Atlanta Bliss, Peggy “McCreary” Blum, Ingrid Chavez, André Cymone, Dr. Fink, Morris Hayes, Cat Glover, Sam Jennings, Jellybean Johnson, Jill Jones, Eric Leeds, Eddie M., Scott McCullough, Susannah Melvoin, Paul Peterson, Wally Safford RIP, Afshin Shahidi, Vaughn Terry, Michael Van Huffel, and Chuck Zwicky from the purple kingdom, along with other very special guests like Cynthia Horner, Nicolay, and Vernon Reid.
2025 #Shhh30 Virtual Symposium, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Prince’s The Gold Experience and The NPG’s Exodus
2025 #PopLife40 Virtual Symposium, celebrating Prince for 40 years of Prince’s Around The World In A Day, The Family & Sheila E’s Romance 1600 on April 11–13, 2025.
2024 #Come30 Virtual Symposium, celebrating Prince for 30 years of his album Come on August 10-11, 2024.
2024 #EroticCity40 Symposium, celebrating Prince for 40 years of Prince’s Purple Rain, The Time’s Ice Cream Castle, Apollonia 6, and Sheila E’s The Glamorous Life—alongside the Purple Rain film.
2023 #TripleThreat40 Symposium, celebrating Prince for 40 years of 1999, The Time’s What Time Is It?, and Vanity 6!
2022 #SexyMF30 Symposium, celebrating Prince for 30 years of Love Symbol!
2021 #1plus1plus1is3 Virtual Symposium, celebrating Prince for 40 years of Controversy, 30 years of The Rainbow Children, and 20 years of Diamonds & Pearls
2020 #DM40GB30 Virtual Symposium, celebrating Prince for 40 years of Dirty Mind and 30 years of Graffiti Bridge!
2019 #Batdance30ATL Symposium, celebrating Prince for 30 years of the Batman soundtrack!
2018 #Lovesexy30BK Symposium, celebrating Prince for 30 years of Lovesexy!
2018 #BettyDavisBK Symposium, celebrating Betty Davis the musician, and featuring the late, great Greg Tate!
What Did Prince Do This Week? in 1983 Recap Reel
In the meantime, in between time, you can always find us every Saturday @ 12pm ET on youtube.com/@polishedsolid OR youtube.com/@mdean.
This year marks year four of What Did Prince Do This Week? #WDPDTW, our very slow read of Duane Tudahl’s Prince studio sessions book series through an interactive weekly online book club & Saturday salon, echoing the spirit of the Harlem renaissance! We’re up to 153 episodes.
We began this journey in January 2023! In 2026, we’re continuing to read and discuss Duane Tudahl’s second book in the series: Prince and the Parade and Sign O’ The Times Era Studio Sessions: 1985 and 1986.
📚 Come for the book club. (Here’s our reading schedule.)
🔥 Stay for the insight, laughter, and passionate Prince community.
🗓️ Every Saturday @ 12pm ET| 💬 Live Chat | 🎥 Replays available
👉 Show up. Make comments. Ask questions. Share your love for the music!
We have an active chat that keeps the symposium spirit alive throughout the year.
Come “down to our world” and “experience the real fun” with us!
Our mission is to keep Prince’s name on the lips of the children! #Prince4Ever
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