Meet the Editors: Kaya Ilas
November 06, 2025
Kaya Ilas
SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citizenship refers to the status of belonging to a particular nation and possessing rights and responsibilities as aligns with its laws. To be a global citizen is to belong to the world, and to possess both obligations and privileges as follows its demands. The demands of our world today are many and ranging. I find, especially within my generation, there is a sense that it is our duty to presently and hastily address all of the strenuous issues in our world–an impossible task. To perhaps quell some of the anxiety which comes along with the intense awareness we have of contemporary crises–environmental, sociopolitical, humanitarian and economic–I hope to address what I can and what most impassions me in my work and life as a student, artist and young person.
My first year as a Global Scholar offered so many opportunities to practice empathy. The Soliya Connect program which I did in my first semester as a part of the Interdisciplinary Foundations of Globalization class put me in the position to have inter-cultural conversations with students from around the world. My Global Scholars cohort had our first year together through the 2024 election; the conversations we had throughout the year about our country and its responsibility in the world today challenged me to have empathy for and perhaps question others’ views. As an American citizen today, to think about our political position and environment absolutely scares me. However, as an artist and writer, it is my duty to interrogate the issue of today–of citizenship, living, love and hate, and my responsibility to the world as founded upon my intersectional identities. Being American–and also a descent of Filipino immigrants and Black mother–I have been learning to acknowledge my privilege in cross-cultural conversation and refusing to impose my American perspectives on international issues.
The communities to which I belong are imperative to my identity. I am a queer, mixed Black and Filipina woman, and I study dance and English at Purchase. It feels natural to me to bring my identity to the spaces in which I exist and the conversations I have. Empathy is one of my guiding principles. I reflect often that it is a skill which all global citizens should be confident in and a faith we can all hold onto in difficult moments.
The role of art and my duty as an artist are subjects about which I am chiefly preoccupied. As the United States continues to persecute marginalized individuals, and Americans feel more and more under attack, the role of art in resistance and recuperation becomes apparent to me. Black art is so important to me; queer art is so important to me. As I continue to mature in my artistry, my values become imperative in my approach to dance practice. This semester, I am in creative process with Maria Bauman for a work premiering in the Dance Conservatory’s Fall Purchase Dance Company concert. The work is about reconciling the state of our nation in community. The process has challenged me to consider how I show up every day in and outside of dance spaces, and whether I feel satisfied by my habitual manner of presence. I want to be an artist and individual who steps into every space with my entirety–physically, mentally, spiritually–knowing too that its definition is malleable, and fluctuating. Work which has the audacity to empower, uplift and support is the kind that I so value and so desire to be a part of. Global citizenship asks of us to consider what we can do for this world we belong to; this task is necessarily daunting. In this immensely tumultuous time, it is the more intimate, relational and personal acts that I cling to so that I may ground myself in my values and demonstrate to myself that I have power.
Kaya Ilas
2024 Cohort– Editorial Committee ’24-’25, ’25-’26
