The Alliance of Artists Communities‘ 2018 Annual Conference was hosted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from October 15-18.
Arts leaders, funders, policy-makers, residency staff, board members, educators and artists from across the globe explored support for today’s artists and artist-centered approaches to engaging communities and developing healthy organizations.
Conference sessions span from nuts-and-bolts panels on organizational development, to interviews with artists on creative practice, and from conversations exploring cultural trends to the role of artists in society today, plus tours of Philadelphia’s thriving arts centers.
Speakers
Laurie Allen | Assistant Director for Digital Scholarship, Penn Libraries, Price Lab for Digital Humanities, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
Jamie Badoud | Executive Director, The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences (Rabun Gap, GA)
Blair Benjamin | Director, the Studios at MASS MoCA, MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA)
Eve Biddle | Co-Director, Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY)
Kathy Black | Program Director, Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT)
Rob Blackson | Director, Department of Exhibitions and Public Programs, Tyler School of Art, Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)
Jamie Blosser | Executive Director, Santa Fe Art Institute (Santa Fe, NM)
Moira Brennan | Executive Director, MAP Fund (New York, NY)
Arielle Julia Brown | Creative Producer and Social Practice Artist (Philadelphia, PA)
Denise Brown | Executive Director, Leeway Foundation (Philadelphia, PA)
Emilya Cachapero | Director of Artistic and International Programs, Theatre Communications Group (New York, NY)
Jennifer Calienes | Independent Consultant and Interim Deputy Director, Jacob’s Pillow (Becket, MA)
Christina Catanese | Director of Environmental Art, The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (Philadelphia, PA)
Elizabeth Chodos | Director, Miller ICA at Carnegie Mellon University University (Pittsburgh, PA)
Andrea Chung | Artist (San Diego, CA)
Chris Cook | Executive Director, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, NE)
Pamela Carmen Council | Artist (Bronx, NY)
Donta Daniels | Curator, Young Curators Council, Temple Contemporary, Tyler School of Art, Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)
Thomas Devaney | Poet (Philadelphia, PA)
Nicole Dowd | Program Manager, Halcyon Arts Lab, Halcyon (Washington, DC)
Anna Drozdowski | Conductor of Projects (Philadelphia, PA)
Linda A. Earle | Professor of Practice in Art History, Tyler School of Art, Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)
Sara Zia Ebrahimi | Program Director, Leeway Foundation (Philadelphia, PA)
Cathy Edwards | Executive Director, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) (Boston, MA)
Nina Elder | Artist (Albuquerque, NM)
Emily Ensminger | Creative Director, Elsewhere (Greensboro, NC)
Susan Feder | Program Officer, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (New York, NY)
Paul Farber | Artistic Director, Monument Lab (Philadelphia, PA)
Ka’ila Farrell-Smith | Co-Director, Signal Fire (Portland, OR)
David Fraher | President & CEO, Arts Midwest (Minneapolis, MN)
Melissa Franklin | Director of Pew Fellowships in the Arts, The Pew Center for Arts + Heritage (Philadelphia, PA)
Terra Fuller | Advancement Director, Djerassi Resident Artists Program (Woodside, CA)
Tony Grant | Co-Director, Sustainable Arts Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
Shir Ly Grisanti | Creative Director, c3:initiative (Portland, OR)
Esther Grisham Grimm | Executive Director, 3Arts (Chicago, IL)
Brandon Gryde | Director of Government Affairs, Dance/USA and OPERA America (Washington, DC)
Joseph Hall | Deputy Director, BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (Bronx, NY)
Gia Hamilton | Applied Anthropologist, Cultural Steward and Curator (New Orleans, LA)
Chantal Harris | Administrative Director, Emmanuel College (Boston, MA)
Lisa Hoffman | Executive Director, Alliance of Artists Communities (Providence, RI)
Janelle Iglesias | Artist (Hollis, NY)
Emily Johnson | Artist (New York, NY)
Lela Aisha Jones | Founder & Director, FlyGround (Philadelphia, PA)
Aviva Kapust | Executive Director, The Village of Arts and Humanities (Philadelphia, PA)
Brad Kik | Co-Director, Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology (Bellaire, MI)
Bora Kim | Program Manager, Artist Residencies, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) (New York, NY)
Dave Kyu | Neighborhood Projects Manager, Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA)
Christiane D. Leach | Artist Relations Manager, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (Pittsburgh, PA)
Kelly Lee | Chief Cultural Officer, City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (Philadelphia, PA)
Veronique Le Melle | Arts Management Consultant (San Antonio, TX)
Melissa Levin | Vice President of Artists, Estates and Foundations, Art Agency, Partners (New York, NY)
Stacy Levy | Artist (Spring Mills, PA)
Valdi Licul | Partner, Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C. (New York, NY)
Deenah Loeb | Executive Director, City Parks Association and Art In the Open (Philadelphia, PA)
Clara Lu | Residency Coordinator, Wing On Wo (New York, NY)
Ken Lum | Chief Curatorial Advisor, Monument Lab (Philadelphia, PA)
Cannupa Hanska Luger | Artist (Glorieta, NM)
David Macy | Resident Director, MacDowell Colony (Peterborough, NH)
Louise Martorano | Executive Director, RedLine Contemporary Art Center (Denver, CO)
Jamē McCray, PhD | Interdisciplinary Ecologist and Artist (Smyrna, DE)
Jennifer McGregor | Senior Director of Arts, Education & Programs, Wave Hill (Bronx, NY)
Cassie Meador | Executive Artistic Director, Dance Exchange (Washington, DC)
LaNeshe Miller-White | Executive Director, Theatre in the X (Philadelphia, PA)
LeConte Moore | Managing Director, DeWitt Stern (New York, NY)
Anne Mulgrave | Manager of Grants and Accessibility, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (Pittsburgh, PA)
Jan Mun | Artist (Brooklyn, NY)
Michael Orlove | Director of Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Artist Communities and International Activities | Multidisciplinary Arts, National Endowment for the Arts (Washington, DC)
Michelle Angela Ortiz | Artist (Philadelphia, PA)
Jayson Overby, Jr. | Curator (New York, NY)
Carla Peterson | Director, Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (Tallahassee, FL)
Craig T. Peterson | Artistic Director, Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY)
Sharbreon Plummer | Independent Researcher (Columbus, OH)
Stephanie Raines | Hestia, Program Curator (Savannah, GA)
Carolyn Ramo | Executive Director, Artadia (Brooklyn, NY)
Pedro Ramirez | Artist (Brooklyn, NY)
Rachel Reichert | Cultural Sites Manager, Boise Arts & History / James Castle House (Boise, ID)
Dani Reuben | Program Manager, Artist Residencies, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) (New York, NY)
Shey Rivera | Artistic Director, AS220 (Providence, RI)
Tamara Ross | Director, Arts Administration, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff, AB, Canada)
Michael Royce | Executive Director, New York Foundation for the Arts (Brooklyn, NY)
Jen Saffron | Director of Communications, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (Pittsburgh, PA)
Eleanor Savage | Program Director, Jerome Foundation (St. Paul, MN)
Saliq Francis Savage | Artist, Founder & Director, KulturPark Stolpe (Leeds, MA)
David Sheingold | Independent Consultant (Brooklyn, NY)
Jennifer Shropshire | Principal, Edward F. Swenson & Associates, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA)
Dara Silver | Special Projects and Grants Program Manager, The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County (Winston-Salem, NC)
Kira Simon-Kennedy | Co-Founder & Director, China Residencies (Brooklyn, NY)
Andrew Simonet | Artist + Founder, Artists U (Philadelphia, PA)
Amy Smith | Co-Director, Headlong Dance Theater (Philadelphia, PA)
Caralyn Spector | Creative Strategist (Wynnewood, PA)
Eric Sutphin | Manager of Special Programs, School of Visual Arts (New York, NY)
Liam Sweeney | Analyst, Ithaka S+R (New York, NY)
David Szlasa | Design and Programming Consultant (Hudson, NY)
Mark Taylor | Composer and Artistic Director, Interrobang Arts, Inc. (Weehawken, NJ)
Nato Thompson | Artistic Director, Philadelphia Contemporary (Philadelphia, PA)
Julie Trébault | Director of the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), PEN America (New York, NY)
Kanchana Ugbabe | Writer at Risk in Residence, Fordham University and PEN America (New York, NY)
Sharon Ullman | Deputy Director, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (New York, NY)
Steven Wang | Executive Director, High Concept Labs (Chicago, IL)
Crystal Wei | Executive Director, Mount Tremper Arts (Phoenicia, NY)
Quaishawn Whitlock | Artist Educator + Artist in Residence, Andy Warhol Museum, Father Ryan Arts Center + Artists Image Resource (Pittsburgh, PA)
Nancy Wilhelms | Executive Director, Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO)
Diane Wong | Organizer, The W.O.W. Project (New York, NY)
James Wright | Director of Community, Economic, and Real Estate Development, People’s Emergency Center (Philadelphia, PA)
Cheryl Young | Executive Director, MacDowell Colony (New York, NY)
Karen Young | Executive Director, Fairmount Water Works (Philadelphia, PA)
Vito Zingarelli | Program Director, Hedgebrook (Freeland, WA)
Carol Zou | Director of Programs, Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA)
Program Overview
Monday, October 15
Panels presented included:
Tuesday, October 16
Panels presented included:
- Artist Keynote: Raquel Salas Rivera
- Artist Keynote Performance: jumatatu m. poe
- Lived Experience: Creatives Speak
- Artist Resiliency and Urban Real Estate
- Artist-Centric Approaches to Alumni Engagement
- Looking Back, Looking Forward: Platforms for Dance at MANCC
- From the Ground Up: Blueprints for Building a Diverse Staff
- Refuge Across Borders
- Charting the Course for Ecology in the Arts
- Adaptive Strategies: Inclusive + Sustainable Programming
- Monument Lab: Report to the City
- Mental Health in Context: A Conversation
- Ask-A-Funder
- Launch Pad: Stories from the First Years
Wednesday, October 17
Panels presented included:
- Creating Connection: Data-Driven Messaging
- Crisis Management: Healing Spaces During Moments of Shift
- Radical Cooperation in the City of Brotherly Love
- Creating a Toolkit for Equity in the Panel Process
- Resisting Gentrification in Chinatowns
- Beyond Ramps: Welcoming Artists with Disabilities
- Thriving Beyond the Metropolis
- Wisdom Well: Mini-Sessions
Thursday, October 18
Panels presented included:
- Claiming Our Spaces: Pulling the Future Into Focus
- Leadership During Times of Change
- Open Door: Intentional Spaces + Unjuried Platforms
- Novel Approaches to Donor Cultivation
- With Artists, Not For Artists: Shared Power + Curation
- Sexual Harassment: Creating a Culture of Transparency
- Universities Supporting Artists Beyond the Degree
- It’s Tech Time: Tools for Success
- Considering the Land and Its People: A Kaleidoscope Conversation
- Artist Keynote: Daniel Alexander Jones
Detailed conference program can be found here
Visit conference webpage here
