Resilience Thinking: What the Arts Can Learn from Environmentalism
The Faculty of Art at OCAD University is very pleased to welcome Kenneth Foster, Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Arts Leadership Graduate Certificate program in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, as our second speaker in our Art Creates Change speaker series.
In the midst of a rapidly changing and challenging environment, artists and arts organizations find themselves in a much different world than they anticipated, one in which the more generally accepted ways of thinking and acting are no longer providing the desired solutions. With more than thirty years of innovative leadership work in a variety of arts organizations, Kenneth Foster, newly appointed director of Arts Leadership at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, examines the contours of what is actually happening and suggests that an ecological view of the arts can illuminate innovative strategies to strengthen artistic vibrancy and create a robust environment within which the arts can thrive.
A nationally recognized arts leader with a distinguished career of more than thirty years, Prof. Foster has held Executive level positions at multiple arts organizations from community based nonprofit arts organizations to major University arts centers. Prior to coming to USC in 2013, he served for ten years as Executive Director of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco. Under his leadership, YBCA achieved international recognition for its innovative approach to connecting art, artists and communities. He has served on several national arts Boards, and is a founding member of the African Contemporary Arts Consortium. He has traveled extensively, examining arts organizational practices throughout the world. His book, Presenting the Performing Arts; From Theory to Practice (2006) was the first to systematically define the discipline of performing arts presenting. He has conducted workshops and written extensively on contemporary issues and the arts.
About Kym Pruesse
“Kym [Pruesse] was complex, complicated and often challenged those around her to think profoundly and creatively.” — The Globe and Mail, December 8, 2010
An artist, educator, writer and theorist, Kym Pruesse is celebrated as an expert in popular culture, art and design history, visual activism, art criticism and curatorial practice. A part of the OCAD U community since 1994, Kym taught courses in media and cultural studies, contemporary theory, women in art, art criticism, popular culture and studio. She believed in a cross-disciplinary perspective and taught in both the Faculty of Art and the Faculty of Liberal Studies at OCAD U. She passed away suddenly in June, 2009. The Art Creates Change series commemorates Kym’s work at OCAD U, as well as her contribution to the Toronto art community.
The Kym Pruesse Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a student in excellent standing who shows a demonstrated interest in curatorial practice, art and design activism and/or popular culture. If you would like to make a donation in support of the scholarship, please contact Development & Alumni Relations at 416-977-6000 Ext. 481.
Free