Featured Speakers
“Thinking Sideways, Moving Forward”
AAAE 2008 Annual Conference
April 24 - 26, 2008
Madison, Wisconsin
Richard J. Davidson
Vilas Professor of Pyschology and Psychiatry
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Is there a science to happiness and well-being? Can we train our brains to adapt, reframe, and respond more effectively to the world around us? Dr. Richard Davidson has been exploring permutations on those questions throughout his work. Drawing on cutting edge research tools and methods from neuroscience and brain imaging, Dr. Davidson has brought new insight to human emotion, meaning, and connection. In the process, he's gained the attention and interest of many -- from Time magazine's 2006 list of the ''top 100 most influential people,'' to Madison Magazine's person of the year award in 2007, to audiences and discussions with the Dalai Lama.
Why explore the science of the mind at AAAE?
Arts and cultural managers are ''merchants of meaning,'' fostering spaces and opportunities for creative expression and experience to meet. Dr. Davidson will help us take a look ''under the hood'' of the engine our students and graduates drive everyday.
Read more about Dr. Davidson and his work in Madison Magazine.
Carol Coletta
CEO, CEOs for Cities
Host, Smart City Radio
What makes a dynamic, creative, successful city? How can a full cast of players — public officials, business leaders, nonprofits, universities, arts and culture organizations, citizens, academics — engage and advance that challenge through their work? Carol Coletta has been diving into those questions with voracious curiosity and collaborative spirit for her entire career. Through CEOs for Cities, she works with a national network of mayors, corporate CEOs, university presidents, foundation officials and business and civic leaders to take a fresh look at cities, forge new partnerships, and flag urban innovations. On her nationally syndicated radio show, Smart City, she talks with international thought leaders in policy, design, business, academics, research, and creative expression.
Why discuss city planning and urban design at AAAE?
Arts organizations have increasingly become active partners in public policy, education, economic revitalization, and the creative workforce. Ms. Coletta will walk us through the essential skills, insights, and connections required of the new generation of arts and cultural leaders.
For on-going insights from Carol, read the CEOs for Cities blog, or listen on-line to Smart City.
Jonathan Katz
CEO, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
For over 20 years, Jonathan Katz has explored, engaged, and advanced the work of America's state and jurisdictional arts agencies, all the while defining and refining the role of government support in the arts, and the function of arts, culture, and heritage in public life. Prior to his work with NASAA, he was a professor of public policy and administration at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where he directed the graduate program in arts administration beginning in 1978 and established the Sangamon Institute in Arts Administration (also serving as president of AAAE). Before then, Katz was executive director of the Kansas Arts Commission. Katz has written, spoken, and consulted extensively in cultural policy planning, organizational development, and leadership and management training. Recently appointed to the U.S. National Commission on UNESCO, he advises the board of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA) and has conducted planning and professional development sessions for cultural agencies in five cities in Mexico for the U.S. government.
Why connect with state arts policy at AAAE?
The public role of the cultural manager has grown substantially over the past decades, as both direct government subsidy and even tax-exempt status for the arts have risen in the public debate. Jonathan brings a broad perspective as a policy expert, an arts advocate, and a former AAAE member to help us understand where we're helping our students address this future, and where we're falling short.