Arts Enterprise Forum spotlights prominent arts and culture leaders

The Arts Enterprise Forum, presented by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arts Institute and the UW–Madison Arts Enterprise, offers an opportunity for the Madison community to hear and interact with three nationally respected leaders who are reshaping arts and culture.

All events are free and open to the public.

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23, in the Overture Center’s Promenade Hall Elizabeth Streb, founder of the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics in Brooklyn, N.Y., will discuss “Where Art and Audience Collide: Smashing Assumptions about Arts Venues.”

Streb, a MacArthur “Genius” Award winner and a world-renowned choreographer, has been celebrated as the “Evel Knievel of dance” for her muscular, daredevil approach to movement.

Just as she reshaped the possibilities for contemporary dance, she’s now rethinking the potential for arts facilities. In her vision, arts venues aren’t formal affairs with rigid rules, but vibrant community hotbeds where “longtime fans from the high-art crowd mingle with the at-risk kids from the local public schools and their parents.”

Then, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, arts public policy expert Bill Ivey will speak about “Arts, Inc.: Greed, Neglect, and our Cultural Rights.”

The former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and recent Arts and Humanities leader for President Barack Obama’s transition team, Ivey has been exploring the nexus of art and public policy for decades. But his provocative book, “Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights,” and his continuing work both inside and outside the beltway suggest that nexus is missing essential connections.

Finally, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3, in Overture Center’s Promenade Hall, arts journalist Douglas McLennan will share his thoughts on “Arts Journalism 2.0: The Next Wave in Arts Conversations.”

Not long ago, public discussion, debate and criticism of the arts were the domain of mass media, created and curated by professional journalists and critics. But as social media rises and mass media struggles, the channels and credentials of this public discussion are shifting.

As founder of ArtsJournal.com, an online hub of arts news and commentary, McLennan has already reshaped the landscape of that public discourse. Now, as director of the National Arts Journalism project, he is fostering innovation in arts journalism and exploring new channels for discovering, discussing and connecting the arts.

The Arts Enterprise Forum is sponsored by the UW–Madison Arts Institute with the support of the Overture Center’s Community Arts Access Program.

For more information, contact Kate Hewson at kahewson@wisc.edu or 608-263-9290.