Artist As Seer

This panel brings together a world-renowned artist, Zanele Muholi — whose activist photographic works shed a lens on the lives of gay and transgendered people in South Africa — with Evan Wolfson, who is said to be an architect of the gay marriage movement in the US. In the immediate wake of the Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage, these discussants will look at the influence of both culture and law to inform how we live and to change how we live. This session introduced and curated by Anna Deavere Smith. Speakers: Zanele Muholi, Evan Wolfson, and Farai Chideya

Tom Campbell, a leader and scholar in the art world, asks an essential question as he looks ahead to a new and vital wave of arts institution leadership. This discussion will have significance as we consider leadership as well as the publics we serve from the vantage point of many of our “sacred” institutions. This panel was curated by Anna Deavere Smith, moderator. Speakers: Thomas P. Campbell and Anna Deavere Smith.

Tom Freston, former CEO of Viacom, and the man who brought us MTV, joins Saad Mohseini, CEO of MOBY Group, a media company in Afghanistan, and Phlouen Prim, executive director of Cambodia Living Arts. Phloeun joins us just having produced an extraordinary and mesmerizing highly acclaimed series of artistic events in New York City. Cambodia Living Arts seeks to enrich our idea of Cambodia from the Killing Fields to a vision, which includes the long tradition of master artists. Mohseini is building a film and television industry in Afghanistan. Moderator is Cynthia Schneider, former ambassador to the Netherlands, professor at Georgetown University and a Brookings fellow. These speakers will discuss how art functions in a post conflict society. This session is about the power of art to transform society and to heal nations and their people. This session introduced and curated by Anna Deavere Smith. Speakers: Saad Mohseni,Tom Freston, Phloeun Prim, Cynthia Schneider

Two rock stars of innovation, Theaster Gates, Chicago-based artist, and Perry Chen, co-founder and CEO of the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, discuss community, patronage, creativity, and more. This panel will spark your imagination about how you work and create, and give you hope and inspiration about what is possible in a variety of realms, not just art. They are joined by moderator Thelma Golden, is a Crown fellow and Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem. This session is introduced and curated by Anna Deavere Smith. Speakers: Theaster Gates, Thelma Golden, Perry Chen