New Horizons: Arts, Technology & Adaptation

This year’s theme is New Horizons: Arts, Technology, & Adaptation. We will explore how technology is affecting the way we present and experience the arts, how artists are using emerging technology in their creative process, and consider what the future may bring for the arts. Through all of this, we will celebrate artists’ and arts organizations’ ability to adapt and innovate as new tools become available to change how we think about art itself.

New in 2024: Our guest speakers will lead interactive workshops for Perforum attendees! These workshops will provide an inside view of the application of emerging technologies in the arts, and ask participants to consider their own relationships to technology.

Moderator and Panelists

Thomas F. DeFrantz

Thomas F. DeFrantz directs SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology, a research lab that explores emerging technology in live performance applications. Believes in our shared capacity to do better and engage creative spirit for a collective good that is anti-racist, proto-feminist, and queer affirming. Convenes the Black Performance Theory working group as well as the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance, a growing consortium of 325 researchers committed to exploring Black dance practices in embodied writing. Recent teaching: University of the Arts Mobile MFA in Dance; ImPulsTanz; SNDO; Juilliard; New Waves Institute; Bennington College; P.A.R.T.S.; faculty at Hampshire College, Stanford, Yale, MIT, NYU, Northwestern University; University of Nice.  Has chaired Program in Women’s and Gender Studies at MIT; the concentration in Physical Imagination at MIT; the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke; and served as President of the Society of Dance History Scholars. DeFrantz acted as a consultant for the Smithsonian Museum of African American Life and Culture,  contributing concept and a voice-over for a permanent installation on Black Social Dance that opened with the museum in 2016.
slippage.org

Charlie Miller

Charlie Miller is Executive Director and Curator of Off-Center at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). He co-founded Off-Center in 2010 as a small theatrical test kitchen and has grown it into a signature line of programming for the DCPA, credited with bringing immersive theatre to Colorado and helping establish Denver as an international hub for immersive art and entertainment. Through Off-Center, Charlie has created, produced, and presented critically acclaimed experiences for audiences ranging in size from one to one thousand, engaging hundreds of thousands of audience members over fourteen years and making DCPA the only professional nonprofit theatre in the country regularly developing and producing large-scale immersive and experiential work.

Samantha Bryant

Samantha Bryant is the Vice President, Partnerships at ASYMM Digital. She has led a full career over 13+ years focused on bringing success in digital marketing to nonprofit arts organizations. Samantha is distinguished by an unwavering commitment to fostering client relationships and advancing innovative strategies that redefine the client experience. As an avid patron of the arts, she is devoted to cultivating community with the organizations she works. Her vision for partnership strategy is rooted in quality care and nurturing relationships and tactics that drive measurable success in the digital space.

Megan Heber - Moderator

Megan Heber has spent the last 15 years driving mission-focused work in arts and nonprofit organizations, aiming to transform communities with passion and purpose. As a professor of practice in Arts Management and Nonprofit Leadership at Southern Methodist University's Division of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs (CCPA), she teaches strategic planning, governance, finance, fundraising, marketing, and more, while also directing CCPA's three graduate programs- the MA/MBA(Master of Arts in Arts Management and Master of Business Administration); MMIAM (Master of Management in International Arts Management); and brand-new MANPL (Master of Arts in Arts and Nonprofit Leadership).

In 2024, she was nominated by students for SMU's HOPE Award and was then selected by a committee as the campus-wide HOPE Graduate Professor of the Year. A classically trained musician, Megan's career spans roles as Executive Director of an arts education nonprofit, Director of Marketing at one of the largest colleges of music in the nation, and military musician. She holds multiple degrees, including an MBA and M.A. in Arts Management from SMU, and is an active participant in the North Texas arts and nonprofit community.

Featured Artists

Camron Ware – Lightware Labs

Camron Ware is a projection artist who operates Lightware Labs: a full service projection mapping company in Dallas, TX.
Since 2005, Camron has been breaking the rules of projection and truly enjoys finding creative ways to use light and motion to tell stories on any object imaginable.
Lightware Labs has an arsenal of over 100 projectors, dozens of media controllers, and over 100,000 pieces of media to create endless experiences; whether it be projecting 360-degrees to immerse an audience, or a single projector to make a painted work of art come to life:  Camron and the Lightware Labs team loves creating magic for any event or experience.

 

 

 

mixtamotus

mixtamotus (mm) is a Dallas-based human-digital interface art exploration that redefines the possibilities for connecting and creating art by blurring the lines between movement, music, and media. Under the artistic direction of Martheya Nygaard, Reyna Mondragon, and Joel Olivas, mm explore’s group creativity and provides interactive multimedia performances on and offline. mm values communication, community, and creativity as they explore the intersection of human and machine interaction to excite, challenge, inspire, and imagine what is possible when blurring the lines between art forms. mixtamotus is umbrellaed under 501(c)(3) non-profit arts service organization kNOwBOX dance. www.mixtamotus.com | @mixtamotus

Mike Arreaga / Aurora Dallas

A native Texan and Dallas-based creative, Arreaga moves seamlessly between the worlds of art, design, and event production, becoming a powerhouse who has been transforming ideas into jaw-dropping realities for over 16 years. Part artist, part event wizard, and full-time fabricator of everything cool, Arreaga brings a unique blend of innovation and craftsmanship to every project. Whether it's a sleek corporate gala, a vibrant bar mitzvah, or a wedding that feels like stepping into another world, Arreaga has designed it all. From local Dallas hotspots to coast-to-coast productions, his work has made waves for big names like MLB, the Dallas Mavericks, Deloitte, Questlove, Modelo, In-N-Out Burger, Capital One, and many more. His ability to transform concepts into unique and engaging environments has made him a sought-after designer in the event production industry.

Arreaga’s artistic practice extends beyond event design into the realms of illustration, graphic design, painting, and serigraphy, allowing him to explore multiple mediums in his creative work. His commitment to community-driven art is reflected in his 11-year contribution to Art Conspiracy, where he served as a board member, executive team member, and participating artist. He was also a co-producer of The Pin Show, a fashion runway event highlighting emerging designers, which featured over 240 walks with live music on illuminated runways. Additionally, Arreaga is the co-founder of Harkensback, a design and style collective that emphasizes ethically produced apparel and home goods, guided by a vision of sustainability and craftsmanship.

With a diverse skill set and unwavering dedication to his craft, Arreaga has established himself as a leader in both the art and event production fields, continually pushing creative boundaries and leaving a lasting impression.

Featured Instructor

Jessica Burnham - Director of Design and Innovation Programs - SMU

Jessica Burnham has a BFA in Communication Design from the Metropolitan State University of Denver and an MFA in Design Research and Innovation from the University of North Texas. Her design interests lie in bringing design to unexpected places, like civic engagement, local governance, and other hyper-local efforts. Her research focuses on transitioning from Communication Design to Designed Communication and her previous efforts led to creating a business association on Lowest Greenville Avenue called the Lowest Greenville Collective. This led to her role as the Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation where she helped manage the neighborhood, designed public safety systems, and represented the area as large projects in the city came about. Currently, she is the Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor of the Master of Arts in Design and Innovation (MADI) program at SMU. This program teaches students from all different backgrounds to use Human-Centered Design to creatively solve and improve unwieldy problems. Jessica lives in Richardson, Texas with her husband and three boys.

Working in arts and culture in 2023 is both joyful and complicated as we see artists and organizations embracing creative thinking and big ideas, and struggle with the long-term challenges created by the pandemic.

This year’s theme, “The Art of Belonging,” is designed to encourage exploration around how we create spaces of belonging for audiences and patrons, for those who work in the field as artists or arts workers, for the people we want to be part of our audiences and communities, and where new people can see themselves belonging. TACA wants attendees to question who already has that sense of belonging and who does not, and how to create it for those who may not feel they belong in the arts. Visit our list of resources on the art of belonging HERE.
Watch the 2023 TACA Perforum

Moderator and Panelists

Maura Sheffler

Donna Wilhelm Family President and Executive Director, The Arts Community Alliance (TACA)

Moderator

Maura Sheffler is an arts management and grantmaking leader passionate about creating a more vibrant, equitable, and efficient cultural sector to support a sustainable future for Dallas artists, audiences, and arts organizations. Previously as Deputy Director at TACA, she led grantmaking, programs, and marketing strategy. Since 2013, Maura has been integral to TACA’s transition from a grantmaker to a responsive, holistic arts service organization. She launched new grant programs, strengthened relationships with TACA’s multidisciplinary grantees, collaborated on community research initiatives, and built programs that are the foundation for TACA’s equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy. Under Maura’s leadership, TACA’s grantmaking offerings grew in number and sophistication. Using a collaborative, community-informed approach, Maura facilitated the development and launch of four new grant programs in response to the pandemic – the Artist Residency Fund, Emergency Arts Relief Fund, Resiliency Grants, and Pop-Up Grants. She also led the restructuring of two existing grant programs to strengthen equitability and impact: the Catalyst Grant Program (formerly the Arts General Operating Grant Program), which provides critical unrestricted support to arts organizations. In addition, she revamped the New Works Fund, which supports the development of new works of art by Black, Indigenous, and other people of Color (BIPOC) artists, LCGTQ+ artists, and female artists in North Texas. Maura drove the strategy and growth behind TACA’s service offerings, including an annual symposium convening regional arts leaders and a professional development program curated for artists and arts managers. Workshop topics have included audience development, communications, fundraising, and more. Since 2017, TACA has convened and participated in seven EDI-focused workshops that have guided TACA’s EDI strategy. Maura began violin lessons at six, and attributes her discipline, confidence, and dedication to her musical training. Before transitioning to a career in arts management, Maura worked as a freelance musician. Her previous immersion in music blossomed into a fierce passion for the belief that art and artmaking should be accessible to everyone and for the sector’s sustainability. Maura is an active member of Southern Methodist University’s alum community and frequently guest lectures on arts management topics. In addition, she served as an inaugural member of the SMU Meadows School of the Arts Dean’s 2050 Council, advising on strategy development. Previously, she served as a Grants Panelist for the Houston Arts Alliance. Maura has earned a BA in Music, an MA in Arts Management, and an MBA in Marketing from SMU.

Martine Elyse Philippe

Director, City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture

City Manager T.C. Broadnax appointed Martine Elyse Philippe as the Director of the Office of Arts & Culture, effective December 5, 2022.  With over 15 years of experience in arts administration, Martine comes to Dallas having served as the National Community Art Manager for A Window Between Worlds based in Los Angeles, CA and as the Chair for District 12 Arts Task Force for the Atlanta City Council. In her role with AWBW, she served as national creative strategist for the development of art- based leadership and resources to transform trauma and create community-based methods of change and social justice through art.  Martine’s art administration experience spans across city government and the non-profit sector. As a trained dancer, she began her arts administration career with the City of Atlanta whereby she developed dance curriculum and then went on to become the Cultural Affairs Project Coordinator for the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. She has served in several executive roles, such as the Executive Director of Atlanta’s Resource for Entertainment & Arts. Martine is devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion in every facet of art and culture. She is utilizing the breadth of her experiences to make a tremendous impact in the City of Dallas.

Sixto A. Wagan, Jr.

Project Director, Greater Houston BIPOC Arts Network and Fund

Sixto Wagan is the Project Director for the Greater Houston BIPOC Arts Network and Fund (BANF). Using the collective impact approach to social change as a model, BANF is structured as a community-led collaborative fund and a resource network guided by arts leaders, arts practitioners, and funders. Acknowledging historical underinvestment in Houston BIPOC cultures and art communities, the initiative will cede decision-making power about grants to the very communities impacted by funding decisions.  Previously, he founded and developed the Center for Art and Social Engagement (CASE) in the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts at the University of Houston. At CASE, Wagan developed pilot programs, community partnerships, and research initiatives that centered creativity and community in impact conversations for 21st century cities.  He also led DiverseWorks, serving as Artistic Director, Co-Executive Director and Performing Arts Curator. During his tenure, he nurtured artists, communities and emerging arts organizations through commissions and place-based initiatives.  Wagan continues to expand his work as a strategic visioning and cultural equity facilitator. He has been a speaker and moderator at national convenings around topics of equity, leadership development, transition planning, and community stewardship.

Jinelle Thompson

Research & Partnerships Manager, Museum Hue

Jinelle Thompson is the Research and Partnerships Manager at Museum Hue. She is an arts administrator and cultural strategist working with cultural institutions to establish equitable partnerships and programming with communities across NYC. Through qualitative research, collaborative visioning, and anti-oppressive facilitation, Jinelle develops engagement strategies for the inclusion and empowerment of communities of color. They have organized workshops and public programs with artists, organizers, and activists concerning civic engagement, immigration, voting rights, and mass incarceration. Most recently, Jinelle was the Manager of Strategic Partnerships at MoMA PS1 and served as the inaugural Volkswagen Fellow for Public Programs and Community Engagement where they collaborated with artists and community partners to conceptualize and develop the museum’s first suite of educational workshops and programs with youth and adult audiences. Jinelle holds a Masters in Museum Studies and Bachelors with honors in Sociology and Political Science with a concentration in Public Law.

TACA Perforum | A Conversation to Advance Arts & Culture

2021 TACA Perforum

REIMAGINE: The Future of the Arts

Monday, November 15, 2021
4:30 to 8:00 p.m. CT (Livestream begins at 5:00 p.m. CT)
On The Levee in the Dallas Design District
1108 Quaker Street, Dallas, Texas 75207

WATCH 2021 TACA PERFORUM >>

READ THE PROGRAM >>

Topic Description

The arts and culture community is generally struggling with the dynamics of the pandemic, the Nation’s racial justice reckoning and the sheer weight of uncertainty and change.

Who’s thriving in this new emerging world? How are traditional arts institutions – museums, symphonies, regional theaters, presenters, and producers adapting and disrupting? What is the role of the artist within this new landscape? How does innovation look at this moment and into the future?

Panelists & Moderator

Ilknur Ozgur

Founder & Director, Artstillery (Dallas, TX)

Ilknur Ozgur (she/her) is the Founder & Director of Artstillery, a non-profit immersive performance art company based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 2016, Artstillery aligns with community partners to produce and present creative narratives based on artists’ lived experiences that explore issues of racial, cultural, and social injustice.

Originally from Chicago, Ozgur started her artistic journey in partnership with artists wanting to create solo original works. She collaborated with powerful writer/performer, Nancy Moricette, on “Jaspora: Imitation Haitian,” a production that toured the New York International Fringe Festival. She also workshopped original pieces by writer Suzan-Lori Parks within Puerto Rican communities in Chicago with Urban Theatre Co. Working alongside Miguel Pinero at Nuyorican Poets Cafe (New York City), she produced his works as immersive experiences inside small, street-facing urban spaces. As a university instructor of Performance Art and Communications, she has shared her varied experiences with students developing interpretive pieces for national performance competitions.
Ozgur has proudly served as a Cultural Commissioner for the City of Dallas, representing District 6, and is a current resident on the TACDC Creative Place Making Task Force under the NEA. She is also an artistic liaison to Dallas City Homes, leading the creative place-making initiatives at 723, a warehouse in West Dallas.

Ozgur’s work is grounded in rhythms from Hip Hop, Rap, Street Poetry, and Community Narratives. She believes in shattering hierarchical structures found in traditional spaces and is committed to developing diverse, self-sustaining artistic ecosystems for people from all backgrounds, skill sets, and passions.

Lauren Ruffin

Co-Founder, CRUX (Albuquerque, NM)

Lauren Ruffin (she/her) is co-founder of CRUX, an immersive storytelling cooperative that collaborates with Black artists as they create content in virtual reality and augmented reality (XR).  Founded in 2017, CRUX is the only company focusing solely on bringing XR artistic content from Black creators to mainstream users and audiences. As co-founder, Lauren focuses on creating an organization with core principles that are rooted in liberation movements, as well as anti-racism and anti-oppression, and works closely with partners as they create original content and immersive experiences to delight audiences and expand their digital footprint. Partners include the International Documentary Association, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, New York Live Arts, Urban Bush Women, and Black Public Media.

Over the course of her career, she has become a “Jane-of-all-trades” for small and mid-sized enterprises in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. The hallmark of her work is a willingness to take calculated risks, an interest in scaling businesses using innovative organizational mechanisms, and her ability to secure capital for  projects from non-traditional sources.

Lauren is currently the interim Chief Marketing Officer of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), where she focuses on amplifying the stories and activism of the YBCA community. Prior to joining YBCA, Lauren was co-CEO of  Fractured Atlas, the largest association of independent artists in the United States. She frequently speaks on a diverse range of topics including ethics in technology, the digital divide, organizational development and culture, racial bias, and economic justice.

Lauren graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Political Science and obtained a J.D. from the Howard University School of Law. She is on faculty at New York University, teaching an Arts and Entrepreneurship course, and has served on the governing board of Black Girls Code as well as the advisory boards of ArtUp and Black Girl Ventures.

Robert van Leer

Senior Vice President of Artistic Planning, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington D.C.)

Robert van Leer (he/him) began his arts administration career in the programming office at Lincoln Center mentored by two icons of the arts administrative field: Bill Lockwood and Jane S. Moss. From 1996-2011, as Head of Music and Arts Projects at the Barbican Centre in London he oversaw concert hall’s transformation into a leading creative center, commissioned celebrated artists across genres, and presented performances of these commissions in the concert hall as well as at partner venues across the UK.

Between 2011 and 2013, as Managing Director of Nederlandse Dans Theatre, he re-envisioned the mission of the company as a leading creative ensemble whose primacy is investing in the work of visionary choreographers. He delivered the NDT’s first-ever strategic fundraising plan, increased revenue three-fold, and produced a series of live global cinema broadcasts.

After a professional break to earn a Masters in Garden Design, van Leer focused on strategic cultural consulting as the managing Director for Wonderbird UK in London.

In 2015 he was tapped by President Deborah Rutter to join the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of Artistic Planning, where he coordinates the programming of the Center and its resident companies, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, to establish a unified artistic vision for the nation’s busiest performing arts center and living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. Since the 2019 opening of the Kennedy Center’s first-ever expansion, the REACH, van Leer has also led the artistic programming for this transformative addition, with flexible indoor and outdoor performance space designed to nurture new art, community, and informal encounters between the artist and the public.

van Leer holds a B.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University, and certifications from Columbia University Graduate School of Business, National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and the Inchbald School of Design.

Clyde Valentín

Director, SMU Ignite/Arts Dallas: A Center for People, Purpose + Place (Dallas, TX)

Clyde Valentín (he/him) is a producer, creative entrepreneur and cultural strategist with over twenty years of executive experience managing start-up organizational environments and multidisciplinary projects and live events. Born and raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He is the Co-founder and former Executive Director of Hi-ARTS (formerly known as the Hip-Hop Theater Festival). He is the inaugural Director of Ignite/Arts Dallas: People, Purpose + Place the community engagement initiative at SMU Meadows School of the Arts. The mission of Ignite/Arts Dallas is to challenge the imaginations of students and citizens to envision more just and vibrant communities through art and culture experiences.

In 1995 he co-founded Stress Magazine, a pioneering Hip-Hop arts & culture publication, first as its Senior Editor and then as its Director of Operations. Clyde was a 2015 Community + Culture Fellow of the National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program. Valentín is an advisory committee member of the Latinx Theater Commons and has served as a consultant or panelist for numerous national arts organizations including Howlround, Creative Capital, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), YouthSpeaks/Brave New Voices, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Theater Communications Group (TCG), the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture (NALAC), the Knight Foundation, the National Performance Network (NPN) and AlternateROOTS. He most recently joined the Local Advisory Board for Year-Up DFW and he serves on the Boards of Texans for the Arts, the only statewide advocacy organization for public funding in the Arts in Texas and the Trinity Park Conservancy, which is building the 200-acre Harold Simmons Park in the heart Dallas, Texas, on the Trinity/Arkikosa River.

Featured Artists

Vicki Meek

Vicki Meek (she/her), born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a nationally recognized artist who has exhibited widely. Meek is in the permanent collections of the African American Museum in Dallas, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Indiana, Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Serie Art Project in Austin and Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut. She was awarded three public arts commissions with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Art Program and was co-artist on the largest public art project in Dallas, the Dallas Convention Center Public Art Project.

Vicki Meek currently spends time as Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of USEKRA: Center for Creative Investigation, a non-profit retreat for creatives in Costa Rica founded by internationally acclaimed performance artist Elia Arce. She is also Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s at-large appointment to the Arts and Culture Commission and the Public Art Committee. Meek is represented by Talley Dunn Gallery in Dallas, Texas.

RonAmber Deloney (aka DJ Skinpolitik)

RonAmber Deloney (she/her) is a DJ, poet, and educator from Dallas, TX.  A Fulbright alumnus to Germany, she works in project management and digital skills training  and is completing a doctorate in Global Training and Development with NorthCentral University.  In her free time, she enjoys exercising, traveling, and planning spoken word projects with her Berlin based band The New Night Babies.

Jonathan Norton

Jonathan Norton’s (he/him) work has been produced or developed by Actors Theatre of Louisville (44th Humana Festival) Dallas Theater Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Pyramid Theatre Company, PlayPenn, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kitchen Dog Theater, Soul Rep Theater Company, African American Repertory Theater, Undermain Theatre, Theatre Three, and South Dallas Cultural Center, National Performance Network, and National New Play Network. Jonathan’s play Mississippi Goddamn commissioned and produced by the South Dallas Cultural Center was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award given by the American Theatre Critics Association. Other awards include: Artistic Innovations Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, South Dallas Cultural Center Diaspora Performing Arts Commission, the TACA Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund, TACA Bowdon Family Foundation Artist Residency Fund, and the Jubilee Theatre’s 2019 Eastman Visionary Award. He serves as Playwright in Residence at the Dallas Theater Center.

Michael Lagocki

Michael Lagocki (he/him) is an artist and facilitator with over two decades of experience helping organizations visualize important strategic conversations. His clients include some of the largest companies and best known speakers in the world.  People talk about smart things and he draws engaging pictures to capture the experience. You can find out more about Michael and his work at MichaelLagocki.com.

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COVID-19 Safety Information: To make Perforum as safe as possible, we are requiring guests to show a valid ID paired with either proof of COVID-19 vaccination (physical card or photo of card acceptable) or proof of a negative test result within 48 hours of the event. Masks will be required while indoors except while eating or drinking. If you are unable to abide by these conditions, we encourage you to tune into Perforum virtually through our livestream. Thank you for understanding.

Relevance, Relationships & Reimagining

Presented on Monday, October 26, 2020 | 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. CST

Moderated by Dr. Zannie Voss, Director of SMU DataArts

WATCH 2020 TACA PERFORUM

There may not be a more critical year in modern history than 2020. COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on America’s arts sector with revenue losses to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations at an estimated $10.2 billion as of August 3, 2020. Additionally, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and a never-ending list of innocent people of color has ignited a powerful push for racial justice and equity in all sectors, including arts and culture. 2020 is also a Census year and an election year!

What does relevance look like in the arts and culture sector given the landscape we are living in? How do we take advantage of the moment to deepen and leverage relationships with individuals and communities? How can we reimagine what our work looks like in order to best serve our community? With the help of three change-making leaders across the country, this year’s virtual TACA Perforum symposium will explore these questions and the role arts and culture can play to increase relevance, deepen relationships, and reimagine our future.

2020 TACA Perforum Panelists & Moderator

DeAnna Cummings

Arts Program Director, McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, MN

DeAnna Cummings joined the McKnight Foundation in June 2020 as Arts program director. Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists thrive, McKnight invests in the arts and other sectors to support the state’s working artists and advocate for the value of their work.

Cummings is a co-founder and served as the CEO of Juxtaposition Arts (JXTA), a social enterprise business in north Minneapolis that trains and employs historically underestimated youth as a springboard to higher education and careers in art and design. Established in 1995 as an after-school program in the North Side’s Sumner-Glenwood neighborhood, JXTA has become one of the most important cultural institutions in the Twin Cities.

Prior to cofounding JXTA, Cummings served as a program officer for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and as a senior administrator for the Council on Black Minnesotans, since renamed the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage.

Cummings has served on the Bush Foundation’s board of trustees since 2013. She is a 2016 Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Women in Business awardee and a Minnesota Public Radio 2013 Arts Hero. From 2016 to 2018, she was a DeVos Institute Fellow in the selective fellowship program in arts management at the University of Maryland, College Park. She holds a master’s in public administration from Harvard University and studied sociology and psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Maria López De León

President, CEO and Board Member, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), San Antonio, TX

María López De León is the President and CEO of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC). In 2013, President Obama appointed Ms. De León to serve on the National Council on the Arts. In 2012 and 2013, she was named among the nation’s Fifty Most Powerful and Influential People in the Nonprofit Arts.

Under her leadership, NALAC developed and launched three grant programs: NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), that supports Latino artists and organizations; Transnational Cultural Remittances (TCR), that supports artists and organizations in the U.S., Mexico and Central America; and NALAC Diverse Arts Spaces, that supports organizations to expand their Latino programming to diverse audiences and outreach to diverse communities. She has directed 16 editions of the renowned annual Leadership Institute and six convenings of the Latino Arts Advocacy Institute in Washington, DC; directed the convening of six NALAC National Conferences and dozens of Regional Arts Training Workshops across the country. Under Ms. De León’s leadership, NALAC completed production of Visiones, a six-part documentary series on Latino art and culture for PBS and development of accompanying education curriculum distributed to over 35,000 schools.

Ms. De León serves on the board of the First People’s Fund, the Performing Arts Alliance, and the Hispanic Leadership Agenda and is an advisory council member Women of Color in the Arts and the National Latino Media Council. She studied Journalism at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Kathy White

Chief Financial Officer, The Atlanta Opera, Atlanta, GA

Director of Finance of The Atlanta Opera since 2018, Kathy White is an executive financial manager who has built high performing teams in all areas of accounting and finance for governmental agencies, non-profits, higher education institutions, and for-profit entities. She appreciates the positive impact of the arts on the broader community. Most recently, Kathy served as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer for the Andrew J. Young Foundation, Kathy managed all aspects of the Foundation as well as the finances.  She applied her leadership skills to a variety of projects ranging from providing funding opportunities and training for farmers who played essential roles in the Civil Rights Movement to coordinating the development of a Strategic Plan for the Foundation.

Kathy also served as the Assistant Director for the Center for Urban Education at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.  The Center brought equity-mindedness to institutions of higher education through socially conscious research, tools, and learning institutes. It helped faculty, administrators, and staff better understand the harmful effects of invisible forms of racism on their campuses.

Dr. Zannie Voss

Director, SMU DataArts, Dallas, TX

Dr. Zannie Voss is Director of SMU DataArts as well as Professor of Arts Management in the Meadows School of the Arts and the Cox School of Business at SMU. Previously she was a Professor at Duke University and Producing Director of Theater Previews at Duke, a professional theater company dedicated to the co-production of new works. She served as managing director of PlayMakers Repertory Company, associate manager of the Alley Theatre, and worked in audience development for Center Theatre Group. Research consulting clients include the League of American Orchestras, the Irvine Foundation, Theatre Development Fund and Theatre Communications Group, where she has co-authored Theatre Facts since 1998. Her published research on the strategic factors that influence organizational performance appears in over a dozen academic and practitioner journals.

Voss serves on the boards of the International Association of Arts and Cultural Management, TRG Arts, and TACA.  She is co-author of the book Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Commission on the Arts.

Featured Musical Guest

The Grays

The GRAYS, three remarkable siblings from Dallas, Texas with several years of versatile experience in creative & performing arts. Kierra, KJ, and Kwinton Gray were all separately nominated for the 2019 Dallas Observer Music Awards. This family continues to build rapport of excellence together and apart, both locally and abroad. The Grays are also frequent musicians at the Dallas Theater Center.

Art Matters! The Arts Relevance in Contemporary Culture

Monday, October 28, 2019
Nasher Sculpture Center & Crow Museum of Asian Art

Moderated by Zannie Giraud Voss, Southern Methodist University

Arts and cultural organizations across the country are striving to increase their footprint of relevance, appeal and representation in an often-indifferent world. How can we be more proactive and nimble as we seek to matter more to more people? With the help of three change-makers leading innovation in our field, this year’s TACA Perforum will explore the arts’ relevance in contemporary culture and examine the value of learning, journalism, and inclusion in the arts.

2019 TACA Perforum Panelists & Moderator

Eduardo Díaz

Director, Smithsonian Latino Center, Washington D.C.

Eduardo Díaz is the director of the Smithsonian Latino Center and a 30-year veteran of arts administration. Díaz is responsible for the management and delivery of exhibitions, public and educational programs and the Latino Center’s Latino Virtual Museum.

Previously, Díaz was the executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, N.M. Before joining the NHCC, Díaz managed a private consulting firm that served arts institutions and agencies, statewide advocacy groups and community-based organizations. From 1981 to 1999, Díaz served as the director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Antonio.

Díaz earned a law degree in 1976 from the University of California at Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in 1972 in Latin American Studies at San Diego State University. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Elizabeth Méndez Berry

Director, Voice, Creativity and Culture, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY

Elizabeth Méndez Berry directs the Nathan Cummings Foundation’s Voice, Creativity and Culture portfolio, focusing on the foundation’s investments in the arts, pop culture and media. Prior to joining Nathan Cummings, she worked at the Ford Foundation, on its journalism portfolio, and then at the Surdna Foundation, where she led the Artists Engaging in Social Change portfolio.

Before working in philanthropy, Elizabeth was an award-winning journalist and cultural critic whose work appeared in Vibe, the Village Voice and the Washington Post. In Jay-Z’s book Decoded, he cites one of her essays as inspiring a line on the song “P.S.A.” from The Black Album. Her work has been included on syllabi at colleges around the country, and she has lectured at Princeton, Texas A&M, Harvard and Jackson State.

She has been an adjunct professor of music journalism at New York University and is a recipient of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellowship in Cultural Journalism from the New Journalism Foundation in Cartagena. Elizabeth holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

Mike O’Bryan

Director, Youth and Young Adult Initiatives, The Village for Arts and Humanities, Philadelphia, PA

Mike O’Bryan is widely recognized as an expert practitioner and thought leader in the fields of community development, organizational culture, and trauma-informed practices. Since 2015, O’Bryan has served as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives at the Village of Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit headquartered in North Philadelphia.

O’Bryan is currently a Corzo Fellow at The Corzo Center for The Creative Economy at The University of the Arts and an Innovation Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation in support of a startup venture focused on the advancement of behavioral skills and equity in the field of workforce development.

Prior to that, O’Bryan spent more than a decade working directly with underserved populations — including veterans, adults in recovery, returning citizens, youth impacted by the foster care and juvenile justice systems, and families experiencing homelessness — and as a consultant and advisor for multiple nonprofits, businesses, and local government agencies.

O’Bryan holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the Arts and a certificate in Childhood Trauma Studies from Jefferson University.

Dr. Zannie Voss

Director, SMU DataArts, Dallas, TX

Dr. Zannie Voss is Director of SMU DataArts as well as Professor of Arts Management in the Meadows School of the Arts and the Cox School of Business at SMU. Previously she was a Professor at Duke University and Producing Director of Theater Previews at Duke, a professional theater company dedicated to the co-production of new works. She served as managing director of PlayMakers Repertory Company, associate manager of the Alley Theatre, and worked in audience development for Center Theatre Group. Research consulting clients include the League of American Orchestras, the Irvine Foundation, Theatre Development Fund and Theatre Communications Group, where she has co-authored Theatre Facts since 1998. Her published research on the strategic factors that influence organizational performance appears in over a dozen academic and practitioner journals.

Voss serves on the boards of the International Association of Arts and Cultural Management, TRG Arts, and TACA.  She is co-author of the book Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Commission on the Arts.

Meeting Community Needs

Monday, October 29, 2018
Nasher Sculpture Center 

Moderated by Zannie Voss, Director of SMU DataArts

Across the country, arts organizations are actively seeking to broaden their relevance, appeal and reflection of America’s changing demographics. As the population continues to shift around us and we seek out ways to become and stay engaged in our community, it begs the question, “How are we meeting the needs of our community?”

This year’s TACA Perforum will explore this question and the idea that when we better understand and take into account the attitudes, behaviors and needs of those in our community, we do a better job with the content and delivery of our programs. In doing so, we create offerings that better meet people’s needs and interests and increase our relevance in the community.

WATCH 2018 TACA PERFORUM

2018 Panelists

Carlos Contreres

Director of Marketing & Innovation, City of Albuquerque, NM

Carlos currently serves as the Director of Marketing and Innovation at the City of Albuquerque. Contreras is a Kellogg Community Leadership Network Fellow, and Masters Student in the Department of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. Currently, on hiatus from a post as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chicano/a Studies, Contreras is a community organizer, small business owner, artist, father, and human being. Contreras works daily to try and make the community he lives in, a better place for everyone who lives there too. He is a published author, and National Champion performance poet, working to create space for artists in Albuquerque, in ways that don’t exist. He believes that Art is Economic Development and Community is in Collaboration.

Read Carlos’ blog on Art&Seek!

Jon Hinojosa

Artistic & Executive Director, SAY Sí,
San Antonio, TX

Jon is an artist masquerading as an arts administrator who serves as the Artistic | Executive Director of SAY Sí, a national award winning, creative youth development program for urban students. The tuition-free program encompasses 6 distinct multidisciplinary arts programs, including visual, performing, film, and game design. SAY Sí is situated in a 26,000 square foot facility in San Antonio’s Cultural Arts District. Jon has presented and facilitated learning at numerous conferences and symposia on the value, tangible evidence, and the transformative power the arts have on urban youth. Jon also serves as a trustee for the National Guild for Community Arts Education, helping lead their Creative Youth Development initiative. He hopes his legacy will be inspiring and educating the next generation of our nation’s creative leaders.

Elizabeth Merritt

VP of Strategic Foresight, AAM & Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums
Arlington, VA

Elizabeth is the Alliance of American Museum’s Vice President for Strategic Foresight, and founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums – a think-tank and research & development lab for the museum field. She is the author of the AAM’s annual TrendsWatch report, and writes and speaks prolifically on the trends shaping the future of nonprofit organizations. (M.A. Duke University, B.S. Yale University, Museum Management Institute.)

Read Elizabeth’s blog on Art&Seek!

Ken Tabachnick

Executive Director, Merce Cunningham Trust
New York, NY

Ken has a long diverse career in and around the arts. He is currently the Executive Director of the Merce Cunningham Trust, where he oversees all operations and strategic planning. Prior to that, Ken worked as a consultant on strategic planning and other organizational matters, independently and as a Senior Associate at AEA Consulting. From 2013-2016, he was Deputy Dean at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, after serving as the first Dean of the School of the Arts at Purchase College, Before joining academia, Ken was the General Manager at New York City Ballet (NYCB), which followed a long career as a lighting designer – Ken still lights for Stephen Petronio with whom he has worked for more than three decades – and as an intellectual property attorney. Ken lives in New York City with his wife and holds a third degree black belt in Taekwondo, which he teaches weekly.

Read Ken’s blog on Art&Seek!

Cross Sector Collaboration: Intersections between Arts Organizations and the Broader Arts Ecology

Monday, October 23, 2017
Nasher Sculpture Center

Moderated by Zannie Giraud Voss, Southern Methodist University

There is no discipline that nurtures the ability to imagine, sparks creativity and innovation and stimulates action more than arts and culture. So it should come as no surprise that many artists and arts organizations are joining together with social, health, education and other sectors in creative intersections to advance shared goals in their communities.

This year’s TACA Perforum will examine instances of these partnerships happening across the nation and why they are important. There will also be an opportunity to discuss ways in which we can fuel further successful collaborations in North Texas.

WATCH 2017 TACA PERFORUM

2017 Panelists

Cézanne Charles

Director of Creative Industries, Creative Many
Detroit, MI

Cézanne Charles is a designer, curator and researcher working on design, technology, social justice and public policy for future-making. Cézanne is the Director of Creative Industries for Creative Many Michigan and co-leads the design and implementation of Creative Many’s creative industries research efforts. Cézanne also directs Creative Many’s programs providing the knowledge, funding, networks and advocacy needed to empower the practices of artists, designers and designer-makers within the state. Programs under her direction include the Kresge Artist Fellows Professional Practice Opportunities program and the Resonant Detroit granting program that supports artists/collectives doing place-based work in Detroit at the intersection of social justice and impact.

Cézanne serves on the Detroit Creative Corridor Center UNESCO Detroit City of Design Stewardship Board and the Board of Directors of Allied Media Project. She recently curated the ShiftSpace exhibition and pop-up café as part of the 2017 Saint-Étienne International Design Biennale.

Lauren Kelley

Executive Director, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling
New York, NY

Lauren Kelley is the Director and Chief Curator of the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling in Harlem, New York. As an integral–and founding–member of the senior staff since 2013, Lauren has played a key role in the strategic growth of the organization in developing the Museum’s curatorial and public programs as Associate Director or Curatorial Programs. Since the Museum’s opening in October 2015, she has organized all of its art exhibitions of established and emerging artists, as well as artists with ties to Harlem and Northern Manhattan. In addition, she has been instrumental in elevating the Museum’s outreach efforts to the artist community, most notably by spearheading the Museum’s Artist-in-Residence program.

Prior to growing the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum, Lauren served as founding curator of the first fine art gallery at Prairie View A&M University in Texas for eleven years. Her artwork has also been on view at The New Museum, NY, The Kitchen, NY, LACE, LA, and the 2016 Parisian Film Festival’s “Cinema Different” an experimental film screening at the Pompidou Center.

Josephine Ramirez

Arts and Culture Strategist and Cross-Field Innovator,
former Arts Program Director & Portfolio Director, The James Irvine Foundation
Los Angeles, CA

Josephine Ramirez is a senior leader in the arts nonprofit sector. Her work focuses on the impact of arts and culture: how they contribute to the development of stronger, healthier communities, and how they help us to understand one another and to live better together. She most recently was the Arts Program Director at The James Irvine Foundation, leading an initiative aimed at benefiting more of California’s diverse and low-income communities. Josephine also initiated Irvine’s inclusion as one of the original funders of ArtPlace America.

Before joining Irvine, Josephine was Vice President of Programming and Planning for the Music Center in Los Angeles, where she founded and launched a major program initiative that increased active arts participation and provided arts experiences that embraced and reflected immigrant communities and culture. Previously, she was a Program Officer at the Getty Foundation. Also at the Getty, she was Research Associate at the Research Institute, creating and implementing a multiyear investigation of the connections between art making and civic participation.

Susan Saloom

Military and Veterans Arts Initiative Field Specialist, ational Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military, Americans for the Arts
Washington D.C.

Arts & Health in the Military (NIAHM) at Americans for the Arts. She began her work in the DC offices as an AmeriCorps VISTA member from 2014-15, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary’s Call to Service Corps. Through the National Initiative, Susan continues working with military, medical, and arts sectors to advance the arts in the health and well-being of our active duty service members, Veterans, their families, and caregivers, across the military continuum, from deployment to reentry and reintegration. Susan believes that accessibility to the arts is key to building resilience and healing the mental, physical, and moral wounds of war.

Susan is a “military brat,” former Art teacher, certified Memories in the Making facilitator with the Alzheimer’s Association, and a member of the board of Arts For Health Florida. She is currently working from the Northeast Florida region.

Community Connections: Models for Building a Shared Vision for Arts and Culture

Monday, October 24, 2016
Nasher Sculpture Center

Moderated by Zannie Giraud Voss, Southern Methodist University

WATCH 2016 TACA PERFORUM

2016 Panelists

D. David Brown

General Manager, Cultural Access Washington
Seattle, WA

D. David Brown joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as Executive Director in May of 2000. Mr. Brown’s career in ballet began more than 30 years ago as a dancer in the corps of Boston Ballet. Moving quickly through the ranks of the company to principal, he danced many roles including several ballets premiered at Boston Ballet. In 1981, upon retiring from active performing, he moved to Director of Production and then served in the role of General Manager from 1983-1998. He was most recently its Executive Director until June 1999, when he left to pursue arts consulting.

Upon his arrival at PNB, Mr. Brown quickly set about strengthening the administrative staff, guiding PNB’s strategic plan implementation and refining the financial management and budget processes. While forging a strong working partnership with new Artistic Director Peter Boal, Mr. Brown continued to strengthen the organization and better prepare it to support its artistic vision. His background provides the unique perspective of both artist and manager, and his experienced leadership quickly became one of PNB’s greatest assets. Mr. Brown retired from PNB in June of 2014.

Having served as Interim Executive Director for Cultural Access Washington, a non-profit whose mission is to ensure sustainable public support for Cultural, Scientific, and Heritage organizations throughout the state, he currently serves as its General Manager. Mr. Brown currently serves as the Chairman of Culture PAC, a non-partisan political action committee that supports issues of importance to the cultural community in Washington State.

Mr. Brown has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance and is a past chair of the Dance/USA Manager’s Council. He has also served as a Trustee of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) Retirement Plan & Health Fund in New York, NY as well as a Trustee of the Theatrical Stage Employee’s Local 15 Health & Welfare Trust in Seattle. He is a past President of the Washington State Arts Alliance and a past member of the Washington State Arts Commission.

Carlton Turner

Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS
Atlanta, GA

Carlton Turner is the Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS, a regional non-profit arts organization based in the south supporting artists working at the intersection of arts and social justice. He is co-founder and co-artistic director, along with his brother Maurice Turner, of the group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction). M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a Mississippi-based performing arts group that blends of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry and soul music together with non-traditional storytelling.

Carlton is currently on the board of Appalshop, First People’s Fund, Imagining America, and an advisory member to the National Theater Project at New England Foundation for the Arts. Carlton is a member of the We Shall Overcome Fund Advisory Committee at the Highlander Center for Research and Education, a steering committee member of the Arts x Culture x Social Justice Network, and former Network of Ensemble Theaters steering committee member.

In 2011, Carlton was awarded the M. Edgar Rosenblum award for outstanding contribution to Ensemble Theater by Irondale Ensemble Project in Brooklyn, NY. In 2013, Carlton was named to the Kennedy Center Honors Artist Advisory Board alongside Debbie Allen, Maria De Leon, and Ping Chong. M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a recipient of the 2015 Otto René Castillo Awards for Political Theatre recipient.

 

Karen Brooks Hopkins

President Emerita, Brooklyn Academy of Music
Senior Fellow, Mellon Foundation
Nasher Haemisegger Fellow, National Center for Arts Research
New York, NY

Karen Brooks Hopkins served as President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music from 1999 until her retirement in 2015, and was an employee of the institution since 1979. Hopkins served as the chair of the Cultural Institutions Group from 2002-2004, a member of the Mayor’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission and, most recently, on Mayor de Blasio’s transition committee. In 2013, Crain’s named her one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in New York,” and in 2014 she was one of ten selected into its inaugural “New York Business Hall of Fame.” Hopkins serves on the boards of the Jerome L. Greene and Alexander Onassis Foundations, and is currently Senior Fellow in Residence at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Fellow of the National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) at Southern Methodist University.

P. Carl

Co-Artistic Director, ArtsEmerson
Director and Co-Founder, HowlRound
Boston, MA

P. Carl is the the Director and co-founder of HowlRound—a think tank and knowledge commons actively making community among theatremakers worldwide through online resource sharing and in-person gatherings. Carl is also the co-artistic director of ArtsEmerson at Emerson College where he develops, dramaturgs, and presents an eclectic array of theatre from diverse artists from around the globe. Operating from the core belief that theatre is for everyone, Carl seeks to use the power of live performance in concert with opportunities for international dialogue and activism to foster personal and political transformation through the shared experience of art. Carl is a Distinguished Artist in Residence on the Emerson faculty, and a frequent writer and speaker on the evolution of theater practice and theory. He is the former Producing Artistic Director of the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, the former Director of Artistic Development at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and holds a PhD in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society from the University of Minnesota.