Aspen Institute Arts Program at Chelsea Factory

invites you to

The Future of the Creative Economy

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Panel conversation 6:00-7:00 p.m. | Refreshments and mingle 7:00-7:30 p.m.

Chelsea Factory, 547 West 26th Street, New York, NY

The doors have reopened, and there is joy and relief, but artists and cultural institutions are facing an uncertain economy.  What are the next steps towards recovery for the creative industry, and how can we help ensure its stability?

Join Maria Torres-Springer, NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development, Dr. Zannie Voss, Director of SMU DataArts, Emil J. Kang, program director for Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater Foundation, moderated by Anna Deavere Smith.

This event is generously supported by

Anna Deavere Smith is credited with developing a new form of theater. After conducting hundreds of interviews on topics of contemporary concern, she creates plays structured with verbatim excerpts from what she has gathered.  Plays include Fires in the Mirror, Twilight Los Angeles, Let Me Down Easy, Notes From the Field.  Television and film: “The West Wing,” “Black-ish,” Rachel Getting Married, “Nurse Jackie,” “Inventing Anna.” Awards include: National Endowment for the Humanities Medal (from President Obama), MacArthur Fellowship, several Obie awards, Dean’s Medal from Stanford University Medical school, two Tony nominations. She is a professor at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.

Emil J. Kang is program director for Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation where he leads the grantmaking program nurturing exceptional creative accomplishment, scholarship, and conservation practices while advancing a diverse and sustainable ecosystem for the arts. Previously, Mr. Kang served as founding Executive and Artistic Director of Carolina Performing Arts, a major multi-disciplinary performing arts program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also served as professor of the practice of music and special assistant to the chancellor for the arts. Mr. Kang serves as a member of the National Council on the Arts, having been appointed by former United States President Barack Obama in 2012.

Linda Shelton is the executive director and a trustee of The Joyce Theater Foundation. Before her tenure at The Joyce began in 1993, she served as general manager of The Joffrey Ballet, held various management positions at The Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation, and managed tours for the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow Virtuosi, Sankai Juku, and composer Phillip Glass. Under her leadership, The Joyce Theater received the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Liberty Award (2011) and most recently, the William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence and sustained achievement in programming (2019). In 2017, Dance Magazine named Shelton one of the most influential people in dance today and in 2019, presented her with the Chairman’s Award for her global leadership in dance.

Maria Torres-Springer is the NYC Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development, charged with spearheading the Administration’s efforts to strengthen and diversify its economy, invest in emerging industries, bolster small business, connect New Yorkers to family-sustaining jobs and expand access to arts and culture. She was previously Vice President of US Programs at the Ford Foundation where she oversaw the Foundation’s domestic grant making and made historic investments in support of racial equity, workers’ rights, voting rights, and arts & culture across the country. Maria has a long track record of public service with the City of New York. She led three agencies with over 3,000 employees and approximately $2 billion in annual operating budgets, addressing some of the city’s most significant public policy challenges in pursuit of expanded economic opportunity for all New Yorkers.

Dr. Zannie Voss is Director of SMU DataArts and Professor of Arts Management in SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and the Cox School of Business. Previously she was Chair of Arts Management at SMU, a Professor at Duke University and Producing Director of Theater Previews at Duke, where she transferred two productions to Broadway.  Her 70+ academic and applied research articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals and as professional publications.  She has co-authored Theatre Facts for Theatre Communications Group since 1998.  She serves on the boards of the International Association of Arts and Cultural Management, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Dallas Symphony Association, and she is a former member of the American Academy of Arts and Science’s Commission on the Arts.