The emersion and popularity of social practice and other community-based art forms are challenging the ways in which arts institutions traditionally curate and program exhibitions. These new art forms, along with a broader change in how we live and operate in a participatory-based culture, has affected what we expect from an arts organization and its role in engaging with community. This presentation will examine the changing roles of arts institutions and their ability to adapt while the power shifts from the owners of white cubes to the artist as participatory art in untraditional locations has become more and more the norm.
Calcagno Cullen is a multimedia artist, arts educator and curator. She is founder and executive director of Wave Pool Arts Center, a gallery, studio space, and socially-engaged artist residency program in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has previously worked in the education department of SFMOMA, Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, CA and was the Director of Adobe Books Backroom Gallery in San Francisco, CA. In all that she does, she aims to use contemporary art as a catalyst for positive community change.
