SEMINARS

Todd Breyfogle@ToddBreyfogle
Todd Breyfogle, PhD is Director of Seminars at the Aspen Institute, overseeing Executive Leadership programs in the US and in Europe. He studied at Colorado College, Oxford, and the University of Chicago, and has published and lectured at universities in the USA and abroad on topics ranging from political philosophy, theology, and literature, to the music of J. S. Bach. Dr. Breyfogle is editor emeritus of The American Oxonian, the quarterly publication of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, and editor of several books, including Literary Imagination, Ancient and Modern (1999).  www.Aspeninstitute.org

LaShawnda Crowe Storm@cstormart
LaShawnda Crowe Storm is a mixed media artist, activist, community builder and occasionally an urban farmer. Whether she is making artwork or sowing seeds, Crowe Storm uses her creative power as a vehicle for dialogue, social change and healing.  At the core of Crowe Storm's creative practice is a desire to create, any community, in which the process of making art creates space and opens the opportunity for difficult dialogues to occur. Crowe Storm has received numerous awards for art and community activism.  www.LaShawndaCroweStorm.com

Stephen Holley
Stephen has a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and a Bachelor of Architecture, both from Cornell University and is a former partner at Poss Architecture + Planning located in Aspen, Colorado. His range of experience includes large scale resort and residential design and management. As a moderator for the Aspen Institute Stephen has facilitated thoughtful discussion among diverse groups utilizing text-based Socratic dialogue. He has guided participant reflection of timeless human values, the pursuit of common ground and a richer understanding of the human condition and assisted in curriculum formation, topic progression, and material selection. 
www.Aspeninstitute.org

Hanmin Liu
Hanmin Liu is president of Wildflowers Institute, a social innovation lab harnessing the energy of the community. The institute cultivates organic growth from the bottom-up and the inside-out—the surest way to sustain change in a community. We discover the critical mass of people who share a common ex-perience that in turn becomes an energy force for change. We incubate local talent that creates a “ripple effect.” And we make social and cultural investments in innovation and sustained change. Since 1979, Wildflowers has applied its approach to nineteen communities in the United States and abroad.  www.wildflowers.org

Irfana Jetha Noorani - @DCBridgePark
Irfana Jetha Noorani is the Deputy Director of the 11th Street Bridge Park, a project of Building Bridges Across the River, in Washington D.C. Along with fundraising, Irfana works closely with local stakeholders to plan community-driven programs like the Anacostia River Festival and other placekeeping initiatives in the adjoining neighborhoods. She promotes the project’s work around equity by providing planning and implementation support on the Bridge Park’s Equitable Development Plan. Previously, Irfana worked with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and for New York Live Arts. Irfana was a Fellow at The Kennedy Center and received a B.A. from Emory University.   www.bridgepark.org

Steven Wickes 
Steven Wickes is an experienced moderator at the Aspen Institute. Previously, he was the director of the largest donor group at the Institute, the Society of Fellows. This group is a worldwide community of Institute supporters who play a key role in sustaining the Institute’s mission. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, Wickes was Director of Information Management at Best Year Yet, an organization that specializes in creating values-based strategic plans for businesses and individuals.

 

 

BREAKOUTS

Sarah Corlett
Sarah Corlett works with non-profits to apply creative, design based approaches when solving complicated social issues. Prior to Design Impact, she developed, launched and managed a business development program for artisans and creative entrepreneurs in Cincinnati. From 2006 – 2010, Sarah worked for a non-profit in Philadelphia, NKCDC. She led the planning, programming and implementation of an arts based economic development strategy. Sarah has her Master in Planning and Public Policy from the University of Illinois – Chicago. As a former professional dancer, Sarah is passionate about the role creativity and culture plays in transforming individuals, communities and entire cities. She has shared her work at such places as American for the Arts, the Aspen Institute's ThinkXChange and the Net Impact Conference.

Milly Hawk Daniel
Milly Hawk Daniel is VP for Communications at PolicyLink, the national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works®. She leads a team of creative professionals in advancing equity through print, broadcast, and digital platforms. A book editor, speechwriter, and communications strategist, she has a long association with arts and culture, especially jazz. Her contributions to cultural activities are fed by a passionate belief that arts and culture are essential for building and sustaining community, in contributing to the economic vitality of neighborhoods, and in nurturing the spirit of places and the people who live, work, play, and learn in them. www.Policylink.org
Dan Hagerty
With more than twenty years’ experience in fundraising, strategic planning and management in the non-profit cultural sector, Dan joined the Heard Museum as Director of Strategic Development and Programming in June 2016. His responsibilities include management of and resource development for the museum’s education programs, outreach initiatives, festivals and public programs. Prior to joining the Heard, Dan served as Director of Individual Campaigns for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Executive Director of Miami City Ballet, Senior Consultant for the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, and served in production and fundraising roles at PBS and NPR. www.heard.org
Brad Heckman - @newyorkpeace
Brad Heckman is CEO of New York Peace Institute, one of the nation’s largest community peacebuilding services. He is also an Adjunct Professor at New York University, where he received the Excellence in Teaching Award. Brad has trained unions, police, NASA, community groups, UN programs, and corporations worldwide. He incorporates art, pop culture, and theater in his workshops. Brad’s illustrations will be exhibited at the Dayton International Peace Museum this fall. He was previously a Vice President of Safe Horizon and International Director of PartnersGlobal. www.nypeace.org
Jeremy Liu - @jeremycliu
Jeremy Liu is a community development strategist, social entrepreneur, real estate developer, and award-winning artist whose work has been seen in museums, art centers, neighborhoods, and at the oldest county fair in the U.S. As a Senior Fellow at PolicyLink, he is shaping and guiding a national initiative to integrate arts and culture into equitable development. Previously, he co-founded Creative Ecology Partners, an art and design studio incubating economic and community development innovation, which developed the Creative Determinants of Health framework and also created the National Bitter Melon Council, winner of the 2005 Artadia Award, to address social bitterness. www.Policylink.org

Soneela Nankani
Soneela Nankani is Managing Director and co-founder of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, where in addition to establishing and implementing organizational financial policy and monitoring the overall financial health of the organization, she works in the field as a facilitator and presenter. Soneela has over 10 years of nonprofit experience and over 20 years of facilitation experience. She has worked nationally as a community dialogue facilitator, teaching artist and co-creator/performer in capacity-building and place-based projects beginning in 1992 with Michael Rohd’s Hope Is Vital. She is also an award-winning Audiobook Narrator and an Ensemble Member with Sojourn Theatre. www.thecpcp.org

Luis Ortega - @Story4Change
Luis Ortega is a TEDx Speaker, social impact consultant, and the founder and director of Storytellers for Change. For the last eleven years, Luis has worked with organizations, school districts, foundations, and universities to help them apply a story-centered approach to tackle complex social challenges. Luis will be publishing his first book this year titled, Story-Listening: Reflections of a Storyteller for Change, where he narrates his 11-year journey as a storyteller to highlight why empathetic listening builds more equitable and inclusive communities. www.storytellersforchange.org
Assata Richards - @AssataRichards
Assata Richards is the founding director of the Sankofa Research Institute (SRI), which is a nonprofit with a mission to “create knowledge to build community”. To accomplish its mission, SRI employs Community-Based Participatory Research to work collaboratively with academic researchers, community organizations and funders to generate empirical evidence to inform social change. She has extensive training in quantitative and qualitative research methods and analyses. www.sankofaresearchinstitute.org
Michael Rohd - @mrohd
Michael Rohd is founding artistic director of the 17 year old national ensemble-based Sojourn Theatre. In 2015, he received an Otto Rene Castillo award for Political Theater and The Robert Gard Foundation Award for Excellence. He is a Professor at Arizona State University͛s Herberger Insititute for Design & Art and is is author of the widely translated book Theatre for Community, Conflict, and Dialogue. He leads the Center for Performance and Civic Practice where current initiatives include The Catalyst Initiative, Civic Body & Learning Labs. He was the 2013-2016 Doris Duke Artist-in-Residence at Lookingglass Theater Company in Chicago. www.thecpcp.org
Shannon Scrofano
Shannon Scrofano is a Los Angeles-based designer whose work includes live and interdisciplinary performance, public dialogues, installation, exhibition, curation and media projects, throughout the US and internationally.   As the Director of Design for the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, she is developing online and material platforms for new research in civic practice, and field-building tools to explore past and future models for artists and designers in residency at civic and non-profit organizations.  She currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and has been a guest lecturer / artist-in-residence at more than a dozen institutions and has presented at national and international festivals and conferences. www.thecpcp.org
Beck Tench - @10ch
Beck Tench is a PhD student at the University of Washington Information School. She works in the area of information and contemplation, specifically studying how people establish and maintain contemplative practices as a way to access personal knowledge, improve their quality of life, and cope with the distractions of digital culture. Before attending graduate school, Beck helped museums, libraries, and arts organizations embrace risk-taking, creativity, and change through technology and personal space-making. www.becktench.com
Margy Waller - @margyartgrrl
Margy Waller is an advocate for creating community through the arts and advisor to national initiatives on creative placemaking. She is a Senior Fellow at Topos Partnership, Serendipity Director at Art on the Streets, and former Vice-President of Research and Strategic Communications at ArtsWave. Previously she was Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, with a joint appointment in the Economic Studies and Metropolitan Policy programs. Prior to Brookings, she was Senior Advisor on domestic policy in the Clinton-Gore White House. Before joining the Administration, Margy was Senior Fellow for Social Policy and Director of the Working Families Project at the Progressive Policy Institute. www.topospartnership.com

 

 

PLENARIES

Elizabeth Alexander - @ProfessorEA
Elizabeth Alexander has been shaping and directing Ford’s grant making in arts, media, and culture since 2015. She guides the foundation’s efforts to examine how cultural narratives affect and shape social movements and how media and the arts, including film and visual storytelling, can contribute to a fairer and more just society. She has won the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in Chicago and has taught at NYU in the graduate creative writing program, and as Poet in Residence and director of the Poetry Center at Smith College. She was on the faculty of Yale University for 15 years and served as chair of Yale’s African American Studies Department. She was recently named the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Columbia and is the author of six books of poetry. www.FordFoundation.org
Ellen Baxter - @BroadwayHousing
Ellen Baxter has committed more than 30 years to advocacy and housing development to redress the inhumanity of inequality and homelessness in New York City and nationally. A pioneer of supportive housing, Ellen founded Broadway Housing Communitiewhich has developed and manages seven buildings in Washington Heights and West Harlem; two early childhood centers; three community art galleries and a new cultural institution, the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling providing permanent, affordable housing. www.broadwayhousing.org
Jamie Bennett - @sarmoti
Jamie Bennett is the executive director of ArtPlace America, a partnership among 16 foundations, 8 federal agencies, and 6 financial institutions working to position art and culture as a core sector of community planning and development by investing in, researching, and supporting those who lead and execute creative placemaking projects.  To date, ArtPlace has invested $96 million in 262 projects in communities of all sizes. Previously, Jamie worked at the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Columbia University, the Agnes Gund Foundation, The Museum of Modern Art, and the New York Philharmonic. www.artplaceamerica.org
Nicole J. Caruth
Nicole J. Caruth is a writer and curator of contemporary art. She is currently the artistic director at McColl Center for Art + Innovation. Prior to joining the Center, Caruth held positions at Art21, The Union for Contemporary Art, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and the Brooklyn Museum. Caruth's curatorial projects include, most recently, The Grace Jones Project at the Museum of the African Diaspora; Crossroad: A Social Sculpture by the artist Derrick Adams; and Power of People, Power of Place by Fallen Fruit Collective. www.mccollcenter.org
Kaki Dimock 
Kaki Dimock serves as the Director of Human Services for the City of Charlottesville. Previously, she was the executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless which started a multi-service center for the homeless and very poor called The Haven. She is a social worker, an artist, a wildlife rehabilitator, hiker and crossfitter. She is interested in the intersections of things, where collaboration and creativity are required. She believes in the power of the collective, authentic engagement and good juju. For what its worth, she has a BA in Sociology from Vassar College and an MSW from Columbia University but her chihuahua Boyd doesn’t care about these particular credentials at all. www.charlottesville.org
Robert Feldstein 
Robert Feldstein is the head of the city’s  Office of Policy and Innovation, and prior to that spent four years stint on the management team of Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City Mayor. Feldstein when west to take up an invitation from Seattle’s recently appointed mayor Ed Murray to launch an Office of Policy and Innovation for the city similar to the one which he was closely involved when on Bloomberg’s management team. Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Delivery concept was established with the purpose of helping local and city government to provide their services in a more effective manner, through adopting a strategy which involves putting together a team  of analysts capable of quickly marshalling data that will give a true assessment of the situation and how to improve it. www.seattle.gov/mayor
Rick Goodemann - @SWMHP
Rick Goodemann is the founding Executive Officer of the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership and has led the organization since 1992. He has over thirty years’ experience in the development and delivery of rural development and housing finance products and programs in a public and private setting.  He is an active member of his community having served on several national and local boards and advisory groups, serves on the Minnesota Housing Partnership Board, National Rural Housing Coalition, NeighborWorks Capital Board and Loan Committee, is a certified Housing Development Professional through the National Development Council and completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government through Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. www.swmhp.org
Carol Gore
Carol believes, in the tradition of her Alaska Native heritage, that everyone in a community matters and is essential. As President /CEO of Cook Inlet Housing Authority (CIHA), she uses the lessons of her mother’s village and her 40 years of real estate acquisition, disposal and management experience, to inform corporate culture, improve development design and humanize portfolio management. In her 17 years at CIHA, she has quadrupled its portfolio of affordable housing and diversified the people served within the portfolio. People are the inspiration for her work. Her staff, community partners and residents motivate her to push the envelope of affordable housing and community development to dismantle barriers in order for people to thrive. www.cookinlethousing.org

Maurice Jones - @LISCMaurice
Maurice is the CEO of LISC. Previously, he was the Secretary of Commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, managing 13 state agencies focused on economic needs. He has also been second in command at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He served as Commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Social Services and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Gov. Mark Warner. He served at the Treasury Department during the Clinton Administration, helping manage the CDFI fund. His experience includes top positions at the Virginian-Pilot, a Richmond law firm and a private philanthropy investing in community-based efforts to benefit children. www.lisc.org

Doris Koo - @YesCollab
Doris Koo is a respected leader and seasoned executive in the community development sector. She recently retired from a 13-year career with Enterprise Community Partners, a leading national nonprofit specializing in affordable housing finance, advocacy and community development. She served in a variety of executive roles including that of president and CEO. Prior to her work with Enterprise, she spent seven years with the Seattle Housing Authority as Deputy Executive Director, leading efforts to build and preserve affordable housing, including the redevelopment of NewHolly and Rainier VIsta. www.yescollab.org 

Burt Lauderdale
Burt Lauderdale is the Executive Director of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth.  He and his wife Jenny live in rural Eastern Kentucky, on the western edge of the Appalachian coalfields. Burt grew up in Alabama and is a graduate of Auburn University. KFTC, a statewide, membership-based, social justice organization, describes itself as a community of people, inspired by a vision, building New Power.  Organized in 1981, KFTC has over 11,000 members and fourteen rural and urban chapters across the state.  They utilize community organizing, leadership development, and strategic communications to address a wide range of issues. 
Eric Liu - @EricPLiu
Eric Liu is the founder and CEO of Citizen University and executive director of the Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program. He is the author of several books, including "You're More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen's Guide to Making Change Happen" (March 2017), "A Chinaman's Chance," "The Gardens of Democracy," and "The Accidental Asian." Eric served as a White House speechwriter and policy adviser for President Bill Clinton. He is a regular columnist for CNN.com and a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com. www.citizenuniversity.us
Christopher A. Masingill - @DeltaRegional
Christopher A. Masingill was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2010 to serve as the Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority. He has placed a strong emphasis on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs and investing in workforce development and training as effective strategies to growing the Delta region’s economy. www.dra.gov
Dean Matsubayashi 
Dean Matsubayashi is the Executive Director of Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), a 37-year-old neighborhood-based organization that provides social services, youth programs, affordable housing, and community development to tens of thousands of clients per year. Dean serves on numerous Board of Directors and Advisory Boards such as the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, Western Center on Law & Poverty, and Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco Affordable Housing Advisory Council. Dean received his B.A. from the University of California at Irvine and his Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Vivian Phillips - @ArteNoir
Vivian Phillips is a communications professional, arts administrator and arts advocate. She chairs the Seattle Arts Commission, and served as co-founder of the Historic Central Area Arts and Cultural District. She most recently served as Director of Marketing and Communications for the region’s largest arts organization, Seattle Theatre Group. Vivian has just launched a new venture, Arté Noir, an online spotlight for art, artists and culture from the African Diaspora. Vivian serves on the boards of LANGSTON, and KUOW radio. www.artenoir.com
Josephine Ramirez - @JR4Irvine
Josephine Ramirez became one of three new Portfolio Directors at The James Irvine Foundation in February 2015, transitioning from her former role as Arts Program Director. Previously she was VP of Programming and Planning for the Music Center in Los Angeles, where she founded the programming department in 2003 and launched several groundbreaking initiatives related to increasing active arts participation and to providing programming for immigrant communities. Previously, she was a Program Officer at the Getty Foundation, managing funding in the areas of arts leadership development, Los Angeles cultural organizations, arts education research, and arts policy. 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.

Michael Seiwerath
Michael Seiwerath coordinates community programs and relations and oversees fund development at Capitol Hill Housing, a Seattle based community building and affordable housing organization. In October 2014, their 12th Avenue Arts building opened, combining performing arts space, affordable apartments, non-profit offices, vibrant retail, and police parking under one roof. For nearly twenty years, Seiwerath has been instrumental in framing of arts space issues on Capitol Hill and in Seattle. He is the program manager for the Capitol Hill Arts District, a cultural space preservation and creation effort launched in November 2014. He has served on the Cultural Overlay District Advisory Council (CODAC), the city council commissioned body that explored preserving affordable space in Seattle He has written about cultural space issues for the American Institute of Architects Seattle, Arcade Magazine, CityArts Magazine and others. www.capitolhillhousing.org

 

Lehua Simon
Following the exodus of a major sugarcane operation, multimedia artist Lehua Simon is leading a broad coalition of residents, business owners, educators and agricultural innovators to create and deploy a complex multi-media campaign aimed at engaging their community in imagining and advocating alternative agricultural uses for the land in transition. Lehua Simon is a Multimedia Designer & Arts Administrator with Sweet Pe*a Design & Administrative Services. She lives and works in Pukalani, Hawaii and holds an MFA in media design.
Regina R. Smith - @kresgeart
Regina R. Smith is managing director of The Kresge Foundation’s Arts & Culture Program. She leads efforts to identify prospects for national funding opportunities and partnerships in the arts and culture field. Regina has been with the Foundation since 2008 as a program officer and senior program officer, working to advance the deliberate integration of arts and culture into community development through creative placemaking. Previously, Regina worked at the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, N.C., where she managed a $12 million grants portfolio. She served as programs and services director at Culture Works in Dayton, Ohio and managed a nationally recognized program for the Indiana Arts Commission. She began her career as a museum educator at the Cleveland Children’s Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art. www.kresge.org
Dede Taylor
Dede Taylor is a founding partner in Mountain Time Arts, a public art initiative in the Gallatin Valley. She is a former art history professor at Montana State University and a longtime community activist. She led campaigns for historic preservation, founded the Friends of the Story Mansion and PechaKucha Bozeman, a wildly successful story-telling series. Taylor is a board member of the Bozeman Cultural Council and is an in-demand lecturer on a range of art and history topics. She avidly promotes the arts as a vital ingredient of sustainable communities.
Brady Walkinshaw - @BradyWalkinshaw
Brady is the CEO of the Seattle-based Grist.org, an award-winning national source of environmental news and journalism. A former two-term State legislator, Brady championed criminal justice reforms to environmental action. Brady spent several years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation working on food security and nutrition in East Africa and Brazil. A Fulbright Scholar and a graduate of Princeton University, where he served on the board of trustees, Brady lives in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood with his husband, Micah, a marine biologist. www.grist.org

 

Our hashtag throughout the summit is #ArtPlaceSummit. For more details and live updates go to the ArtPlace Summit Guidebook App.