Spring 2008 Public Art and Design Conferences

NEW ORLEANS
"Next American City" Explores New Orleans
Free
SYMPOSIUM:Sparking Creativity: Investing in Entrepreneurship and Human Capital Post-Katrina,
Thursday, March 6, 2008, 6-8 pm
A small business is not just a building. It's an investment in a person who is willing to invest back into their community. As post-Katrina New Orleans struggles to rebuild itself, we ask the question, What is there to invest when there is nothing to provide to a community. More importantly, what is there to provide when there is no community?
Saturday, March 8, 2008
On the Ground for 24 Hours in New Orleans. Join the Next American City staff and friends for a 24 exploration of New Orleans. Meet the group at Jackson Square in the French Quarter, across from the St. Louis Cathedral at 11a.m. on Saturday. (As on March 4, the Brad Pitt's pink house project has 79 sponsors of new houses. Still 71 to go to 150 homes in the ninth ward. )

Check out the documentation on the Philly 24 Hours as a sample of the New Orleans tour.

ATLANTA
Public Art Resource Expo, Free
Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA
March 15, 2008, 10:00-4:00
A networking day for artists, private developers, architects, civic leaders and the general public to learn about public art and to discover available opportunities, services, vendors, and resources. Free admission. For more information: dmcduggie@atlantaga.gov

BOSTON
Sustainable Design: At the Crossroads of Art, Policy and Science
Hynes Convention Center, Boston
March 29, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Free
A joint program of the UrbanArts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Goethe-Institut Boston and Down:2:Earth (D2E), a sustainable living expo at the Hynes Convention Center. The panelists will explore sustainable design in the context of art, science and policy and showcase environmentally responsible products and places. Go see Singer if you have not heard him speak. The others appear more product oriented, but "green" is still a hands-on "garage" business. Before the corporations take over, enjoy the final days of invention by real people.
Michael Singer, Artist/Designer
Ursula Tischner, Cologne, Germany
Teresita Cochran of Smit Design
Moderated by Terry Swack, Founder/CEO, Clean Culture

NORTH CAROLINA
Public Art Symposium: Public Art 360
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Friday evening April 11 and all day Saturday April 12, 2008
$60.00
A symposium that goes beyond education on public art. The symposium has the potential to spark some valuable dialogue that might be carried onto Philadelphia and Grand Rapids later. When Janet Kagan asked me to speak, I said I would pay my own way if she could get the editors of Sculpture Magazine and Landscape Architecture on the stage talking about the public art. She did it. If you fly to one educational event in 2008, this could be the one. Fly into Greensboro, Charlotte or Raleigh airports and drive through the dogwoods to the University of North Carolina. North Carolina is pretty and smart. www.publicartcollaborative.org
Friday Night, April 11
Glenn Harper, Editor of Sculpture Magazine
Bill Thompson FASLA, Editor of Landscape Architecture
Glenn Weiss, Aesthetic Grounds of Arts Journal
Just a few on Saturday, April 12
Janet Eshelman, Artist of the giant net coming to Phoenix
Brett Cook, Artist of Community Building
Walter Hood, Landscape Architect / Public Artist
Robert Frasca, Architect supporting Public Art
Sarah Herda, Graham Foundation and Formerly at the Storefront

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The First Desert Cities Public Art Forum: "Facing Public Art Challenges and Finding Solutions"
Palm Desert, California
Public Art Professionals Day with Jessica Cusick, Public Art Manager, Santa Monica
Friday, April 4, 2008, 9:30 to 3:00 PM
Public Artists' Day with Cliff Garten, Artist
Saturday, April 19, 2008, 9:30 to 3:00 PM
Free but must register by March 20th, 2008

BOSTON
8th Annual Systems for Inclusion
Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
Friday, April 4th at 6:00 PM to Sunday, April 5th at Noon.
$35 to $150 for income different groups
Systems for Inclusion explores the interface of design and systemic social action: Can design(ers) challenge globally networked systems of exclusivity and inequality? What are the relationships between design and political power, economic and ecological sustainability, justice and community? 8th year organized by the Design Corps. Excellent line up of designers discussing the AVOIDED in design dialogue: social sustainability, community design, political art, political power, etc. The great Japanese architect Shigeru Ban speaks on Friday night.

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Symposium: Art in the Public Sphere: Singular Works, Plural Possibilities
University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Friday, April 25, 2008 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Free
A day long series of conversations and panel discussions with uMass scholars and internationally known experts such as Vito Acconci and George Trakas, public art curators Ann Pasternak (director of Creative Time) and Rick Lowe (artist and founder of Project Row Houses in Houston); will provide a critical forum to consider various theories, processes, and models for artistic intervention. Symposium.

FLORIDA
Annual Conference of Florida Public Art Administrators
Orlando, Florida
May 7 - 9, 2008
$150
For ten years, the public art administrators have been gathering in a Florida city to discuss common issues and the tour the local artworks. Well-organized and informal. Guest administrators welcome.

PHILADELPHIA
Americans for the Arts Conference, Public Art Track
June 19-22, 2008
$500 for all days or $275 for one day.
This is the networking and learning event for public art in the United States. The conference is pricey since the 1 ½ day special public art pre-conference was merged with the big conference for all the arts. For those of you with less cash or time, pay the one-day fee and come for all day Sunday, June 22nd. The best projects in the USA are visually presented at noon. Several potentially good panels from artists, critics and curators. I am praying that the last panel on Sunday - Public Art: The Next Generation will have something crucial and critical to yell. Sunday ends with a gathering at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - always a pleasure. Parties at local public artist studios are rumored for Saturday night. Complete schedule at Public Art Track and at Public Art Panels.