Seth Rudetsky, James Wesley, LaChanze & More to Take Part in Americans For The Arts' 2021 Annual Convention

Americans for the Arts will host its virtual Annual Convention June 8-11, 2021. Through 24 sessions, over 800 participants will gather to better understand how the nonprofit arts field can build an equitable arts, culture, and creative economy together as we reemerge and rebuild from the pandemic. The Annual Convention is an opportunity for the field to explore how to put creative workers and cultural organizations to work as part of a collective recovery. The full agenda can be viewed at convention.artsusa.org.

Keynotes and Featured Speakers

Tuesday, June 8, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET:

Celebrated chef Alice Waters and fashion designer and urban gardener Ron Finley will launch Annual Convention with an opening keynote on the durability and resiliency of culture. Waters and Finley will discuss how our cultural traditions are tied into what we make, what we eat, and how we engage with each other, and offer thoughts on how we can weave strained social fabric through the shared practice of creating and consuming culture.

Tuesday, June 8, 3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET:

Rachel Chanoff, Director of The Office for Performing Arts and Film, Naia Kete, singer-songwriter with Artists at Work, and Chris Wadsworth, Co-Founder of Fresh Grass Foundation, will explore what it looks like when a program like Artists at Work is developed predominantly with local or regional private philanthropic partners.

Wednesday, June 9, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET:

MacArthur Fellow and award-winning playwright Larissa Fasthorse will discuss reversing the current dynamic in which community is often used as a commodity or resource for art, and instead creating art that is in service to the community.

Wednesday, June 9, 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET:

Each year, the Jorge and Darlene Pérez Prize for Public Art & Civic Design is given to a visionary in the public art and civic design fields. In this special session, the 2021 prize recipient will be announced and will kick off their year of engagement by participating in a facilitated dialogue focused on exploring the future role of public art in civic life and the impacts of the pandemic and racial justice/injustices on art in public spaces. The 2020 Pérez Prize recipient, artist Vinnie Bagwell, will join the discussion with the 2021 awardee.

Wednesday, June 9, 3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET:

Cezanne Charles, Partner at rootoftwo, and Dee Schneidman, Senior Program Director of Research & Creative Economy at the New England Foundation for the Arts, will explore the contrasting strategies of defining the creative economy through economic jobs data versus through identifying unique community cultural assets.

Thursday, June 10, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET:

Funder, activist, and author Edgar Villanueva and restorative economist Nwamaka Agbo will lay out a vision for a new approach to creative work and resource distribution that centers equity and restorative justice.

Thursday, June 10, 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET:

Anthropologist and folklorist Maribel Alvarez and data artist and author Jer Thorp tackle the perpetual draw of story; the ways new technology, art forms, and methods of communications come into play; and the essential need for culture bearers, storytellers, and artists in this moment.

Friday, June 11, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET:

Among many changes, crises, and opportunities, 2020 was a year when artists showed up and shone as advocates and activists for themselves, the sector, and their communities. In this special keynote, hear from Academy, Tony, and Emmy award-nominated actress Annette Bening about her year of activation, her long-term devotion to using her creative platform to make the world a better place, and what comes next for creative workers.

Friday, June 11, 1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. ET:

Throughout the pandemic, composer, director, and SiriusXM host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley, have been buoying a field in crisis with their daily live-streamed series, "Stars in the House," which combines music, community, and education about the arts, artists, and the impact of COVID-19 on the sector. In this closing session, Rudetsky and Wesley will be joined by Tony Award-winning actor and Black Theatre United Co-Founder LaChanze to talk through a post-recovery vision for the arts.