Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium
Past Symposiums
The Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium annually welcomes more than 200 aspiring and current art professionals to Washington, DC to hear leaders in the arts world speak about pressing issues, opportunities, and trends in the field. After each symposium, attendees leave feeling inspired and encouraged to both advocate for the arts and take what they have learned back to arts organizations across the country. Take a look at what happened at our past symposiums:
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EALS 2023: Arts Engage
March 26, 2023
Keynote Speaker:
Karen Ann Daniels, Director of Programming and Artistic Director of the Folger Theatre
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Events included:
Morning IDEAS: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility in Engagement; Panel: Art Cultivates Communities; Panel: Online Strategies for In-person Arts Engagement; Panel: How the Arts Uplift; Interactive Workshop: Networking: Building Your Community; Resume Reviews; Resources Roundtable
EALS 2022: Reopen & Revitalize
April 3, 2022- In Person
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After two years of virtual programming, we gathered again at the Katzen Center for a day filled with exciting panels, roundtable discussions, and and engaging keynote conversation. Events included:
Keynote Conversation:
Reginald R. Douglas, Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company and Andrew Taylor, Professor in Arts Management Program at American University
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Coffee Chat: Changing Models in Leadership; Panel: Climate Change and the Arts; Panel: Arts Educator or Arts Manager? How Educators Can Use Arts Management to Boost Their Programs; Panel: Creating a Humane and Inclusive Theater Industry; Trends in Grantwriting; Resume Reviews; Resources Roundtable
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EALS 2021: The Arts Management Pivot -- Fostering Resiliency in the Arts
March 20&21, 2021 - Online
We welcomed artists and art leaders from the community in conversation in the following virtual Panel Sessions:
Forklift Dance: Community Engagement; Music Education - Different Does Not Always Mean "Low Quality"; Regaining our Sense of Community in Dance Education; For the Students; Public Art & Creating a Cultural Commons; Reimagining Community and Collaboration between Arts Leaders; How to Start a Capstone - Tips and Tools from Graduate Alumni; Resiliency Roundtables; EALS After Dark Presents: ‘A Frog Talks to God’ - a collaboration with Quills & Capes at AU; Resume Reviews; Make Arts Happen: Finding Your Voice in the Music Industry; Career Workshops; Coffee Chats with Fractured Atlas and Philippa P.B. Hughes.
EALS 2020: Finding Your Purpose as an Arts Leader
March 29, 2020 - Online
Keynote Speaker:
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Vice President & Artistic Director of Social Impact at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
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Panel Sessions: Leadership and Artistic Direction in the Performing Arts; Leading the Arts in Academia; and Canvas to Conference Room: Transitioning from Creative Practice to Creative Management
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With a Special Address from Robert L. Lynch, President/CEO, Americans for the Arts
EALS 2019: Coming UP
March 3, 2019
Keynote Speaker:
Melissa Chiu, Executive Director, Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden
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Panel Sessions:
Getting Everyone on Board: The State of Board Diversity & Finding a Path Forward; Breaking Out of the Four Walls: How Museums are Using Digital Strategy to Engage Wider Audiences; Stirring the (Paint) Pot:
Achieving Political Relevance without Alienating Stakeholders; Gateway to Inclusion: Innovative Technology for Arts Accessibility; Dollars, Donors, & Drives: The Continuing Evolution of Philanthropy in Nonprofit Arts Organizations; and Americans for the Arts: Intersectionality Workshop.
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With a Special Address from Robert L. Lynch, President/CEO, Americans for the Arts
EALS 2018: Art Now
March 11, 2018
​Keynote speakers: Seema Sueko, Leader, Artist, and Deputy Artistic Director, Arena Stage; Robert L. Lynch, President/CEO, Americans for the Arts
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Sessions: Dear White Museums: The Role of Museums in Unmasking Society’s Inequities; New Life for Old Music; Responding to the Unthinkable: Handling an Arts Crisis; The Art of Exchange; Women in the Creative C-Suite: Breaking the Glass Ceiling; Women in the Creative C-Suite: Breaking the Glass Ceiling; Town Hall on the Future of Leadership in Arts Education
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Panelists: Chloe Bensahel; Risa Browder; Chanel Compton; Alice Culin-Ellison; Catherine Dehoney; Nicole Dowd; Quanice G. Floyd; Maleke Glee; Dr. Nicole Ivy; Stephanie A. Johnson-Cunningham; Akua F. Kouyate-Tate; Allison Peck; Meghan Pressman; Edward Maclary; Dr. Maria Madison; Stephanie Mercedes; Allison Mondel; Elizabeth Racheva; Mirchaye Sahlu; Jennifer Schrock; Liz Shropshire; Jenny Thomas
EALS 2017: Focus Forward
March 19, 2017
Keynote speakers: Jacqueline E. Lawton, Playwright; Robert L. Lynch, President/CEO, Americans for the Arts
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Sessions: Artistic Merit vs. Paying the Bills​; Bridging Divided Communities & Using Art to Heal; Incorporating the Arts & Design Into STEM Learning Makes a Better Workforce; Diversity in Leadership: Creating the Pipeline; Oh, The Places You'll Go!: Careers in the Arts; Relationship Building in Development; Brown Faces White Spaces Podcast Presents: A Seat At The Table
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Panelists: Roman Baca; Karen Allen Baxter; Lily Banning; Michael W. Bigley; Tasha Coleman; Chanel Compton; Kelvin Dinkins, Jr.; Benjamen Douglas; Michael Feldman; Sarah Greenbaum; Hrach Gregorian; Monica Harrington; Stephanie Johnson; Bryan Joseph Lee; Kathi R. Levin; Mina Matlon; Jennifer Nelson; Carla Perlo; JR Russ; Meredith Suttles; E. Andrew Taylor; Andrew D. Watson; Bridget Zangueneh
EALS 2016: + ART
March 6, 2016
Keynote speakers: Deborah F. Rutter, President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Megan Crigger, Director of Creative Services, City of Kansas City, MO
EALS 2015: Art Redefined
March 22, 2015
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Jane Chu, National Endowment for the Arts; Howard Herring, New World Symphony
EALS 2014: Creatively Making Our Place
March 24, 2014
Keynote Speakers: Francesca Zambello, Washington National Opera & Glimmerglass Opera; Russell Willis Taylor, NAS; Jamie Bennett, ArtPlace America
EALS 2013: Looking to the Horizon
April 7, 2013
Keynote Speakers: Karen Brooks Hopkins, BAM; Aaron Dworkin, Sphinx Organization
EALS 2012
Keynote Speakers: Chad Bauman, Arena Stage and Milwaukee Rep; Adrian Ellis, AEA Consulting
EALS 2011
Keynote Speaker: Rachel Goslins, President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities
EALS 2010
April 11, 2010
Keynote Speaker: Ben Cameron, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and TCG
EALS 2009
March 29, 2009
Keynote Speaker: Bob Lynch, Americans for the Arts
EALS 2008
March 30, 2008
Realizing that there was no current forum for emerging arts leaders and arts management graduate students to come together to collaborate, network, and discuss issues, Michelle Grove, MA Arts Management, proposed the first Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium in 2008. What began as a capstone project has now grown into an essential event for emerging leaders to come together and bond as a national community.
Keynote Speaker: Sandra Gibson, American Association of Performing Arts Presenters