The Future of Cultural Centers: Kristina Newman-Scott, BRIC

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program.*

The Future of Cultural Centers Dialogue Series

As the world rapidly changes around us, old frameworks for the development of cultural centers look less and less relevant. Continuing the success of the 2020 “Future of Cultural Centers” dialogue series, this year AIA New York will look at cultural institutions that take a mixed-use approach to programming and space and a more holistic view at the human experience. We will touch on opportunities and challenges around these hybrid organizations, questioning what would happen if we were to take this unprecedented time to explore new missions, visions, and models to help address existing institutional deficits. What will 21st-century arts and community spaces be like? Join us for this Spring line-up of conversations as cultural forecaster and museum expert David van der Leer, Principal of DVDL, speaks with professionals from around the US and beyond.

In this week’s installment, Van der Leer will be joined in conversation by Kristina Newman-Scott, President of BRIC. BRIC is a leading arts and media institution based in Brooklyn, New York, whose work spans contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action. BRIC House, opened in 2013, offers a public media center, a major contemporary art exhibition space, two performance spaces, a glass-walled TV studio, and artist work spaces. Some of BRIC’s most acclaimed programs include the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park, a renowned contemporary art exhibition series, and media initiatives: Brooklyn Free Speech, Brooklyn’s Public Access initiative, and BRIC TV, a nonprofit community TV channel and digital network. BRIC also offers education and other vital programs at BRIC House and throughout Brooklyn. In addition to making cultural programming genuinely accessible, BRIC is dedicated to providing substantial support to artists and media makers in their efforts to develop work and reach new audiences.

Speakers:
Kristina Newman-Scott, President, BRIC (Brooklyn, US)
David van der Leer, Principal, DVDL DD

Kristina Newman-Scott serves as President of BRIC. Under her tenure, BRIC embarked on an ambitious human-centered four-year Strategic Plan. Previously, Newman-Scott served as the Director of Culture and State Historic Preservation Officer for the State of Connecticut; Director of Marketing, Events, and Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford; Director of Programs at the Boston Center for the Arts; and Director of Visual Arts at Hartford’s Real Art Ways. Newman-Scott’s awards and recognitions include being named one of the Observer’s 2020 Arts Power 50, A Hive Global Leadership Selectee, and a Next City Urban Vanguard. In June 2018, Americans for the Arts presented Newman-Scott with the Selina Roberts Ottum Award. A TEDx speaker, guest lecturer, and visiting curator, Newman-Scott currently serves on the Boards of the New England Foundation for the Arts, National Arts Strategies, New Yorkers for Culture and Arts, and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

David van der Leer is a consultant, curator, educator, moderator, researcher, strategist, and writer. He is the principal of DVDL, a consulting and forecasting agency,where he advises institutions, government agencies, corporations, and individuals in reinventing the institutions of yesterday and building the most inspirational institutions of tomorrow. Along with his consulting work, David van der Leer is a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation where he teaches a course called (Re)Programming Museums.

Explore all events in the series and register for upcoming programs here.