Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Insight from an artist/scientist

Brandon Ballengée is a biologist, professor, and an important environmental artist. Here's a recent article where he talks about how the two intersect.
"In science one has to be very detached, to be as objective as possible and just let the data speak for itself. Whereas in art you can be coming from this idea of wonder in a very different way that can be used to captivate audiences."

Clore Leadership Programme



The Clore Leadership Programme is a UK-based organization that offers a range of programs for outstanding individuals who wish to develop as cultural leaders.

By investing in individuals, we aim to strengthen leadership across a wide range of creative and cultural activities.

The annual Clore Fellowship award provides support to Brits and a few internationals who "...may be working freelance or within cultural organisations, of all types and sizes, in areas ranging from archives to theatre production, and including visual and performing arts, film and digital media, heritage, creative industries, museums, libraries and cultural policy."

While Americans probably don't qualify for the awards, there may be opportunities to do interesting projects with Clore Fellows.

"The programme blends real-life examples with practical skills and tools.

You will be expected to challenge and stretch yourself. Peer learning is a key element of the programme. It is not a taught course and there are no exams or qualifications. Instead you will learn from experience, your own and others, by sharing and reflecting and by putting your new-found skills into practice through workshops, a secondment and collaborative enquiry.

You will be encouraged to be curious, to question, to discuss and to write about cultural leadership."

UCNRS emphasizes arts partnerships at reserves

The University of California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS) has identified building stronger arts/humanities ties as a focus in their recent strategic plan. This is the largest university-managed system of natural reserves on the planet, so that's influential.

From the plan:

Initiative 31. Expand the existing partnership with the UC Institute for Research in the Arts to offer more fellowships to art students to work at NRS reserves.

Initiative 32. Work with the University community to develop programs that enable arts and humanities students to appreciate, incorporate, and support the sciences.