Our culture and the arts Fellows come from all corners of the globe and include artists, scholars, advocates, policymakers, and leaders of established as well as fledgling cultural institutions around the world. Meet a few of them:
Iman Al Hindawi
Iman Al Hindawi is Director General of the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, which is scheduled to open in 2011. Prior to this position, she founded and was the executive director of the Middle East Center for Culture and Development in New York and Amman-Jordan. She has also worked with the Institute for Cultural Enterprise in New York, an organization dedicated to the promotion of cultural enterprises worldwide. She is involved in various projects to promote Arab cultures overseas and launched the first International Cultural Market for the Arab countries in Amman, Jordan in 2001. Her career began at the National Music Conservatory of the Queen Noor Al Hussein Foundation. She received her M.A. in arts administration from Columbia University, New York, USA. Iman Al Hindawi participated in Session 468: The Performing Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention.
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Anthony Appiah is professor of Afro-American Studies and philosophy at Harvard University. He is the author of many works including In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (1992); Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (1996); Necessary Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (1989); several monographs in the philosophy of language; and a series of mystery novels, of which the most recent is Another Death in Venice. In the book In My Father’s House, Professor Appiah explores a wide range of issues about literature, philosophy, and the arts in contemporary Africa. His interests range from epistemology and philosophy of language, through African philosophy, philosophical problems of race and racism, and Afro-American literature and literary theory. Professor Appiah is currently thinking about how a liberal political philosophy that takes individual autonomy as a central value is nevertheless bound to acknowledge the value of various forms of collectivity. This work has led to publications on topics from multiculturalism and the philosophy of education to cosmopolitanism and nationalism. Professor Appiah was educated at Cambridge, in England, where he received both the B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy. Kwame Anthony Appiah participated in Session 354: The Contemporary Novel.
Américo Castilla
Américo Castilla was the director of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires from 2005 to 2008. Prior to that he spent five years as the national director of Heritage and Museums under the Ministry of Culture of Argentina. He is president of the Fundación TyPA (Theory and Practice of the Arts) designed to build platforms of visibility for Latin American artists and provide training for artists and museum professionals. He also directed the cultural program of the Fundación Antorchas, which promotes innovative approaches to different art forms, as well as the conservation and diffusion of cultural heritage. He is a painter, print-maker and sculptor and his work has been exhibited at many international exhibitions. Mr. Castilla received a degree in law from the University of Buenos Aires. He published: The Museum on Stage. Politics and Culture in Latin America. (Paidós Ed. Buenos Aires,2010). Americo Castilla participated in Session 466: Connecting to the World’s Collections: Making the Case for the Conservation and Preservation of Our Cultural Heritage.
Geeta Chandran
Geeta Chandran is a renowned artist who has synthesized the knowledge she received from her Gurus to imprint Bharatanatyam with her personal vision of the dance. She has continuously attempted to push the frontiers of the classical art of dance and to reach out to new, and especially young, audiences. She is also known for her understanding of Carnatic music, and for her work in television, video and film, theatre, choreography, dance education, dance activism and dance-issue journalism. She is the founder and president of Natya-Vriksha, where she has evolved a holistic style of teaching the classical dance that engages young performers. She is also the artistic director of the Natya Vriksha Dance Company. Ms. Chandran has a special interest in gender issues and poverty and has worked with Indian organizations on these matters. Greeta Chandran participated in Session 468: The Performing Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention.
Maria Victoria De Robayo
Maria Victoria De Robayo is the director of the Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. She has served as director at the Museo de Arte Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, the Columbian Institute of Culture, and the Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá. She is the organizer of numerous international exhibitions, and is a member of the National Heritage Council of Colombia. Maria Victoria De Robayo participated in Session 453: Achieving the Freer Circulation of: Cultural Artifacts.
Sarah Gardner
Sarah Gardner is the founding executive director of IFACCA, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, Sydney. She was previously the Director, Strategic Initiatives at the Australia Council, where she held various senior executive roles from 1990. She was formerly the Director of Public Affairs for the Australian Bicentennial Authority and a consultant in the private and public sectors for the leading Australian firm Issues Australia. Prior to that she was technical manager with the German company, Schering AG, and worked freelance in the tourism industry and community sector in England, Italy, Scotland and Spain. She has a BSc and Masters in Public Policy from the University of Sydney. Sarah Gardner participated in Session 446: Cultural Institutions Without Walls: New Models of Arts-Community Interaction and was jointly awarded an SGS grant which helped support the research and publication of National Arts Advocacy Campaigns: Overview of Case Studies and Good Practice (http://www.ifacca.org/topic/arts-advocacy-arguments/).
Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev is the director of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, home to the Kirov Opera and Ballet, principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera. He is also artistic director of St. Petersburg’s “Stars of the White Nights Festival” and of the Rotterdam Philharmonic/Gergiev/Philips Festival. He is director and founder of the Mikkeli International Festival in Finland, and the Red Sea International Music Festival in Eilat, Israel. Since 1997, Mr. Gergiev has worked as guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He was named Conductor of the Year at the Classical Music Awards in 1993, and has guest conducted most of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, London’s Royal Philharmonic, Rome’s Santa Cecilia, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Valery Gergiev participated in Critical Issues for the Performing Arts: Opera.
Mulenga Kapwepwe
Mulenga Kapwepwe writes short stories and plays and produces educational materials. She has also produced videos, and television and radio programs. She serves as a technical and policy advisor to the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development. Ms. Kapwepwe is also the chairman of the National Arts Council of Zambia and a patron of the Women in Visual Arts Association, the Zambian Folk Music and Dance Association, and The Youth For Culture Association. She is vice chairman of the Zambia Visual Arts Council, the Ukusefya pa Ngwena Cultural Association, and The Zambia Women Writers Association. She sits on the Zambia Commission for UNESCO and the Arts Institute of Africa and chairs the Arterial Network. She received degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Zambia. Mulenga Kapwepwe participated in Session 468: The Performing Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention.
Neil MacGregor
Neil MacGregor is the Director of the British Museum, a position he has held since 2002, where he is credited with “…not only transforming the public’s view of what the British Museum is for, but also the view of the politicians.” (Guardian Unlimited Arts interview, May 2007). Recently, the BBC produced a ten-week series on The Museum and Mr. MacGregor. He began his career as a Lecturer in art history and architecture at Reading University, served as Editor of Burlington Magazine from 1981 to 1987, and then took the position of Director at the National Gallery, where he served until 2002. During his directorship at the National Gallery, he presented two BBC television series on art: Making Masterpieces, a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Gallery, in 1997, and Seeing Salvation, on the representation of Jesus in western art, in 2000. Mr. MacGregor is a member of RSA and International Advisory Board of Hermitage Museum, a Trustee of Pilgrim Trust and Courtauld Institute of Art, an honorary Fellow of New College Oxford, and has received honorary doctorate from nine universities. He was educated at New College Oxford, where he received an M.A. in languages; Edolo Normale Supérieure, Paris; and Edinburgh University where he studied law. Mr. MacGregor also received an M.A. from Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Neil MacGregor chaired Session 453: Achieving the Freer Circulation of Cultural Artifacts.
Andrea Nasher
Andrea Nasher has been a principal participant in the development and creation of the Nasher Sculpture Center since 1998 and works on the development of the Andrea Nasher Collection. She is also the associate producer of a feature documentary called “Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes a Crime” and co-producer of the Broadway revival “Damn Yankees.” She is guest scholar, Land Arts of the American West, a field program of the University of New Mexico and the University of Texas. Board affiliations include Massachusetts Institute of Technology List Visual Arts Center, Advisory Committee; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Council for the Arts; University of Texas at Dallas, Foundation for the Callier Center for Communication Disorders, Board of Trustees; Nasher Foundation, Board of Trustees; and Nasher Sculpture Center, Board of Trustees. Ms. Nasher received a B.A. in English from Stanford University and an M.A. in counseling psychology from the University of Santa Clara. Andrea Nasher participated in Session 446: Cultural Institutions Without Walls: New Models of Arts-Community Interaction.
Ong Keng Sen
Ong Keng Sen is the artistic director of TheatreWorks in Singapore and a performance director. The Flying Circus Project is his most important project which brings together in Asia, traditional and contemporary artists from the fields of visual arts, video, documentary, performing arts, as well as philosophers, literary specialists and artists of new media and “new rituals.” In 1999, he initiated Arts Network Asia, a network for Asian artists to encourage inter-Asian engagement. He is the founder and director of In-Transit, an annual interdisciplinary arts festival in Berlin. He directed major productions for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Lincoln Centre Festival. He studied intercultural performance at the Performance Studies Department at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and also holds a degree in law. Recently he was awarded the prestigious Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize 2010 for arts and culture. Ong Keng Sen participated in Session 468: The Performing Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention.
Lemi Ponifasio
Lemi Ponifasio established the MAU in 1995, as a platform for critical reflection and creativity with artists, scholars, intellectuals and community leaders; MAU as a community action. As theatre artist and leader of the MAU, Ponifasio’s work is both rooted in traditional values and committed to our time; his radical, ceremonial stagings intersect and transcend conventional ideas of dance, theatre, art, ritual and civic activism. Ponifasio’s work is presented internationally including the Lincoln Center (New York), Edinburgh International Festival, Theatre de la Ville (Paris), South Bank Centre (London), the Venice Biennale and in Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, LA, Sydney and Adelaide amongst others, and also throughout the South Pacific region. Based in Auckland New Zealand, Ponifasio weaves diverse Oceanic cultures, exploring complex forms of knowledge such as navigation, architecture, rituals, philosophies and genealogies as a driving force in emphasizing local-orientated arts, thought and narratives that have been silenced or excluded. Lemi Ponifasio participated in Session 468: The Performing Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention.
Helen Kay Raseroka
Helen Kay Raseroka is the director of library services at the University of Botswana Library. She is also a member of the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications Board of Trustees as well as a representative of the Southern African University Librarian’s Association of African Universities Sub-Committee on University Libraries, which is an advocacy forum on the improvement of the funding of academic libraries. She was also a chairperson on the Rothschild Foundation Botswana Community Libraries Board. She received a B.Sc. and a diploma in library science which she earned in South Africa and an M.A. she earned in London. Kay Raseroka participated in Session 422: Libraries in the 21st Century and Session 466: Connecting to the World’s Collections: Making the Case for the Conservation and Preservation of Our Cultural Heritage.
Sam-Ang Sam
Sam-Ang Sam is Cambodian American ethnomusicologist and performer, and founder of Sam-Ang Sam Ensemble. Dr. Sam has taught at Cornish College of the Arts and the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Sam is a recording artist and has written and published numerous articles and four books on Cambodian culture. Since 1977, Dr. Sam has been actively involved in the art field and refugee resettlement. He has a long record of personal and professional experience working with the Cambodian community in refugee resettlement; program design; organizational development, grant writing and management; and art presentation and touring. Dr. Sam was educated in Cambodia at the Royal University of Fine Arts, in the Philippines at the Conservatory of Music, University of the Philippines, and in the United States at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, where he received a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology. He is a recent MacArthur Fellow. Sam-Ang Sam participated in Session 371: The Arts, Religion, and the Shaping of Culture.
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an author. For more than twenty years, he has published novels, collections of poems, memoirs, biographies, and other works. His first book, From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet, was published in 1983 and provides an autobiographical account of his travels through China and Nepal. Mr. Seth’s most recent novel, Two Lives, which was published in October of 2005, is a non-fiction biographical family memoir. The book tells the story of Mr. Seth’s great uncle and German-Jewish great aunt who met in Berlin in the early 1930′s. Mr. Seth has received numerous literary awards for his novels and poems. Originally from Calcutta, Mr. Seth splits his time between Dehli and Salisbury, England. He holds a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University. Vikram Seth participated in Session 434: The Telling of Lives: Biography as a Mirror on Society.