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How Artists and Policymakers Can Make Our Cities ‘Sing’

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The Aspen Institute

and The Atlantic

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Richard Florida

Richard Florida is the author of several books, including his most recent The Great Reset, which explains how new ways of living and working will drive post-crash prosperity, and the global best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class. He is a senior editor for The Atlantic and a regular CNN contributor. Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. International diplomats, government leaders, filmmakers, economic development organizations, and leading Fortune 100 businesses have benefited from his global approach to problem-solving and strategy development. In addition to several other books, Florida has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has been appointed to the Business Innovation Factory’s Research Advisory Council and was recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.

Rocco Landesman

Rocco Landesman is the tenth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior to his post at the NEA, Landesman was a longtime theater producer. As president of Jujamcyn, which owns and operates five Broadway theaters, Landesman produced most notably The Producers, which won the 2001 Tony for Best Musical; Angels in America, winner of the Tony for Best Play in both 1993 and 1994; and Big River, winner of the 1985 Tony for Best Musical. Earlier in his career, he worked as an assistant professor at the Yale School of Drama and has occasionally returned there to teach. Landesman has been active on numerous boards, including the Municipal Art Society, the Times Square Alliance, The Actor’s Fund, and the Educational Foundation of America.

Dennis Scholl

Dennis Scholl is the Vice President of Arts for the Knight Foundation. He oversees the Foundation’s national arts program, including the Knight Arts Challenge and Random Acts of Culture. He is also the founder of a series of initiatives dedicated to building the contemporary art collections of international museums.

Darren Walker

Darren Walker is vice president of education, creativity, and free expression at the Ford Foundation. Walker leads one of the foundation’s three major programs, overseeing grantmaking in public education reform, higher education, arts and culture, media, sexuality and reproductive health, and religion. He also supervises the foundation’s offices in the Middle East and Africa. Walker joined the Ford Foundation in 2010 after serving as vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he oversaw a broad range of programs in the US and abroad. Prior to joining Rockefeller in 2002, Walker served as chief operating officer of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, a community organization in Harlem. Walker is a member of the boards of the Arcus Foundation, Friends of the High Line, the New York City Ballet, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, and the International Fellows Program. He is co-chair of the New York Public Library Council.

Arts Funding: Wealthy Only Give to Marquee Institutions

02 min 10 sec

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Darren Walker, vice president of education, creativity, and free expression at the Ford Foundation, talks about the state of art funding in the United States. Walker argues that while there are more avenues for funding, the money is going to the wrong places.
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48 min 08 sec

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