The Founder's Opening will introduce the Blouin Creative Leadership Summit and highlight the key priorities for the coming decade with respect to economic development and the establishment of social conditions conducive to peace and prosperity. The key factors that will be addressed are: the role of education, science and technology in both developing and supporting new economies; an emphasis on cultural diplomacy and understanding, even more crucial now in a time of globally inter-dependent marketplaces, and, finally, the role of entrepreneurship and innovation as an antidote to the challenges of economic growth and social reform within the developed and developing worlds.
Bio
Louise Blouin
Louise Blouin is Chairman of the Louise Blouin Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting cultural dialogue and addressing the challenges and opportunities of globalization through the lens of culture (LTBFoundation.org). In a strategic partnership with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, the Foundation hosts the annual Blouin Creative Leadership Summit in New York City (CreativeLeadershipSummit.org). The Summit is a forum for heads of state, Nobel laureates, CEOs, executives of global agencies, leading scholars and artists to foster new partnerships and develop actionable solutions for challenges such as poverty, cultural conflict, international trade and climate change.
Since 2005 the Foundation has hosted a series of contemporary art exhibitions around the theme of cultural dialogue at its museum space in Holland Park, London. The Foundation has featured renowned Chinese artist Wang Guangyi, installation artists Gary Hill and Gary Judah, traditional Chinese painting, as well as submissions to the Kandinsky Prize, a competition for emerging Russian artists.
In 2009 the Foundation organized ART+HOPE, a project in collaboration with artist Ross Bleckner and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to provide art-based therapy to former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. Other Foundation initiatives include Bring Back New Orleans, a research effort that enabled the city of New Orleans to obtain a $300 million federal earmark for development of the city’s cultural sector; the commission of research by the OECD on the contributions of culture industries, entitled International Measurement of the Economic and Social Importance of Culture; and support for A Soldier’s Tale, a theatre production by Iraqi and British actors in London’s Old Vic Theatre.
In parallel, Louise Blouin is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Louise Blouin Media (LBM), the leading global media company focused on the promotion of the arts and culture. LBM’s brands include ARTINFO.com, the Blouin Art Sales Index database, magazines Art+Auction, Modern Painters, Gallery Guide, and catalogue publisher Somogy.
With its in-depth reporting on the art market in Art+Auction, insider access in Modern Painters, worldwide exhibition listings in Gallery Guide, and breaking news on ARTINFO.com, LBM covers visual arts, performing arts and all forms of culture from every perspective. From offices in New York, London, Paris and Beijing, and with a team of over three hundred writers worldwide, LBM publishes ARTINFO websites in English, French, Portuguese and Chinese, as well as over ninety catalog titles each year for institutions such as the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum. The worldwide ARTINFO sites, together with the Blouin Art Sales Index, provide the most comprehensive international coverage of museums, galleries, auctions, fairs, performing arts, architecture, design, style, travel, and art market financial data.
Prior to founding Louise Blouin Media, Louise Blouin was the founding partner and co-CEO of Trader Classified Media, the international leader in online and print classified advertising.
In over fifteen years leading Trader Classified, Louise Blouin turned around a business with more than 70 companies, 400 publications and 9 million readers per week. With her management team, she led over 7,000 employees in North America, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Australia, and developed 60 internet sites in 20 countries. She relinquished her interest in Trader Classified in 2000 to develop Louise Blouin Media.
Felicia Taylor
Felicia Taylor is currently an anchor-correspondent for CNN International's "World Business Today" having previously been contributing to the Business Updates unit for CNN; She was previously the co-host of Retirement Living TV's Daily Cafe till November 2009. Previously, Taylor was a business news anchor and a correspondent for CNBC. Prior to CNBC, she served as weekend anchor on WNBC-TV in New York.
