Hello Friends and Colleagues,

Happy spring! Hoping that amidst it all you are finding ways to ground yourselves and connect to communities, groups and movements that help you to engage and advocate for the fullness of life at a time when that is incredibly hard but urgently necessary. 

A few updates on my end include:

I started a new job at University of the Arts (UArts) here in Philadelphia in July (Read more about it here). I’m enjoying teaching classes on ecological art and thesis writing this semester, and working with the next generation of museum engagement and education workers and connecting to the rich community of faculty and program alumni. It has been a really fulfilling first year! Also, as part of this role I’ve been hosting new lecture series for featured faculty and the field, which we are calling the UArts Museum Forum where we’ve had a panel on museums and climate change and one on weaving social history into solo retrospectives. Check out our recent events here and follow the program on instagram.

I’ve also taken on the role of research network chair for Arts In Society – an international conference and journal established in 2000. Read more about their work here and look for part 1 of a 2 part open-access journal issue on “Engagement Curating” out in May here. The issue includes a panel with Martina Tanga, Alyssa Greenberg, Laurel McLaughlin & Gabriel Sacco, Rob Blackson, and Abigail Satinsky; Letters of Response by Monica Montgomery, Cara Courage, Samantha Hull ,Skyla Hearn, Esther Amis-Hughes; Essays and Interviews with Solana Chetman, Adriel Luis, David Ayala Alfonso, Faheem Majeed and Abigail Satinsky, and Umika Pathak. I’ll also be organizing a conference starting next month in Korea and then Philadelphia in May 2025, for which I am thankful to have gotten a grant from the Wagner Foundation through UArts. Our plenary speakers are Solana Chehtman Solana Chehtman, Özge Ersoy, Chương-Đài Võ, and Charles Esche and my co-organizer is the incredible Tammy Ko Robinson. 

Otherwise my main other commitments include continuing to develop the Eco-Social Series which is hosting more programs in 2024 (Sign up for emails or follow on instagram) and my volunteer position on the PHDC Public Art Committee keeps me engaged with field-level work in public art. Recently I did a few lectures In Miami at the New World School of the Arts, in Providence at the Imagining America conference with Lisa Yun Lee, and at the Small Museums conference in Richmond with Christopher Rogers and Aislinn Pentecost-Farren. Looking forward, please join me on April 24th for a book release at Bungee Space in New York City hosted by Set Margins, publisher of my “We Are All…Now” book. And next summer will be the 10 year time capsule unveiling at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana that was developed while making the video essay Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country. 

Finally, I am hopeful that we can connect or reconnect in the coming year and that this finds you with clarity of purpose and dreams for a better future.

Warmestly,

Daniel