Building an Engaged Art History

Case Western Reserve University & Indiana University IUPUI

A virtual convening about public scholarship, civic engagement, and community-based practices in the study and teaching of art history and visual culture.

How can art historians honor ways of seeing and knowing that have been historically
marginalized in the Art Worlds and the academy? How can we work in ways that
serve communities beyond our institutions? How can we learn from the
methods of engagement that are well-established in other disciplines? How
can we build structures within our institutions that support this kind of work?
Where are we now, and where do we go from here?
Experienced scholars in the public humanities will share their perspectives on the methods, ethics, and value of engaged approaches. Through a series of facilitated
conversations, participants will reflect on their own engaged work and create
a plan for making engaged art history more robust and more feasible in our
institutions and our communities.

Program

DAY 1 - 22 April 2021

10:00 Opening Remarks. Building a More Inclusive and Equitable Art History with Erin Benay, Case Western Reserve University & Laura Holzman, Indiana University IUPUI

10:30-11:30 Public Humanities, Public Art History
Panel Discussion with Susan Smulyan, Brown University; Renée Ater, Brown University;
Larry Zimmerman, Indiana University IUPUI

Art History arguably lags behind other fields in the Humanities, such as Public History
(which has an established professional organization and scholarly journal of the same name) with established publicly engaged trajectories. What can we learn from these disciplines about our own?

11:30-12:30 Lunch Break

12:30-1:30 Discussion Session One. Toward an Engaged Art History
With Laura Holzman, Indiana University IUPUI

Drawing first from disciplinary training and practice, participants will identify key values, awareness, skills, and abilities that can shape our engaged work.

1:30-2:00 Coffee break

2:00-3:00 Discussion Session Two. What Can Art History Learn from the Community?
With Erin Benay, Case Western Reserve University

Building a more engaged art history means moving beyond classrooms and museums; this session asks what art history (and art historians) can learn from our community partners and experts outside the academy.

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DAY 2 - 23 April 2021

10:00 Opening Remarks. Erin Benay, Case Western Reserve University & Laura Holzman, Indiana University IUPUI

10:30-11:30 Discussion Session One. Museums and Methods
With Key Jo Lee, Cleveland Museum of Art

How can engaged practices and the philosophies behind them help make art museums more equitable institutions and how can museums’ methods of sharing knowledge shape engaged research and teaching?

11:30-12:30 Lunch Break

12:30-1:30 Discussion Session Two. Teaching With Engaged Art History
With Jennifer Borland and Louise Siddons, Oklahoma State University

What is the place of engaged art history in our classrooms and curricula? We will consider philosophies of teaching and learning as well as our experiences with activities such as applied projects service learning, and structuring degree programs.

1:30-2:00 Coffee break

2:00-3:00 Discussion Session Three. Engaged Art History in the Academy
With Carolyn Butler-Palmer, University of Victoria; Cynthia Persinger, California University of Pennsylvania, PA; and Azar Rejaie, University of Houston-Downtown, TX

In breakout sessions dedicated to issues such as tenure & promotion and academic publishing, we discuss how to evaluate excellence in engaged art history and how to navigate systems of power that may not yet include its actions in policy or practice.

3:30-4:30 Concluding Discussion. Synthesizing the Priorities for Engaged Art History
With Mary Price, Indiana University IUPUI

Participants will identify next steps for building an engaged Art History and produce a Directory of Engaged Art History practitioners.

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The symposium is free of charge for all.

Click here to register (by March 1.):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvUO8gpC_ieujxKWWPbV27KW4ZH6Gh9VNOZuLLdJrx6kCBPg/viewform

Program in PDF format:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dNfE62noD754tqLkWoXNzpjgLfFl3eoP/view?usp=sharing

Please send any questions to the symposium organizers, Erin Benay (eeb50case.edu) and Laura Holzman (HolzmanLiu.edu)