Programs succeed when they are tied to the heart and soul of an organization. Developing a business plan, formulating a vivid identity, thinking through issues of scale and fully articulating processes so they can be replicated are just some of the steps required to get from concept to operation. When you skip those steps, you run aground on unanticipated roadblocks and misalignment with your audience. Empathic design and program development go hand-in-hand, keeping emerging programs connected to real people and eliciting latent issues and opportunities.
At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), I revived an historic program begun at that institution in the 1960s, raising $12m to create and art and technology lab where artists were given grants to develop new projects in full view of the public. Here, Swiss artist Annina Ruest demonstrated a robot made of domestic appliances for a group of visitors. The program garnered press coverage from the New York Times, LA Times, NPR, KCRW, and more.
As a panelist for the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, I had the privilege of helping shape the Artist Fellowship Program by selecting and advancing artists, many of whom are activists and educators in their own right, in every discipline from across the city.