We encourage interested visitors to RSVP with Assistant Director Kevin Leary (krleary@buffalo.edu) to ensure sufficient seating at lecture events.  All campus visitors should be prepared to follow UB's Health and Safety Guidelines.

Led by Andy Finch, the Director of Policy for the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMG), Arts Management Program students will attend Museums Advocacy Day in Washington, DC to advocate for museums on Capitol Hill.  On February 27, students will attend AAM's Museums Advocacy Day conference where they will sit alongside museum professionals to learn about key policies and issues affecting museums, advocacy tactics to influence congressional members, and strategize with professionals to plan their visits to congressional offices.  On the 28th, students go to Capitol Hill to advocate for policy changes to help the museum sector.

Andy Finch is Director of Policy for the Association of Art Museum Directors, working on issues including tax deductibility of gifts of art, federal indemnification of art exhibitions, arts education, and the federal cultural agencies. He served as Americans for the Arts' chief lobbyist on Capitol Hill and at the federal executive agencies from 2003 to 2007. From 1999 to 2001, he was a Special Assistant at the U.S. Department of Education, advising the Secretary, senior staff, and the First Lady's office on arts education policy. He was a lobbyist for the American Association of Museums from 1990 to 1999, specializing in tax policy, education, and grassroots organizing. During the 1980's, he worked on two statewide campaigns in Massachusetts, on two presidential campaigns, and as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives. Andy holds a B.A. from Brandeis University in history and classical civilization, and a M.A. in Latin from U.C.L.A. 

American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is the only organization representing the entire museum field, from art and history museums to science centers and zoos. Since 1906, we have been championing museums through advocacy and providing museum professionals with the resources, knowledge, inspiration, and connections they need to move the field forward.

Our Alliance of 35,000 museums and museum professionals seeks to better our communities, and our world, through collaborative human-centered experiences, education, and connection to histories, cultures, the natural world, and one another. Our members spark curiosity and wonder, widen horizons and understanding, and create community connection through a shared commitment to equity and learning.  For more information, visit their website.

While in Washington, DC, students will visit arts organizations to discuss curatorial practice, the intersections of art and activism, and network with museum professionals.  Students will start the day with a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Following their visit their, they will move to the Anacostia Museum to dicuss the Utopia Project with museum staff, an installation intended to allow visitors to "learn to tap into the issues they care about and then envision their own version of a utopia in an immersive “Dream Space.”"  After this visit, they will get back downtown to the Textile Museum to discuss the museum, its work and context, and professional arts management practice.

10:20am - 1:00pm, 276 Center for the Arts

John Zion serves as the Managing Director of MKI Artists where he oversees strategic planning, artist management, and booking while supporting the careers of its prestigious roster of artists, ensembles, and composers. He is also a co-founder of OurConcerts.live, a streaming platform and technology company that produced more than 300 virtual concerts during the pandemic in collaboration with Spivey Hall, the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, Washington Performing Arts, and many other presenting organizations. OurConcerts.live continues to provide access to live music for audiences around the world.

Also an active consultant, John works with artists, administrators, and arts organizations on career development, project management, and digital marketing. John serves on the board of Chamber Music America and has taught and presented on arts-related issues at the Colburn School of Music, University of Michigan, Manhattan School of Music, Netherlands String Quartet Academy, Banff Centre, APAP|NYC, and Chamber Music America’s National Conference. In 2012, he was named one of the “Rising Stars in the Performing Arts” by Musical America.

John studied at Lawrence University and the Hartt School of Music; before coming to MKI Artists, he performed regularly as a violinist with orchestras throughout New England, taught public-school music, and toured Vietnam with his string quartet. He lives in Burlington, VT with his wife Emily and enjoys cooking, reading, and traveling in his spare time.

Second year students in the Program will collaborate with NeMLA to organize the conference's first art exhibition. Adriana Torres-Trinidad, Ruixin Qing, and Qinyang Zhi, will curate an exhibition of visual and performing art that relates to the conference's central theme of "Resilience."  Their work - a component of their final project and culminating experience in the Program - will enhance discussions around the conference's theme and highlight Buffalo artists.

The visual artworks will explore the topics of indigenous/afro identity, sexual diversity, women’s strength, and technology vs. humanity through the lens of resilience.  A presentation from the University at Buffalo’s Dance Department is also planned.

Daily programming TBD

The Arts Management Program will host a weeklong intensive to expose students to the tech tools that influence arts managers.  Students will engage in hands-on workshops with working professionals to hone their skills in data visualization, graphic design, short-form video creation, web design, and social media marketing.  Each day, practice will turn to critical inquiry as invited speakers engage with questions in these skill areas.  Full list of professionals/speakers forthcoming!

10:20am - 1:00pm, On Site at Kleinhans Music Hall

Lauren Becker (Archivist, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) has been graciously leading this annual tour for our students for a number of years now.  Join us as we hear all about this history of Kleinhans Music Hall, and how it fits into the context of the large musical landscape in Buffalo.  For a bit more about Lauren and her work, see this article from 2016 that was published in Artvoice by Jan Jezioro: https://bpo.org/kleinhans-music-hall-history-preserved-jan-jezioro-artvoice/

Various locations on North Campus, venue map forthcoming

Inhabiting Spaces:  A Site-Specific Showcase is a two-day event featuring collaborative performance works by students in Melanie Aceto’s Choreography II class and Tiffany Du Mouchelle’s Opera Studio class.

Inhabiting Spaces is a three-year project involving faculty and students from the College of Arts and Sciences, along with multiple community partners.  Arts Management student Lili Stern assists with production management or event coordination.

The focus of this project is collaboration through multi-disciplinary artistic creation. With sites chosen from indoor and outside spaces throughout SUNY Buffalo’s North Campus, artists will come together to create an art-tour of experiences, each exploring the unique qualities of the chosen location and environment including, but not limited to: the designated purpose of the space, architectural elements of the location, and acoustical phenomena within the structure. The performance of the works created will be presented in the form of a walking experiential art-tour.

In addition, the showcase event will integrate with normal foot-traffic within each location, offering a “pop-up” event for those who are active in the location, but might not be aware of the experiential tour simultaneously being presented.

2:00 - 4:40pm, Baldy 113

Second year students will defend their final projects and theses to Arts Management faculty, students, and invited guests.  This work is the culminating experience for students in the Program.  Their work will tackle a variety of concepts including the influence of advocacy on foundation funding, feminism in China, entrepreneurship in arts fields, and discussions of constraint (financial, capacity, thematic) on arts management practice.