Partly as a response to the desire for participatory models, museums and other arts organizations have begun to incorporate ‘performance’ into their curatorial programming.  How is this contemporary interest in performance affecting historic performing arts organizations — theaters, dance companies, symphonies, and presenting organizations?  How are categories such as dance, theater, and music maintained or altered as we welcome new experiments?  How are performing artists thinking about the goals and techniques of their medium?

Biography

Shannon Jackson is the Associate Vice Chancellor for the Arts + Design, Cyrus and Michelle Hadidi Chair in the Humanities, and Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric, and Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a 2015 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the Arts and Humanities Outstanding Service Award. In addition she serves on the advisory boards of several journals and arts organizations and has been a plenary speaker at a variety of distinguished venues, including most recently the Venice Biennial.

Rob Bailis is Associate Director at Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a professional clarinetist and has extensive experience in arts organization management, as previous Director of ODC Theater. He has commissioned over 30 new works in a variety of genres and has served as a panelist, program, policy consultant for foundations and arts funding organizations including MAP Fund, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, SF Arts Commission, and the Center for Cultural Innovation, among many.