Metcalf Fellow on Arts and Society

David Maggs, Metcalf Fellow on Arts and Society

Overview

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David Maggs

Canada’s arts landscape is facing massive change. Growing demands around equity, digital fluency, climate change, and most recently, a devastating pandemic, have rendered business as usual impossible. While society has transformed in recent decades, Canada’s non-profit arts sector has struggled to keep pace.

While pandemic relief funding has prevented the full consequences of these upheavals from being felt, there is increasing recognition that a return to the status quo for the arts sector is neither feasible, nor desirable.

This new fellowship builds on the work of David’s Metcalf Fellowship and his paper, Art and the World After This. A central premise of the paper is that when we attempt to address the various disruptions affecting the arts sector separately, we get stuck treating the symptoms and fail to recognize both the underlying pattern of transformation shaking the world right now, and the role the arts might play within it.

As the Metcalf Fellow on Arts and Society, David will nurture and support the desire in Canada’s arts sector to both move with, and shape ongoing patterns of transformative societal change. He will work with the Foundation and the communities we engage with — both inside and outside of the arts and culture sector — to lead dialogue and convenings, expand on existing research, and explore promising practices to cultivate a healthy and vibrant arts sector in Canada.

David Maggs Biography

David Maggs carries on an active career as an interdisciplinary artist and researcher focused on arts, climate change, and sustainability. A student of Jane Coop, Andre Laplante, and Marc Durand, he is the founder and pianist for Dark by Five (darkbyfive.com), has written works for the stage, and collaborated on large augmented reality and virtual reality projects. David is the artistic director of the rural Canadian interarts organization Gros Morne Summer Music (gmsm.ca), and founder and co-director of the Graham Academy. He initiated and co-produced the CBC doc channel film The Country along with leaders from Newfoundland’s Mi’kmaw community, exploring the Canadian government’s handling of Indigenous identity in Newfoundland.

As a fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School for Global Affairs, David co-authored Sustainability in an Imaginary World (Routledge Press, 2020) with mentor and longtime collaborator John Robinson, exploring the relationship between art and sustainability. He is former senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, where he led work on culture and climate change. As Innovation Fellow with the Metcalf Foundation, David wrote Art and the World After This (2021), an extensive report on the disruption and transformation of the arts in the wake of COVID-19. The impact of this report has led to the creation of a new position within the Metcalf Foundation and as the inaugural Fellow on Arts and Society, David is exploring the role of art in society, with particular focus on innovation, climate change, and cultural policy. David has been a featured speaker at the Canadian Arts Summit (Charlottetown, Banff, Montreal), The International Transdisciplinarity Conference (Leuphana), the National Valuing Nature Conference (Corner Brook), The American Association for the Advancement of Science (Vancouver), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich), Sustainability Through Art Conference (Geneva), the Narratives of Transformation conference of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (Berlin), the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (Kyoto), the International Art Collaborations Network, and elsewhere.

Past Speaking Engagements

“Role of the Artist in the Climate Movement” – The Incubator Series, Arts Club Theatre Company
July 7, 2022

Panel on how much can art actually change in the midst of a pandemic and global climate crisis, push the scope, and further a positive climate agenda; hosted by Kendra Fanconi.

Arts Leadership Speaker Series, Pacific Opera Victoria
April 28, 2022

Presentation and discussion on Art and the World After This.

“The Agency of Art” – The Arts of Living with Nature, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 16th International Symposium in Kyoto, Japan
March 10, 2022

Presentation on the role of art in sustainability, and comparing Western and Eastern practices in collaboration with Japanese curators.

International Art Collaborations Network, OCAD University
February 26, 2022

Keynote to post-secondary students and faculty from 16 different universities from around the world.

Agents of Imagination: Artist Brigade Dialogue, The Only Animal Theatre
February 24, 2022

Presentation to climate artists.

“In Conversation with David Maggs” – Chester Playhouse Presents
January 23, 2022

Interview with Liz Crocker on the ideas of Art and the World After This.

“Value Propositions, Norms, and Proper Problems” – AI on a Social Mission
November 19, 2021

Presentation alongside Valentine Goddard and others on advancing social concerns amidst the rollout of artificial intelligence.

“It’s All in the Narrative” – International Sustainable Production Forum 21
October 25, 2021

Presentation on the role of storytelling in shifting public imagination on sustainability.

“Art and the World After This” – Metcalf Foundation
September 15, 2021

Presentation and panel discussion featuring Marcus Youssef, Diane Ragsdale, and Hasan Bakhshi.

“Agents of Imagination: Art and the Climate Crisis” – SCALE (National climate change network for arts in Canada)
June 18, 2021

Presentation highlighting role of arts in climate change.

“Post-Pandemic Hybrid Futures” – Toronto Public Library
June 14, 2021

Panel on the future of arts practices; hosted by Jeremy Bailey.

“Art, Innovation, and R&D” – Design Thinking Workshop, Business and Arts NL
June 4, 2021

Presentation linking innovation, R&D strategies, and arts practices for Business and Arts, Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Climate Change: The ‘Know More/Feel Worse’ Problem?” – Green Sessions, Soulpepper Theatre
June 2, 2021

Presentation alongside Kendra Fanconi of the Only Animal Theatre on the ‘arts-shaped hole’ in the climate crisis.

“Agents of Imagination: Art and the Climate Crisis” – Professional Association of Canadian Theatres
May 6, 2021

Presentation on arts and climate for Canada’s theatre community.

“Futuremakers: Art, Innovation, and R&D” – Ryerson University and City of Toronto
April 19, 2021

Panel contribution to Futuremakers and the City of Toronto on value propositions of arts practices.

“Art and Social Innovation” – National Conference for Art Service Organizations, Canada Council
January 20, 2021

Keynote exploring the growing need for innovation in Canada’s arts sector and current capacities and challenges in that regard.

At the heart of Art and the World After This lies two crucial questions: what does a cultural sector do? And what should we do with a cultural sector? This new fellowship will give David a robust opportunity to delve into these large and timely questions, advancing some of the promising ideas outlined in the paper.

Sandy Houston

Chair, Metcalf Foundation

Featured Publication

Performing Arts / Metcalf Fellowship

Art and the World After This

Driven by a sense of urgency and optimism, Art and the World After This makes the case for grounding the arts firmly in action as a powerful force for creating a better world. The report explores four distinct but interrelated disruptions which have shaken our world — the disruption of activity (pandemic), society (social unrest), industry (digital revolution), and the world (climate crisis) — as well as the unique value art brings to society. In this timely report, David Maggs explores how the arts can serve a more applied and accountable role in society as a catalyst for meeting the profound challenges we face.

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