Photo: Guntar Kravis
Performing Arts
Professor Geoffrey Crossick in Toronto to Address Gathering on Value of Arts and Culture
2019

One of the world’s leading experts on the value of arts and culture, Professor Geoffrey Crossick delivered the keynote address to Reshaping How We Understand the Impact of the Arts, a gathering hosted by the Toronto Arts Council and Foundation, Ontario College of Art and Design University, Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the Metcalf Foundation. Taking place in September 2019 at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto, the event brought together 250 arts and cultural leaders to hear Professor Crossick’s  research and to exchange ideas.

His seminal paper, can be downloaded here: Understanding the Value of Arts & Culture: The AHRC Cultural Value Project (co-authored with Patrycja Kaszynska).

Videos of his keynote address and the panel discussion can be found following the photo essay.

 

Claire Hopkinson, Director and CEO of the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Foundation, welcomes the standing room only audience and introduces Professor Crossick.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

Professor Crossick delivered an hour-long keynote in which he outlined the methodology and findings contained in his report. To watch his lecture, go to the end of the photo essay.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

Dr. Sara Diamond, President of OCAD University, thanks Professor Crossick before introducing the panel.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

Moderator David Maggs, Academic and Artistic Director of Gros Morne Summer Music, introduces the panel, consisting of Gaëtane Verna, Director, The Power Plant; Christina Loewen, Executive Director, opera.ca; Barry Hughson, Executive Director, The National Ballet of Canada; Owais Lightwala, Managing Director, Why Not Theatre, and Professor Crossick. To watch the panel discussion, go to the end of the photo essay.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

Liz Forsberg, Lead, Partnership Investments – Impact, Ontario Trillium Foundation, sets the stage for the table conversations.

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Following the Crossick keynote, the attendees participated in moderated conversations. Asked to think about the big ideas that this topic raised for them, the participants spoke about the importance of returning to the ‘why’, the recognition that complexity is an inescapable condition of the field, and the appreciation that competing world views makes the search for value and impact a richer, yet more difficult, endeavour.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

Asked what would make their work better with respect to this issue, the participants at one table noted: improve access to greater thinking on the topic; turn grunt work into consensus items; increase resources, especially financial; increase demand and interest for the arts from a broader community; and more artistic and administrative leaders under 30 running institutions.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

A reception followed the keynote and round table conversations where participants were able to further exchange ideas, in a Canadian context, about the value of the arts.

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Metcalf President and CEO Sandy Houston chatted with Professor Crossick and Moderator David Maggs.

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Metcalf Board Member Robert Sirman, Senior Arts Consultant Micheline McKay, and Art of Time Founder and Artistic Director Andrew Burashko exchange ideas on the roof top balcony of The Globe and Mail Centre.

Photo: Guntar Kravis

Reshaping How We Understand the Impact of the Arts | Keynote from Professor Geoffrey Crossick

https://youtu.be/VYJG6gjV7yo
A keynote presentation from Professor Geoffrey Crossick on September 23, 2019.