2024 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum
2024 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum
Wednesday and Thursday, April 24 and 25, 11:00 AM to 5:30 PM EST
This is an Invitation-Only Event
The 2024 AEF Leadership Forum convened senior staff and board leaders of Artist-Endowed Foundations, as well as graduates of the Seminar on Strategy for AEF leaders, to discuss key issues and opportunities in practice and policy that are influencing the field’s charitable work as its members navigate the many crosscurrents marking this moment in our culture and democracy. Chief among the community’s concerns is the evolving impact of technology as an opportunity as well as a risk and the shifting legal climate around Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI) as it impacts foundation hiring and grantmaking for diversity.
The event was presented online by the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI and hosted by the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture | Riverside Art Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
The 2024 Forum incorporated presentations, discussions, and networking among foundation leaders, scholars, experts, and thought leaders. The program’s aim is to foster collegial exchange among the field’s leaders, build a shared body of knowledge about effective practice, introduce new foundation leaders into the community’s conversations and network, and inform AEFI’s programs and research.
Both days of the virtual 2024 AEF Leadership Forum kicked off with a keynote session: Considering AI: Its Potential as a Resource for Art Scholarship and Charitable Practice (April 24), and the Shifting Legal Climate Around Hiring and Grantmaking to Advance DEAI (April 25). Additional topics included:
- Considering AI: Its Potential as a Risk: Update on Developments in Policy & Litigation
- Digital Archives: Balancing Access With Privacy Laws and Ethics
- Spotlight on 2023 Intern Alums: AEF Consortium Advancing Next-Gen Leaders in the Visual Arts
- Closed Door Conversation: Board Fiduciary Duties, Ethics, and Legal Regulations: Ask the Experts
A series of collegial roundtables provided space for peer-to-peer exchange on key issues, with AEF leaders co-hosting conversations on a variety of topics, including: Engaging Grantees to Build Community and Impact; Working With Art Advisors to Chart Art Market Strategy; Succession Planning for Collection Management; Planning a Catalogue Raisonné Project; Connecting With Native Artists & Communities; Curating a Digital Presence With Bloomberg Connects; Secondary Sales Royalties in Foundation-Gallery Relations; Effective Strategies to Insure/Secure Collections; Lessons and Opportunities in Supporting Climate Action; and Celebrating the Artist’s Centennial – Why? How? (All subject to change.)
Each of the two days included space for affinity meet-ups offered by roles (First-Time Forum Attendees, Seminar Alums, AEF Archivists/Registrars, AEF Board Members, etc.) and regions (Western States AEFs, New England AEFs, International AEFs, etc.). (All subject to change.)
The Forum’s first day concluded with a curator-led tour of the groundbreaking retrospective Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map, presented by the Whitney. The second day closed with a curator-led tour of selections from its permanent collection presented by the Cheech, the new public-private partnership focused on Chicano art and culture, birthed at the Riverside Art Museum.
For information about future Forums, please contact: christine.vincent@aspeninstitute.org
The Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative would like to thank PKF O’Connor Davies for being the 2024 Forum Presenting Partner.
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