The Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship
A two-year Fellowship for global arts leaders at an inflection point who are ready to go from success in their respective fields to driving significant impact, leveraging their unique positions and abilities as a force for good in the world.
Who We Are
We are at a moment that calls for artists and cultural leaders to imagine and lead toward the world we wish to see. Beyond the pursuit of artistic excellence lies a deeper question:
What kind of leadership does the world need and what is the role of the arts in advancing it?
The Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship, a pilot initiative in partnership between the Aspen Global Leadership Network and Aspen Arts Program, will bring together two cohorts of 20–22 intergenerational leaders from across the global arts ecosystem — artists, creators, producers, financiers, curators, and cultural visionaries — who have achieved success in their fields and seek to expand their impact.
Modeled after the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship launched in 1997, Fellows will gather four times for week-long seminars, engaging in moderated dialogue that challenges participants to clarify their role as leaders in the world.
“Every enduring human-made institution began not with policy but with vision—with the capacity to see and feel a world that does not yet exist. This is the domain of the arts: to make the improbable palpable, to render the future habitable before we arrive there. When our old methods fail us, we need more than new management. We need new myths, new metaphors, new music. We need the arts to build the emotional and imaginative infrastructure that will support whatever comes next.”
Dar Vanderbeck | Vice President, Aspen Global Leadership Network, The Aspen Institute
Why Now?
Leadership Gap
While opportunities to cultivate technical mastery are abundant, arts leaders rarely have the space to grapple with fundamental questions: How do the arts advance a better world? And what is my responsibility in that work? The Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship offers the time, structure, and community for deep reflection, dialogue, and growth as leaders shaping the cultural fabric of society.
Leadership & Imagination
The arts don’t just reflect society — they shape it, challenge it, and help us envision better versions of it. By bringing together those who make art, create conditions for art to be made, and bring art to the world, we’re cultivating the kind of humanistic, values-driven leadership that can help us navigate our most complex challenges with both moral clarity and creative imagination.
Creative Collaboration for Global Impact
The arts have always bridged cultures and inspired collective imagination. Today, collaboration among global arts leaders can spark new approaches to tackle our greatest challenges. The Fellowship creates a global, intergenerational network of creative minds working together to envision and build a more just, vibrant, and open society.
“This initiative creates space for arts leaders to reconnect with their deepest motivations and emerge reinvigorated in their commitment to work that matters. By building community across disciplines, we amplify their capacity to inspire and shape cultural narratives that help envision a more just, vibrant, and open society.”
Danielle Baussan | Executive Director, Arts & Society Program, The Aspen Institute
ANNOUNCEMENT
Art, Leadership, and the Power of Cultural Imagination
As part of the Aspen Institute’s 75th anniversary campaign, the Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship invites us to explore how arts and culture shape the world we live in. Through this Fellowship, the Aspen Global Leadership Network and the Arts Program join forces to strengthen the role of arts leaders as catalysts for positive change.
The Program
PARTICIPATION
Becoming a Fellow
We are seeking candidates who are:
To be considered for the Fellowship, candidates must express their interest or be nominated by a third party. Nominations open on November 4, 2025, and close on December 12, 2025.
The program seeks 20 to 22 leaders from across the global arts ecosystem, including creators, producers, curators, and cultural leaders who have achieved significant success in their fields and demonstrate boldness, vision, and a desire to apply their leadership to society’s greatest challenges.
- leaders who make art (creators, performers, painters, design leaders, writers, dancers);
- leaders who create conditions for art to be made (producers, agents, financers, artist residency directors, academics); and
- leaders who bring art to the world (studio executives, gallery owners, museum curators, magazine editors, film festival executives and others who determine how art circulates, build audiences, shape discourse, and facilitate meaningful encounters between art and the public).
Fellows are selected through a rigorous, multi-step process that includes nomination review, interviews in-person (locations to be announced), and final approval by the Aspen Institute and the Eisner Foundation.
For questions about nominations, please contact the program’s Arne Gjelten, Program Coordinator, ([email protected]).
EXPERIENCE
Structure
The two-year experience comprises a structured series of four seminars (approximately 25 days in total). Each seminar is an immersive, week-long experience rooted in the Institute’s proven text-based dialogue approach, igniting deep reflection and peer exchange and led by senior Institute moderators. Fellows explore values, leadership, and the role of the arts in advancing a just and vibrant society. They also commit to an impact journey applying their leadership to our greatest challenges.
Seminars will be held at the Aspen Meadows campus in Colorado as well as other cultural hubs.
Upon completion, Fellows become lifelong members of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, joining a community of more than 4,000 leaders in 62 countries.
COSTs
Financial Commitment
Participation in the Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Initiative is fully funded by the Eisner Foundation. The Fellowship covers seminar tuition, materials, and lodging. Fellows are responsible only for travel to and from seminar locations.
Limited assistance may be available to offset travel costs in special circumstances.
Questions?
Contact the AGLN team.