Conference Speakers
Grayson Wambach
Grayson Wambach is an experienced arts professional, cultural producer, and creative consultant who has worked across the arts and culture sector, both nationally and internationally creating experiences that work to engage and connect communities.
He has worked with organizations such as the Chicago Humanities Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Google, and various high profile brands helping shape their live and digital experiences.
In 2018, his love for the arts led him to the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, as the Assistant Director of University Arts Engagement. As part of his role, he developed, programmed, and produced public engagement opportunities across the university and the city of Chicago, using the arts as a connecting platform to enact social change. From there, he began to develop relationships on a national and international level, focusing on the role the arts play in shaping communities. This opened collaboration with the Edinburgh International Culture Summit, Esplanade Art Center in Singapore, and an ongoing relationship with the Science and City Festival and Valetta Design Cluster in Malta, building community engagement strategies and growing a more cohesive global dialogue through arts and science.
Most recently, Grayson has been developing an exhibition with the European Cultural Centre, which are known for their work alongside the Venice Biennale. He co-curated an extension of their exhibition, Time Space Existence. The international exhibition, taking place in Miami, will focus on current environmental, social, and sustainability issues facing our time and directly impacting cities like Miami. This showcase will highlight the ideas and dreams of artists, architects, and designers reflecting and responding to issues from a global perspective in hopes that we can stimulate conversation, cultural growth, and continue shaping our future together.
Catalysts for Change: Arts Shaping Community
Art is a dynamic construct that’s always changing and evolving. The same can be said for us, our cultures, and the communities we represent. Global issues such as climate change, social and economic inequality, and the COVID19 pandemic create constant shifts in our traditional environments, forcing us to find meaning and a better understanding of the world around us. It is identifying personal value that creates real connection and positive change. In my presentation, I will focus on my transdisciplinary approaches to creative projects that work to engage and challenge perceptions, so that we can build stronger, more resilient communities.
Valentina Tassone, Wageningen University
Valentina Tassone works as Assistant Professor at the Education and Learning Sciences group at Wageningen University. Her research focuses on exploring responsible forms of education, pedagogies of care, and deep learning processes that transform people and practices and that empower learners to engage responsibly in current socio-ecological challenges. Her educational efforts focus on engaging students into personal, dialogic and artistic reflections, and transdisciplinary thinking and actions in connections to those challenges. She currently coordinates and teaches various courses including large scale courses (about 1200 students), small scale ones (about 20 students), and one-to-one coaching guidance. She has received, three times, a Wageningen University Excellent Education award for her courses. Valentina has received grants, among others, from Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, Wageningen Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Wageningen School of Social Sciences.
An ethos of responsibility in higher education, teaching and learning: insights and practices
Would you endorse the proposition that we should ‘be irresponsible’ towards each other, towards human and non-human species and our planet? When you would not sympathize with this proposition, still there might be at least a question left: how does higher education, teaching and learning practices look like when attempting to ‘be responsible’ and to foster a culture of responsibility? In this presentation, I would like to engage us with this question. I will share some findings and practices about how to possibly foster responsibility in educational innovation, in curricula and courses and the type of learning that can help cultivate a sense of responsibility.