>Dear Colleagues, >Sorry for the repost but some feedback: opinions, observations, referrals, >and/or models would be awfully helpful. > >As you all know, the past years of community involvement discourse have >produced many different models involving constituencies in the process of >developing programming. In the academic setting where faculty and >"university public" meet in the gallery, there is a special need for findig >mutual ground in planning. >An exhibitions committee comprised of faculty and community arts supporters >seems to be that ground. > >Our program has been growing under the guise of providing an exhibitions >programming service to the broader university community. We are facing the >need to redefine our procedures and develop an exhibitions review process >that will allow for curatorial freedom as well as a sense of audience >ownership. Our objective is to reflect the University and surrounding area >civilian communities. > >Up until now our program committee has been an all faculty member group >which has been overseeing a teaching gallery. With the need for outreach, >so too has our need to redefine the exhibitions committee, its process of >review and mission. > >Any ideas? Please advise, it would be very much appreciated. > >Thanks, > >Ken Bloom, Director >Landmark Arts: The Galleries of Texas Tech >Department of Art, Box 42081 >Lubbock, TX 79409 >(806) 742-1947 >[log in to unmask] Ken - My suggestion is to dump the commitee idea -- just get rid of it, committees suck. Decisions enlightened by context and community input are important in a university setting, but committees are probably the worst idea ever invented for achieving those aims. Tell your curator to go out and talk with the people in the university community who might otherwise make up such a committee, but approach them singly. Get their ideas and suggestions and consider them seriously, but allow final decisions to be made by one informed individual. My .02. :-) Best, Stephen Stephen Nowlin Vice President Director, Williamson Gallery Producer, Art Center Online Art Center College of Design http://www.artcenter.edu [log in to unmask] 626 396-2397 626 405-9104