laboratory for creative concepts
Thu, Feb 11
|Zoom Webinar
KODA’s Professional Development for Artists Symposium
Business bootcamp inviting artists to benefit from insightful seminars by Sheetal Prajapati, Mark Chambers, Tatiana Arocha, Robin Cembalest.
Time & Location
Feb 11, 2021, 4:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Zoom Webinar
About the Event
KODA’s professional development bootcamp invites artists to benefit from four comprehensive online seminars, each lasting 30 min + 15 min Q&A. The insightful and practical sessions will be led by art and cultural engagement expert Sheetal Prajapati, environmental policy leader Mark Chambers, interdisciplinary artist and design specialist Tatiana Arocha, and social media and editorial content authority Robin Cembalest.
- In Action Together: Public Art in Process by Sheetal Prajapati
In this session, Sheetal will share insights, best practices, and lessons learned producing and presenting public participatory art projects through the lense of her varied roles in realizing major urban projects over the last two decades including serving as Executive Producer for Aida Sehovic's STO TE NEMA (2020), as the Engagement Specialist for Kehinde Wiley's Rumors of War (2019) and a co-producer for Temporary Services' Chicago Ravioli Project (2004).
- Design and Creative Thinking for Climate Solutions by Mark Chambers
The discussion will provide an overview of climate justice and injustice in New York City, and look at how design and city planning have contributed to the disparities and barriers facing Black and Brown communities. It will also provide an overview of how New York City's current policies and programs are working to better incorporate restorative design principles and reverse those outcomes.
- Building Portfolio and Presenting Your Art by Tatiana Arocha
How can you plan and create a successful virtual studio visit, a clear and effective portfolio, and a strong proposal? Interdisciplinary artist Tatiana Arocha shares the knowledge learned in her extensive 14-year professional career as a designer, illustrator, and creative director in the broadcast, advertising, media and entertainment industry, for clients including AMC Networks, Anthropologie, Cartoon Network, MTV, Sundance Channel, and VH1.
- Social Media for Social Practice by Robin Cembalest
How do you chronicle the transformative power of art to change hearts, minds, lives, and policy—through posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Editorial Strategist Robin Cembalest, whose clients include the Ford Foundation Gallery, the Rubin Foundation, and the Art for Justice Fund, shares social media strategies for artists working in social practice.
Schedule
4:00pm-4:05pm: Introduction by Klaudia Ofwona Draber, Founder of KODA
4:05pm-4:50pm: In Action Together: Public Art in Process by Sheetal Prajapati
4:50pm-5:35pm: Design and Creative Thinking for Climate Solutions by Mark Chambers
5:35pm-5:45pm: Break
5:45pm-6:30pm: Building Portfolio and Presenting Your Art by Tatiana Arocha
6:30pm-7:15pm: Social Media for Social Practice by Robin Cembalest
About Sheetal Prajapati
Sheetal Prajapati is the Interim Managing Director at Common Field and works as an arts advisor through her agency Lohar Projects, focusing on public engagement, special projects, and organizational planning. She serves on faculty at the School of Visual Arts in MFA Fine Arts program and is the Board Chair of Art and Feminism. Sheetal received an MA in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Northwestern University in History and Gender Studies.
About Mark Chambers
Mark Chambers serves as Director of Sustainability for New York City. He leads policy and programs to confront climate change and inequality, two inextricable threats to America’s largest city and our shared planet. An architect and urbanist, Mark leverages the power of public policy and design to enable a resilient built environment, where all New York City’s 8.6 million residents can thrive and quickly transition to a zero-carbon society. Previously, Mark served as the Director of Sustainability and Energy for Washington, DC. He holds a graduate degree in Public Policy & Management and an undergraduate degree in Architecture, both from Carnegie Mellon University.
The New York City Mayor's Office of Sustainability
About Tatiana Arocha
Tatiana Arocha is a visual artist from Bogotá, Colombia based in Brooklyn, NY. Arocha grew up in the midst of nature, camping since childhood with her family across the diverse ecological regions of Colombia. But it was the Ensenada de Utria in the jungles of El Choco which ultimately shaped her artistic worldview. She has understood since she was very young that nature needs to be explored in order to find a real connection, and flora and fauna should be encountered in their natural habitats to be fully grasped. Arocha’s art practice involves creating layered detail, graphic compositions, and application of digital techniques learned in her earlier professional career as a graphic designer and illustrator. She has exhibited in the U.S., U.K., Italy, and Colombia, with solo shows at Sugar Hill Children’s Museum for Arts & Storytelling, Yale University, and Queens Botanical Gardens, group exhibitions at Wave Hill, BRIC, The Wassaic Project, and in the NYC subway via MTA. In 2019, she received the Sustainable Arts Foundation individual award for mixed media. Residencies include LABverde in the Brazilian Amazon, Centro Selva in the Peruvian Amazon, Arquetopia in Puebla, Mexico, The Wassaic Project, NY, and Zea Mays, MA.
About Robin Cembalest
An early art-world adapter to social media and the former longtime editor of ARTnews, Robin Cembalest has spent her career helping arts professionals to communicate effectively. Over 16 years at the helm of ARTnews, she shepherded the century-old magazine into the digital era, expanding its global and multicultural content and training generations of interns, writers, and editors. In 2014, she launched her business Robin Cembalest Editorial Strategies, working with museums, foundations, galleries, and social-justice organizations to design and implement mission-based content strategies. She speaks often on social media and career development at schools and residencies, and offers webinars for artists on the platform VVrkshop.art. An award-winning investigative journalist who has published widely in the art and mainstream press, Cembalest is best known today as @rcembalest, handle of her popular Instagram and Twitter feeds.
About KODA
KODA is a social practice nonprofit arts organization focusing on conceptual mid-career artists ingrained in social justice. KODA offers survey exhibitions as well as tailor-made and community-based artist residencies, through collaborations with socially engaged partners. The nonprofit serves the community with contemporary art events and outreach to strengthen arts education. In its overall mission to support the artistic and professional growth of artists, KODA acts as a laboratory for creative concepts, reflecting its core values of curiosity and collaboration.
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