2024 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum

2024 Artist-Endowed Foundation Leadership Forum

Taking Place Online

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 will convene 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 is presented online by the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI and will be hosted by the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture | Riverside Art Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. 

The 2024 Forum will incorporate 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 will kick 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 include: 

• 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 will provide 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; Checklist for Cyber Security Post-TMS Hack; 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 will include 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 will conclude with a curator-led tour of the groundbreaking retrospective Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map, presented by the Whitney. The second day will close 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.  

Registration Deadline: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 

Nonrefundable Registration Fee: $350 

Invitation-Only Event 

For information: christine.vincent@aspeninstitute.org