Inner-City Arts CEO and President Shelby Williams-González

You Can Only Make So Many Flower Pots in COVID

Shelby Williams-González is president and chief executive officer of downtown L.A. arts education provider Inner-City Arts. Previously the executive director of artworxLA, she is also a company member of the national touring Afro-Brazilian dance company Viver Brasil. Before participating in a Zócalo/Helms Bakery District event, “Will a New Generation of Leaders Shake Up L.A.’s Culture?,” she shared why she decided not to become a vet, how she met her husband, and why she’ll be giving away vases for the next decade.

October 8, 2021

Sorry, Reading Jane Austen Doesn’t Make You a Better Person

But the Arts Have Plenty to Tell Researchers About How Emotions Work

Maria Eugenia Panero — Interview by Siobhan Phillips | July 17, 2017

In 2013, Science published a study with the intriguing title, “Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind.” The authors (David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano) claimed to have proven that …

Can Engaging with Art Turn a Bunch of Selfie-Takers into Citizens?

Changing Audiences Are Making Creators and Institutions Rethink Art Itself

By Joe Mathews and Reed Johnson | June 26, 2017

If the essence of art is necessarily elusive and hard to define, so too is the essence of arts engagement. As audiences grow more diverse and demanding, and new digital …

Seeing Art from a Local Perspective in Hyper-Global Hong Kong

On an Island Connecting East and West, Our Stories Can Speak to the World

Eve Tam — Interview by Lisa Margonelli | June 23, 2017

The Hong Kong Museum of Art, where I work, is 55 years old this year. Though we have changed a lot over the years, we still hold to a special …

California Can Reconceive the Arts by Offering More Choices and Ways to Participate

Demographic and Technological Shifts Could Let Arts in the Golden State Better Serve Communities

By Jennifer Novak-Leonard | June 22, 2017

California is undergoing massive changes in technology, demography, the nature of work and, thus, in leisure activity. So is its cultural sector, with consequences for how Californians experience art and …

Staging a Life-Changing Project in El Salvador with Canada’s Stratford Festival

A Cultural Partnership Is Reviving Suchitoto, a Beautiful, Historic Town in a Troubled Nation

Antoni Cimolino, Edward Daranyi, and Mark Smith — Interview by Reed Johnson. | June 22, 2017

This piece was adapted from an interview with Antoni Cimolino, Edward Daranyi, and Mark Smith of Canada’s Stratford Festival.

The Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, is a 64-year-old Canadian repertory theater …

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