In EPISODE 2 of SEASON 3 we chat with Cindy Meyers Foley, the Director and CEO of the Grand Rapids Art Museum. We chat about her journey to becoming an Art Museum Director, the history of Art Museums, Thinking like an Artist, Losing Creativity, the catalyst that is Boredom & regaining our Wonder & Curiosity, the power of Play and importance of an Artist Council. Lastly we chat about the GRAM's recently launched Diversity & Equity Acquisition Fund, the importance of Representation and the upcoming exhibition of artist Mario Moore.

1. The GRAM's Diversity and Equity Acquisition Fund - Learn More & donate Here
2. Mario Moore Exhibition Details

BIO: Cindy Meyers Foley (@CindyMFoley) (she/her) has worked for 30 years to help museums become welcoming spaces that cultivate curiosity and social engagement. She is currently the Director and CEO of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, an institution that has just opened a Creative Learning Center. Foley has been critical in the development of a several groundbreaking projects including two city wide Creativity Summits to advocate for intentional creativity in all sectors, Making Creativity Visible and Cultivating Creative and Civic Capacities two nationally recognized teacher research and professional development programs, Wonder School a museum/university laboratory preschool, and the Center for Art and Social Engagement an experimental gallery developed to activate conversation, reflection and action in relation to experiencing art that addresses social issues.

Foley curated Playground, 2002 which included an experimental project with Miranda July, Harrell Fletcher and Yuri Ono that launched Learning to Love you More a website that crowdsourced online content to fulfill play based assignments. Foley has been on the faculty of the Maine College of Art, and Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom Summer Institute and regularly keynotes a variety of Museum, Art, and Education Conferences. In November 2014, she was a TEDX Columbus Speaker presenting Teaching Art or Teaching to Think like an Artist and in 2016, she was asked to again take the TEDX Stage to present The Benefits of Boredom . Foley received the 2018 Ohio Distinguished Educator for Art Education award.

About: Multi-hyphenate creatives Sophie Rodriguez, George Ward and Alfield Reeves get together to chat about the arts, culture & their lives as creatives.

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Produced by Dave Benoit
Photography by Mary Partee