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Leadership in the Arts

The Leadership in the Arts Lecture Series brings trailblazers in arts to Butler University.  They are visionary leaders who advance the arts through innovation and individuality.  We bring them to the Jordan College of the Arts to foster dialogue, give courage to risk-takers, and support our mission to create great artist-citizens in our students.

All events are free and open to the public, but reservations are required. 

There may not be a series this year in anticipation of the opening of the Schrott Center in 2013.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Benjamin Ball: Artist, designer and founder of Ball-Nogues Studio

"Fast, Cheap & In Control"
7:30 p.m., Robertson Hall, Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall
Free of charge; reservations required

Best known in Indianapolis for the last season's brightly colored string installation "Gravity's Loom" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Benjamin Ball, is an artist, designer and founder of Ball-Nogues Studio in Los Angeles. Ball grew up in Colorado and Iowa, where his mother's involvement in theatre proved influential. While studying for his degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Ball logged stints at Gehry Partners and Shirdel Zago Kipnis. Upon graduation, he sought work as a set and production designer for films (including The Matrix series) as well as music videos and commercials with such influential directors as Mark Romanek and Tony Scott. His experience ranges from work on the Disney Concert Hall and small residential commissions for boutique firms to complex medical structures and event design.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Krzysztof Urbanski: Music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

"Krzysztof Urbanski in Conversation With Jordan College of Fine Arts Dean Ron Caltabiano"
7:30 p.m., Atherton Union, Reilly Room
Free of charge; reservations required

Krzysztof Urbanski is the new music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and, at 29, the youngest music director of any major North American orchestra. Hear him talk about his meteoric career path, the music he's conducting on this season's concerts, and his plans for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Urbanski graduated from the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in 2007, and in the same year was the unanimous First Prize Winner of the Prague Spring International Conducting Competition. He served as assistant conductor to the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra from 2007-2009. He holds the position of Adjunct Professor of Music (Orchestral Conducting) at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Urbanski's recent work includes a hugely successful Japanese tour and triumphant return to Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and his debut at The Pacific Music Festival. He conducts orchestras around the world, including the Concertgebouw, Wiener Symphoniker, and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and in the United States, including the National Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012
Jennifer Homans: Dance critic, historian and author of Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet

"Apollo's Angels: Ballet's Past and Why It Matters"
7:30 p.m., Robertson Hall, Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall
Free of charge; reservations required

As Indianapolis City Ballet prepares to launch its Residency Company, returning professional Ballet to Indiana for the first time in more than five years, Jennifer Homans, author of the first-ever cultural history of ballet, Apollo's Angels, will talk about the past, present and future of this art form. Homans is a former professional dancer who was trained at the North Carolina School for the Arts and The School of American Ballet, and performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Currently the dance critic for The New Republic, she has written for The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, You Magazine,and The Australian. She earned her B.A. at Columbia University and her Ph.D. in Modern European History at New York University. She is currently a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University. Watch Charlie Rose's interview with her here.