Skidmore event at the Hyde to explore fate of the arts

March 2, 2015

Skidmore’s Arts Administration Program is teaming up with the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls to present acclaimed speaker Ben Cameron, who will discuss “Art at the Crossroads: Collision of Arts and Technology” on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. in Hyde’s Froehlich Auditorium.   

The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Seats must be reserved by calling the Hyde Collection at 518-792-1761, ext. 310. The evening’s moderator will be David Howson, Arthur Zankel Director of Arts Administration at Skidmore.

Cameron is program director of the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York City, where he supervises a $15 million grants program focusing on organizations and artists in theater, contemporary dance, jazz, and presenting fields. He also oversees the Doris Duke Performing Artist Initiative, which allocates some $50 million in fellowships to artists, dance companies, theaters, and presenters.

Cameron has addressed gatherings of arts communities around the world. His address at the TED X Conference in Calgary has been featured as a “TED Talk,” attracting more than 400,000 viewers, and was featured in the national commercial campaign for the Apple iPad.

Cameron served for more than eight years as the executive director of Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for the American nonprofit professional theater. His other roles include senior program officer at the Dayton Hudson Foundation, manager of community relations for Target Stores (supervising its grant-making program), and four years at the National Endowment for the Arts, including two as director of its theater program. He has served on a number of nonprofit boards, including those of the national Arts and Business Council, American Arts Alliance, and Grantmakers in the Arts.

Cameron has lectured on theater aboard both the Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 as an Oxford Lecturer, has appeared during 13 seasons as a panelist on the opera quiz feature on the Live from the Metropolitan radio broadcasts from New York, has twice ridden his bicycle from Minneapolis to Chicago to raise money for AIDS relief services, and serves as a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee.

In addition to a master of fine arts degree from the Yale School of Drama, Cameron has received honorary degrees from DePaul University in Chicago and American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

The Hyde Collection is an art museum complex and historic house consisting of a distinguished collection of works by American and European artists such as Botticelli, Rubens, Rembrandt, Picasso, Homer and Eakins, as well as important decorative arts and antique furnishings. For more information on the Hyde click here or call 518-792-1761.