Abraham Burickson, Co-Founder + Artistic Director, Odyssey Works

08/28/20 • 87 min

Artroverted

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Museum as a Cultural Embassy: Mark A. Roglán, Director, Meadows Museum

Mark A Roglan Episode 2 Show Notes

Our conversation was taped on June 5, 2020.

In this episode, I speak with Mark A Roglan, the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

We discuss his career path, projects, and the role of university museums and the Meadow’s status as a satellite embassy for Spanish culture.

About the Meadows Museum:

The Meadows Museum is the leading U.S. institution focused on the study and presentation of the art of Spain. In 1962, Dallas businessman and philanthropist Algur H. Meadows donated his private collection of Spanish paintings, as well as funds to start a museum, to Southern Methodist University. The museum opened to the public in 1965, marking the first step in fulfilling Meadows’s vision to create “a small Prado for Texas.” Today, the Meadows is home to one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The collection spans from the 10th to the 21st centuries and includes medieval objects, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, and major paintings by Golden Age and modern masters.

Meadows Museum: https://meadowsmuseumdallas.org

About Mark:

Dr. Mark A. Roglán is the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. He has been director of the Museum since January 1, 2006. He joined the Meadows Museum as interim curator and adjunct assistant professor of art history in October 2001. He became curator of collections in January 2002 and senior curator in June 2004. He also serves as adjunct associate professor in the Division of Art History at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts. Under his leadership the museum has increased its attendance; has developed a major program of international exhibitions; has created meaningful fellowships; produced insightful publications; constructed a new sculpture garden and outside spaces; made major acquisitions; formed new ways of educating and connecting with art for impaired people; as well as established strategic alliances with major museums, most importantly with the Museo Nacional del Prado. Before coming to the Meadows Museum, Dr. Roglán worked as a curatorial fellow and a research associate in the 19th-century painting and sculpture department of the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain. Prior to his tenure at the Prado, Dr. Roglán served as a drawings department assistant with the Fogg Museum at Harvard University. During the previous academic year, he studied at Tufts University through a Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Scholarship. Among other fellowships and honors, Dr. Roglán was awarded an Erasmus European Union Scholarship for a year-long study at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. Dr. Roglán received master's degrees in both world history and art history and a doctorate in 19th-and 20th-century art from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In 2013 he obtained an MBA from the Cox Business School at SMU. Dr. Roglán has contributed to many publications in the areas of19th-and 20th-century Spanish art, has given many national and international lectures, and has curated important exhibitions. He has many distinctions and awards, including being knighted with the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Católica, a knighthood sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I for his contributions to Spanish art.

Music credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License).

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Funding the Arts and Fostering Community from DC to Texas: John Abodeely, CEO, Houston Arts Alliance

In this episode, I speak John Abodeely, CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance. In our conversation, we discuss his career path, creating equity in the arts, and how he’s working to help the creative community of Houston cope with the pandemic.

We discuss how he’s worked to improve arts education access in his past positions at Americans for the Arts, the Kennedy Center, and the President's Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and his current work as CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance.

About John:

John Abodeely is Chief Executive Officer of Houston Arts Alliance (HAA). Joining HAA in November of 2017, he brings a strong background in arts and arts education policy as the Acting Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, service as Manager of National Partnerships for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Manager of Education at Americans for the Arts.

As CEO of Houston Arts Alliance, John directs strategy in grantmaking, civic art development, and new programs. He is committed to developing the organization’s service to the arts community, in partnership with board, staff, grantees, investors, and other stakeholders.

At the Presidents’ Committee, an advisory body to the White House on cultural issues, John was instrumental in the expansion of Turnaround Arts, a program that leverages the unique power of arts education to improve non-arts outcomes in a cohort of the nation's most struggling schools. During John’s tenure, the program successfully scaled from eight schools to sixty-eight. In April 2016, the Committee led sent the first federal cultural delegation to Cuba, immediately following the President's own historic trip. As the Trip Director for the delegation, Abodeely organized ten bilateral meetings with senior Cuban government officials and arranged for high-visibility U.S. artists to tour artist studios, explore schools, visit youth arts programs, and perform on stage with Cuban musicians. As a result of the delegation, embedded press and ongoing, bilateral artist and preservation exchanges helped to further the President’s goal of normalizing relations with Cuba.

John has taught education policy at the graduate level, and served on boards and various review panels. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in Biology and Fine Arts, and holds an MBA from John Hopkins University.

About the Houston Arts Alliance:

Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture organization whose principal work is to implement the City of Houston’s vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HAA’s work is conducted through contracts with the City of Houston, overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. HAA also executes privately funded special projects to meet the needs of the arts community, such as disaster preparation, research on the state of the arts in Houston, and temporary public art projects that energize neighborhoods.

In short, HAA helps artists and nonprofits be bold, productive, and strong.

Alliance website: https://www.houstonartsalliance.com/

Music credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License).