Creative Process

What drives cultural practitioners to experiment, discover, and create?

The cast of Don Juan Comes Home from Iraq. Photo by Alexander Iziliaev.

Questions of Practice: Wilma Theater's Blanka Zizka on Risk in Theater-Making

Blanka Zizka, Wilma Theater's Artistic Director, on risk in theater-making.

Wise Blood by Chris Larson and Anthony Gatto, co-commissioned by the Walker Art Center and The Soap Factory, June 2015. Photo by Jordan Rosenow.

Questions of Practice: Walker Art Center's Philip Bither on Curatorial Choices

During a recent conversation at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, our visiting scholar Kristy Edmunds asked Philip Bither about making curatorial choices that lead to dynamic artistic experiences for audiences.

Video still of Okwui Okpokwasili performing in Ralph Lemon’s Scaffold Room at the Walker Art Center, September 2014. Photo courtesy of the Walker Art Center.

Questions of Practice: Choreographer Ralph Lemon on Ephemerality

Choreographer Ralph Lemon talks about ephemerality in relationship to his work in the dance field, and the complexity of memory.

The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) presents the world premiere of Agua Furiosa from CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater in January 2016. Photo by Tyrone Domingo. Courtesy of CAP UCLA.

Questions of Practice: Performance Curator Kristy Edmunds on Risk

Visiting scholar and performance curator Kristy Edmunds describes how she approaches risk in the context of her curatorial work.

Lucinda Childs’ Available Light in performance at the Drexel University Armory as part of the 2015 FringeArts Fringe Festival. Photo © Jacques-Jean Tiziou. Courtesy of FringeArts.

Questions of Practice: FringeArts' Nick Stuccio on Curating Performance

Nick Stuccio, President and Producing Director at FringeArts, on how curation in performance might differ from curation in the visual arts.

Sam Miller, 2015. Photo courtesy of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Questions of Practice: Arts Leader Sam Miller on Risk and Artistic Process

In 2015, we spoke with Sam Miller about the relationship between risk and artistic process.

Enno Poppe’s Speicher in performance featuring the US-based Talea Ensemble, 2015, curated by Argeo Ascani at EMPAC. Photo by Eileen Krywinski. Courtesy of EMPAC Rensselaer.

Questions of Practice: Musician & Curator Argeo Ascani on Experimentation

How can a curator approach artistic risk? Argeo Ascani, Curator for Music at EMPAC, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, prefers to use the term “experimentation”.

Ain Gordon during a creative residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, March 2015. Photo by Janelle Jones.

An Experiment in Five Acts in Review: A Conversation with Ain Gordon

Playwright and director Ain Gordon reflects on An Experiment in Five Acts, a critical feedback program for mid-career artists of his own design. Here, he speaks candidly about the project's impact, what worked and what didn't.

Mike Kelley, Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #32, Plus, a Performa commission, curated by Mark Beasley. Photo by Paula Court. Courtesy of Performa.

Act V: A Final Report: The Archive of Gestures by Jay Kirk

Nonfiction writer and 2005 Pew Fellow Jay Kirk, "creative documentarian" of critical feedback program An Experiment in Five Acts, reports on the events of the Act V session, the final installment of this series.

Untitled work by Bob and Roberta Smith, installed as part of Framing Fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Questions of Practice: Artist Bob and Roberta Smith on Virtuosity

Artist Bob and Roberta Smith creates work in what he calls the "communicative realm," from hand-painted slogans to social media campaigns.