How can interdisciplinary artists use their “generalist” skill set to benefit them in a range of roles across various arts institutions? Sheetal Prajapati and Creative Capital Awardee Pablo Helguera have spent much of their careers conceiving of and organizing public programs with curators, academics, and artists at museums. In this free online conversation, the two discuss their paths working across the field and among creative disciplines, and how this multiplicity of “identities” supports and speaks to their larger practices today.

Helguera and Prajapati will speak about how their museum work provided a kind of frame for bringing ideas, histories, and interpretation together for public engagement and as a reflection of their respective work in the field.

Questions addressed will include:

• What can be learned from working in an environment that requires interdisciplinary thinking?
• What is the difference between knowing something very well as the curators do, and knowing how to generate knowledge as educators do?
• What kind of knowledge is needed to be a “generalist?”

Read our interview with Sheetal Prajapati.

On May 11, Prajapati will also give a follow up workshop on tips for interdisciplinary artists to make a sustainable career in the arts.

Sheetal Prajapati
Sheetal Prajapati is the Interim Managing Director at Common Field and works as an arts advisor through her agency Lohar Projects, focusing on public engagement, special projects, and organizational planning. She serves on faculty at the School of Visual Arts in the MFA Fine Arts program and is the Board Chair of Art and Feminism. Previously, Sheetal spent fifteen years developing public programming, outreach, and artist-centered initiatives at organizations including Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Prajapati received an MA in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Northwestern University in History and Gender Studies.  For more, visit sheetalprajapati.com.

Pablo Helguera
Pablo Helguera is a visual artist living in New York. His work involves performance, drawing, installation, theater and other literary strategies. Recipient of international grants and awards, he is often considered a pioneering figure in the field of socially engaged art. He is the author of many books including Education for Socially Engaged Art (2011) and The Parable Conference (2014). He is currently Assistant Professor of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at The College of the Performing Arts at The New School. He writes a weekly column titled Beautiful Eccentrics. Helguera received a Creative Capital Award in 2005 for his project, The School of Panamerican Unrest.