Can Public Art Change the World?

Join us for a lively conversation with artist Beili Liu, architect Emily Little, and public art management professional Constance Y. White. Each will contribute to a discussion on how art can be a powerful tool to build awareness and educate as well as shape public opinion and policy.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Beili Liu is a visual artist who creates material-and-process-driven, site-responsive installations and performances. Liu’s current research focuses on the complex ecological, political, and environmental concerns facing the Circumpolar North and the urgency of the climate crisis on a planetary scale. Liu has exhibited extensively across the globe, in locations including Norway, Finland, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, France, Belgium, Poland, Austria, China, Taiwan and across the United States. Born in Jilin, China, Beili Liu now lives and works in Austin, Texas. Liu received her MFA degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2003). Liu is the Leslie Waggener Endowed Professor in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.

Constance Y. White is a nationally recognized public art management professional with over twenty years of experience dedicated to the field of arts administration and also a professional visual artist. She has worked with both public and private organizations throughout Texas, DC, Southern California, Alabama and the Carolinas. She now serves as the Manager of the Art in Public Places Program for the City of Austin. White has served as an advisor, presenter and panelist for numerous organizations including: the American Association of Airport Executives, Americans for the Arts, the Public Art Coalition of Southern California, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. She recently contributed to the Arts + Health committee of the Dallas Business Council for the Arts while serving on the Board of Advisors of Inspire Art Dallas and the Dallas Arts District Council.

Emily Little, FAIA, has provided leadership in the preservation and design community in her native Austin for over thirty years. With an emphasis on the adaptive reuse of historic structures, her work has indelibly colored the fabric of Central Texas. In 1983, Emily founded Emily Little Architects, a predecessor firm to Clayton & Little Architects. Elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 2009, Emily has also led award-winning community based art projects that have garnered national attention. She was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2007. A cultural anthropologist at heart, she has built her career on making good design accessible and attainable, often by finding the small gestures that largely improve the quality of a space. At Clayton Korte, Emily remains Partner Emerita and is focused on community-oriented and historically significant projects.