Caroline Woolard- 2026 Ted Purves Social Practice Lecture

Caroline Woolard is a founding co-organizer of Art.coop and Head of Strategy at Pollinator.coop. She is the Area Head of Foundations in the Department of Art and Design at Montclair State University and the co-author of two major reports: Solidarity Not Charity (Grantmakers in the Arts, 2021) and Spirits and Logistics (Center for Cultural Innovation, 2022) and three books: Making and Being (Pioneer Works, 2019), a book for educators about interdisciplinary collaboration, co-authored with Susan Jahoda; Art, Engagement, Economy (onomatopee, 2020) a book about managing socially-engaged and public art projects; and TRADE SCHOOL: 2009-2019, a book about peer learning that Woolard catalyzed in thirty cities internationally over a decade. Woolard’s artwork has been featured twice on New York Close Up (2014, 2016), a digital film series produced by Art21 and broadcast on PBS. https://carolinewoolard.com/

More event info: Caroline Woolard-- 2026 Ted Purves Social Practice Lecture

Ted Purves (1964-2017) faculty member and former Chair of the Graduate Fine Arts Program (2009-2016), was the integral force behind the founding of the first Social Practice curriculum in the United States and the subsequent MA in Social Practice and Public Forms. He mentored hundreds of students, faculty and artists. For Ted, being a professor of art was less about training future practitioners than about an inquiry that only promised further questions. He envisioned how art and artists instigate change in the world when other measures fail. To further Ted’s generous spirit and to honor his important legacy at the college, an endowment was created in his name in 2020 to support art and social practice.

If you would like to donate to the fund, visit Give Campus and select Purpose of Gift: Ted Purves Scholarship: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/8206/donations/new

This event will also include the announcement of the 2026 Ted Purves GFA Social Practice Award.

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Host or Publisher California College of the Arts