Indigenous leadership in the arts lecture
September 27, 2013
Indigenous leadership in the arts specialist Michelle Evans will speak at the Susan
Herman Distinguished Speaker Series, sponsored by the UAF Northern Leadership Center. Her lecture, “Navigating the Territories of Indigenous Leadership: Exploring the
Experiences and Practices of Australian Indigenous Arts Leaders,” will be held from
6–8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, in the Wood Center Ballroom.
The presentation explores the experiences and practices of Australian indigenous arts
leaders within the context of practical leadership application. Evans will discuss
four distinct territories or contexts across which artists work to provide leadership
to their communities and suggest what we can learn more broadly from the leadership
work of indigenous artists.
Evans is a Melbourne-based academic, writer, facilitator and cultural producer. She
works as a research fellow at Melbourne Business School, leading the school’s research
agenda on indigenous business and leadership development. This role includes directing
Australia’s first Indigenous Business Master Class series, established to skill up
indigenous entrepreneurs.
As a 2013 Fulbright Scholar, Evans is visiting UAF, the University of California Davis
and the University of Hawaii at Manoa replicating her doctoral study on indigenous
leadership in the arts.
Evan will be interviewing indigenous artists and arts managers across the United States
about their practice and the practice of leadership to compare and contrast with the
research she has conducted in Australia with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
artists and arts managers. She hopes to interview Alaska artists and arts managers
during her six-week stay in Alaska. If you are interested in being interviewed for
this study about indigenous leadership in the arts, please send your contact information
to Michelle at m.evans@mbs.edu.
History of the speaker series
The Susan Herman Distinguished Speaker Series was established in the UAF Northern
Leadership Center after Professor Herman suddenly passed away from cancer in 2009.
At UAF and in the Fairbanks community, Susan touched many lives. She was the founder
of the NLC and designer of the UAF Summer Leadership Institute. In the community,
she designed Leadership Fairbanks for the Chamber of Commerce, among many other influential
programs.