Visiting Lecture: Sarah Schultz, Walker Art Center, Wide Open Public

Cultural and civic sectors are increasingly involved in questions of how to animate and reimagine the public sphere. How can we create spaces of possibility and negotiation for interaction? How does this make our cities more vibrant, and what is the role of cultural institutions?

Sarah Schultz, formerly Curator of Public Practice and Director of Education at the Walker Art Center, will talk about the Walker’s Open Field and its model of what it means to be public.

The Visiting Lecture Series brings renowned contemporary arts professionals to Austin to present a free public lecture and conduct studio visits with area-based artists. To apply for a studio visit, view our opportunities for artists.

About Sarah Schultz

As Curator of Public Practice and Director of Education at the Walker Art Center, Sarah Schultz led the museum in creating innovative programs that engage the public with contemporary artists and art forms for over twenty years. The title Curator of Public Practice reflects the evolution of the Walker’s pioneering education department under her leadership. In 2010, Schultz and her team organized Open Field, the first in a series of four summer-long experiments in reimagining the museum as a public creative commons. Along with projects by artists such as Futurefarmers, Red76, and Machine Project, Open Field hosted the first Internet Cat Video Festival, turning an online activity into a real-world event for ten thousand people on the Walker’s lawn. Most recently, Schultz curated Fritz Haeg: At Home in the City, a year-long residency, public projects, and exhibition with artist Fritz Haeg.

Schultz has contributed to essays to Expanding the Center: Walker Art Center and Herzog & de Meuron and Sustainable Museums: Strategies for the 21st Century and co-edited Open Field: Conversations on the Commons, which explores the meaning of public practice for cultural institutions.