Audacity in the Arts: Reviving Cultural Relevance

Join Alex Sarian, CEO of Arts Commons, for a discussion about uplifting engagement and relevance in Red Deer’s arts community! “Cultural Organizations must embrace a
greater civic purpose and build a new business model - one based on the social impact of the arts.” Refreshments and creative conversations will definitely ensue!

This free talk is presented as part of Alberta Culture Days, and supported by the Arts & Culture District Collaborative table of the Downtown Neighbourhood Alliance and The City of Red Deer.

 

Biography

Alex Sarian is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Audacity of Relevance: Critical Conversations on the Future of Arts and Culture (ECW Press, 2024), and President & CEO of Arts Commons (soon to be Werklund Centre), where he is responsible for leading the $660 million Arts Commons Transformation (ACT) project—the largest cultural infrastructure project in Canadian history. Prior to moving to Calgary in 2020, he spent 18 years in New York City, where he served as a senior executive at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. A proud member of the 2022 class of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40, he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from New York University, is a graduate of the CommunityShift program at Western University's Ivey School of Business, and was an inaugural graduate of the Impact Program for Arts Leaders at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.