Alison Scott-Williams and Thomas Cahill with Amei Wallach

Studio Institute President Thomas Cahill and Studio in a School NYC President Alison Scott-Williams with art critic Amei Wallach, discuss creative life in the context of our new social reality.

Thomas Cahill is the President of Studio Institute. He has devoted his professional life to the art of teaching art, working with hundreds of visual artists at Studio in a School where he served as the first Executive Director. Under Mr. Cahill’s leadership, Studio Institute shares tested innovations, visual arts curricula, classroom program models, professional development models, arts internships, research grants, and assessment methods with arts and educational communities nationwide.

Mr. Cahill received his B.F.A. in Painting from the School of Visual Arts and an M.A., Arts and Humanities Education, from New York University,Steinhardt School of Education. In May of 2008, Mr. Cahill received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Pratt Institute.

In the Rail:

• THOMAS CAHILL with Phong Bui

Alison Scott-Williams is the President of Studio in a School, NYC. Previously, she was Vice President of Arts Education for The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). Alison is an arts education leader with a commitment to cultivating talent in emerging artists and building community. Alison leads a team that serves more than 90,000 children and teachers annually through performances, training, and residencies in Northern New Jersey. Prior to joining the NJPAC, Alison performed a series of influential leadership roles for The Juilliard School in New York City. She made an impact as Associate Vice President for Diversity and Campus Life, a dual role that balanced diversity leadership with comprehensive oversight for the Educational Outreach, Residence Life, International Student and Student Affairs departments. Prior to her position at Juilliard, Alison provided leadership for strategic planning and program management as Director of Programs and Admission for Sherwood Conservatory of Music and placed music programs in various Chicago schools and communities. Alison was a participant in the American Express Leadership Institute and holds a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College, Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and Master of Arts in Opera Theater and Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Oberlin Conservatory.

In the Rail:

• Studio in a School by Lilly Wei

Amei Wallach is an art critic and filmmaker. Her documentary film portrait, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here, debuted at New York’s Film Forum and the Moscow Biennale in Fall, 2013 and opens in Paris at the Grand Palais, where the Kabakovs will be in the Monumenta artists, in May, 2014. She is the author of Ilya Kabakov: The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away (Abrams, 1996), the first monograph on the artist. She has contributed to such publications as the New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Art in America, and ArtNews. With the late Marion Cajori, she co-directed the internationally acclaimed documentary Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine. She was chief art critic for Newsday and New York Newsday, arts commentator for the PBS MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, and is president emeritus of AICA/USA, the US chapter of the International Art Critics Association. She is also founding program director of The Art Writing Workshop, a partnership between the International Art Critics Association (AICA/USA) and the Arts Writers Grant Program. She is currently in production for 1964: Rauschenberg Wins! her third feature-length art documentary.

Amei Wallach is an Editor-at-large at the Rail and was the Guest Critic in November 2013.

To see a full list of Amei’s contributions, visit this page.

We’d like to thank Studio in a School for supporting today’s conversation.

The New Social Environment — Daily conversations with artists, writers, filmmakers, poets around the world where we discuss creative life in the context of our new social reality.