CAA News Today
Leslie D. Joynes
posted Dec 18, 2023
Statement
I am honored to be nominated as a member for the CAA Board. CAA has been my home in academia and pivotal in my professional development. For me this is the best time to be member of CAA: we are witnessing unprecedented change in the arts, education, museums and scholarship and above all this is an important opportunity to serve our membership. Active with CAA for twenty years, I have served as conference presenter, professional development mentor and member of CAA’s International Committee and Museum Committee. I am committed to CAA’s mission to advance the highest standards of instruction, knowledge, and practice in the visual arts, to foster intellectual engagement, and to advance skills that enrich individuals and society.
I bring to CAA three-decades of experience as an artist, university educator and scholar. Speaking to CAA’s strategic plan, I seek to support the Board to embrace our diverse membership in the arts, art history, education, museums and scholarship. I also seek to support diversity, our members’ professional journeys and address and support equitable compensation and fair labor practices, as well as navigating changes brought through new technologies.
As a Board member I bring experience as an artist, arts and education advocate, and experience serving global organizations – and will support our Board in identifying solutions for CAA’s future.
As an artist and scholar I will use my creative skills to advocate for the needs of creative practitioners especially in enhancing their careers through professional development. I trained in fine art and theory in London and Tokyo and specialized in cross-cultural collaboration in the arts during my PhD in the UK and post-doctorate in Brazil. I am professor of record from Modern and Contemporary Art History at Renmin University and have lectured on art and entrepreneurship at universities in Asia and Europe. I served on the curatorial team that created the inaugural Taipei Biennial in 1998 and am now initiating an art biennial focused on diversity and inclusivity. Sponsored by the US Department of State, I created models for cross-cultural educational exchange in Mongolia and have led Fulbright research projects in Mongolia (2014), China (2017), India (2022) and Sri Lanka (2022).
I served as Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in India and my research has made me aware of the potential for organizations to enhance their international focus and reach. I have also led events in France, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. As a Columbia University research scholar, I am examining the future of education in a rapidly evolving arts and technology landscape, particularly the impacts of AI on the roles, rules and structures of our professions.
I seek to advocate for our members: CAA is our home in academia. At our CAA conferences, I have had the opportunity to listen and better understand our members’ goals and career challenges. Some have shared how career advancement at times feels like musical chairs. It is important is that we foster inclusive professional communities that can support members to advocate for themselves in their careers at all stages. This has been a key inspiration for my own training as a coach and mentor serving artists and educators. I have initiated coaching pilots at Yale Center for British Art, California State University, University of Melbourne, and recently initiated India’s first mentoring program to serve Naga tribal communities.
I am passionate about teaching: As a university educator, I am now developing combined practice/ theory classes for universities that focus on project-based learning. I am trained in advanced curriculum design in art education and recently served the Future of Education Board for the Thought Leadership Institute. Fostering connection is essential for educators in all stages of their careers and as a Board member I seek to enhance our CAA offerings both in and outside of our conferences with workshops and networking opportunities. Supporting CAA’s Committees, Juries and Editorial Boards: Active in CAA’s International and Museum Committees, I am experienced working with diverse interest groups and can assist in CAA Fundraising and public events to expand CAA’s reach. I lead an Artistic Research Working Group. where we are exploring the futures of research in art education. For the past seven years, I also serve on the Editorial Board for ProjectAnywhere, a journal at University of Melbourne, Australia. Supporting solutions for our strategic and financial direction and expanding CAA’s global reach. I trained in organizational strategy at Boston University (M.Sc. Management) and California State University. (MBA) and have advised global organizations including 3M, Du Pont, General Electric, Dow, and Bayer on their marketing, financial and strategic goals. These experiences uniquely enable me to support the Board to expand CAA’s reach and membership, build sponsorship and support collaboration with other organizations. In New York, I serve on the board for a children’s charity and the Editorial Board for ProjectAnywhere at University of Melbourne and the New School in New York and served as a New York Chair of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.
Most importantly: I am grateful to serve CAA and our membership.
• Supporting our Board to identify solutions for our strategic direction.
• Multimedia artist, university educator and consultant serving global organizations since 1989.
• Committed to fostering diverse environments that are equitable and inclusive.
• Advocate for our members in their careers including equitable compensation and fair labor practices and navigating technology changes.