The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design hosted the 11th Biennial National Foundations in Art: Theory and Education (FATE) Conference on March 28-31, 2007. Conference attendees and participants were asked how we, as art educators and administrators, shift, connect and evolve with the millennial generation and re-think traditional teaching strategies. This year’s FATE Conference was nothing short of a resounding success, as we are led to believe that it was the largest attended conference in organization’s 30-year history.
314 members of the FATE organization from 40 states and 4 countries attended this year’s conference. The depth and breath of sessions covered diverse conversations from studio art textbooks, appropriation in the classroom, the ever-changing digital curriculum and crossing interdisciplinary boundaries. The daily panels and presentations were complimented not only by continuing outside conversations and professional connections, but also by an engaging and passionate keynote address given by Carol Becker, the Dean of Faculty and Senior Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The keynote and a reception were held in the Calatrava wing at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
At a conference where FATE members looked to the future of art/design education with the emerging millennials and beyond, FATE recognized its own past and 30th anniversary this past March. Long-time FATE members and founders led a lunchtime panel of history and reflection, MIAD hosted a celebratory reception, and the FATE Board awarded the 2007 Master Art Educator Award (Jeff Boshart, recipient) and Emerging Art Educator Award (Lee Ann Garrison, recipient). The organization continues its legacy as FATE looks to the 12th biennial national conference in Portland, Oregon in 2009.
Many thanks to many who contributed time, effort and spirit to the 2007 conference. We, at MIAD, are extremely grateful.
