Bold Strokes
At last week’s State of the CAC program, leaders of the Contemporary Arts Center debuted a new strategic plan to guide the institution in the decades to come.
“We were really thinking about our greatest assets, what’s happening in the world around us and in the field of contemporary art, and we decided that we really need to express what our purpose is,” said Christina Vassallo, the CAC Alice and Harris Weston Executive Director. “And our purpose is to build empathy.”
The strategic plan, facilitated by the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, was developed over the course of nine months,t with input from a Strategic Planning Committee that considered the lived experiences and observations of board members, staff members, and key stakeholders. The CAC followed a framework to develop six major objectives, which are mission-driven and reflect a focus on ensuring the institution can continue to operate at the highest level possible for its next 85 years.
Using these newly outlined objectives (see video) as a basis, the CAC's developed a new mission statement: “The CAC is a lab for understanding ourselves, others, and the world around us through the experience and creation of all contemporary art forms.”
Also at the meeting, Curator Theresa Bembnister offered a preview of the CAC's 2004-25 exhibition season which will highlight community partnerships, illustrate the artistic process, and better connect visitors to the CAC's space.
The season opens with two exhibitions in partnership with FotoFocus, curated by FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator Kevin Moore.
Chip Thomas and The Painted Desert Project (opening Sept. 6), by photographer, activist, and physician Chip Thomas (known as jetsonorama), combines photography and street art to celebrate Navajo culture and draws attention to the negative effects of capitalism. Thomas has lived among the Navajo people since the late 1980s. Subjective Evidence (opening Sept. 27) is the first American survey of German photographer Barbara Probst. The exhibition features Exposure series of images of multiple views of a single scene, shot using a radio-controlled system.
In October, the CAC teams with SOFTlab, a design studio based in New York City led by Michael Szivos. for an installation in the Kaplan Lobby will hang from the ceiling and will be visible through the lobby windows.
Beginning in January, the CAC, in partnership with The Phillips Collection, presents the first comprehensive museum exhibition artist, activist, and educator, Vivian Browne. Vivian Browne My Kind of Protest consists of approximately 60 paintings, prints, and works on paper spanning the artist’s 30-year career, along with ephemera. In April 2025, the CAC partners with MOCA in Cleveland for “Only in Ohio,” featuring the work of artists across the state. The season ends with an exhibition by Brooklyn-based figurative painter Marcus Leslie Singleton, Marcus Leslie Singleton: New Steps.
In alignment with the new strategic plan objectives, the CAC will refine the educational and participatory programming offered. Shawnee Turner, director of interpretation and visitor experience, discussed how events will be a combination of CAC-originating initiatives as well as events developed by other institutions, continuing a commitment to local, regional, and national partnerships. The CAC will focus on all arts disciplines, including film, performance, music, movement, and other non-visual forms of contemporary art.
“We are also talking about all forms of contemporary art, not just the visual arts,” Vassallo says. “There are so many different components to the CAC building, (and) we can showcase all forms of emerging arts, all kinds of artistic experiences.”