The Art World: Hope & Dread, Executive Session

The Art World: Hope & Dread, Executive Session

Author: Allan Schwartzman and Charlotte Burns February 23, 2022 Duration: 40:46

Today you'll hear from that echelon who are really running America's museums: the board. This is where the real power in museums resides. We'll find out if these trustees have fully grasped the issues that museums need to tackle today. Do they have ambitious enough solutions? Who makes sure the museum sticks to its mission, or that the trustees are doing their job? After all - who governs the governors?

Tune in to find out. 

Guests: Sarah Arison, Fred Bidwell, Pam Kramlich, Jill Kraus, Larry Marx, Brooke A. Minto, Victoria Rogers and Marc Schwartz

New episodes available every other Wednesday. 

For more, follow @artand_media on Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook


Imagine stepping into a conversation where the entire framework of the art world is open for debate. That’s the space created in The Art World: What If...?!, a podcast hosted by art journalist Charlotte Burns and renowned advisor Allan Schwartzman. They don’t just report on the current state of culture; they invite a radical rethinking of its very foundations, from how art is made and valued to who gets to participate and why. Each episode is built on a simple, powerful premise: posing a transformative question to some of the most influential figures in the field. You’ll hear exclusive, in-depth dialogues with museum directors like MoMA's Glenn Lowry, alongside leading artists, collectors, and innovators. These conversations dig into the practical and philosophical consequences of change, blending serious insight with genuine humor and unexpected perspectives. This isn't about predictions, but about exploration-listening feels like being part of a private, lively salon where assumptions are challenged and new possibilities are sketched out. The result is a consistently engaging and thought-provoking look at the forces that shape our cultural landscape. For anyone curious about the future of art, this podcast provides a unique and essential forum.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Art World: What If...?!
Podcast Episodes
The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:40
As this season of The Art World: What If?! takes a break, Charlotte and Allan reflect on the conversations that have shaped it — from artists reimagining knowledge, time, and truth, to institutional leaders grappling wit…
The Art World: What If...?! with Thelma Golden [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:44
In this episode, Allan Schwartzman sits down with Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, ahead of the November opening of the museum's first purpose-built home. Rising seven stories and…
The Art World: What If...?! with Glenn Lowry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:54
In this episode, host Charlotte Burns sits down once more with Glenn Lowry during his final week as director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over three decades, Lowry transformed MoMA—expanding its collection, r…
The Art World: What If...?! with Sin Wai Kin [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:52
Artist Sin Wai Kin constructs fantasy worlds to show how storytelling doesn't just reflect reality—it creates it. Through characters like 'The Storyteller', and works that present us with newsreaders in parallel universe…
The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:45
After a long, news-filled summer, host Charlotte Burns reconvenes with founder Allan Schwartzman to take stock of an art market that feels… different. From major shifts at the auction houses and slowing sales at internat…
The Art World: What If...?! with Nana Oforiatta-Ayim [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:36
There is never just one way of seeing. And Nana Oforiatta-Ayim—writer, filmmaker, cultural historian, and institution builder—has spent her career proving exactly that. For Nana, who founded the ANO Institute of Arts and…
The Art World: What If...?! with Glenn Ligon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:14:21
Glenn Ligon makes art that asks us to look again. An artist, writer, and curator, his practice moves between the studio and the gallery, the page and the public sphere, spanning painting, neon, print, installation, and b…
The Art World: What If...?! with Kemi Ilesanmi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:28
Kemi Ilesanmi is planting seeds for the future. Three years ago, she stepped back from running The Laundromat Project, took a gap year in which she visited 13 countries, and came back full of ideas and possibilities. Now…
The Art World: What If...?! with Allan Schwartzman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:12
Longtime podcast collaborators Allan Schwartzman and Charlotte Burns sit down for a conversation about an art industry in profound flux. After almost a decade of podcasts tracking how everything has changed, the duo is n…
The Art World: What If...?! with Agnes Denes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:46
The artist Agnes Denes saw it coming. Machines taking over. Technology converging with consciousness. History on a pendulum swinging perilously back and forth. In this intimate conversation recorded with host Charlotte B…