Discussion
The Art of Climate Action: Creativity at the Forefront of Change
Offered in connection with our current exhibition, Displacement, this panel discussion will seek to position the mitigation of earth’s changing climate as a shared responsibility and will explore the role that the creative economy–artists, designers, makers, educators–plays in shaping our future. With featured panelists Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council; Spencer Glendon, Founder of Probable Futures; Melissa Hoffer, Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s first ever Climate Chief; and moderated by Dr. Mary Grant, President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Join us at MassArt Art Museum after the discussion to view Displacement and connect with friends and community.
PANELISTS
Michael J. Bobbitt is a distinguished theater artist. As the Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council, he is the highest-ranking public official in Massachusetts state government focused on arts and culture. Since 2021, he has led the Agency through several initiatives, including the development of its first Racial Equity Plan, d/Deaf & Disability Equity and Access Plan, and Native American & Indigenous Equity Plan; the launch of the nation’s first statewide Social Prescribing Initiative; the securing and distribution of $60.1 million in pandemic relief funding; and the design and implementation of a strategic plan for fiscal years 2024-2026. Recently, Michael was listed as one of the Boston Business Journal’s Power 50 Movement Makers. He has been appointed by Governor Maura Healey to serve on both the Governor’s Advisory Council on Black Empowerment and the newly established Massachusetts Cultural Policy Development Advisory Council, and he recently received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa from Dean College. He is a proud alumnus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Spencer Glendon is working to make the consequences of climate change more vivid, intuitive, and useful. Collaborating with scientists, designers, technologists, and other concerned generalists like him, he founded the initiative Probable Futures, to bridge the gap between climate science and culture. Probable Futures is a climate literacy initiative that makes practical tools and resources available online to everyone, everywhere. It offers educational information about the Earth’s climate and its role in human life as well as projections of local changes (hot and cold days and nights, precipitation, drought, wildfire risk, etc.). Spencer is also a pro bono consultant to institutions including McKinsey and Co., and is a Fellow at both the Woodwell Climate Research Center and Harvard Business School. He has worked in Michigan, Chicago, Germany, Russia, China, and Boston. For many years he conducted and directed research as a Partner at Wellington Management. He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and a PhD in Economics.
Melissa Hoffer is Massachusetts’s first ever Climate Chief. She joined the Biden Administration as a Day 1 political appointee, serving as the Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. She led the EPA’s Office of General Counsel through the transition until November 2021, and continued to serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that, she worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office as Chief of the Environmental Protection Division beginning in 2012 and was named Chief of AG Healey’s newly formed Energy and Environment Bureau in 2015. Hoffer oversaw the work of the Bureau’s attorneys on matters including prosecuting civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws, proceedings before the DPU, energy policy, and defensive cases. She led the Office’s litigation against ExxonMobil for deceiving Massachusetts investors and consumers about the risk climate change poses to Exxon’s business and global financial markets, and the impacts of its fossil fuel products on climate change. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Hoffer held senior roles at the Conservation Law Foundation and practiced for many years as a litigator and environmental lawyer at WilmerHale. She also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander, Boston Federal District Court. She received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, Certificate in Environmental Management from Tufts University, M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts, and B.A. from Hampshire College. In her spare time, she raises a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats at her farm in Barre, Massachusetts.
MODERATED BY
Dr. Mary K. Grant is a national leader in public higher education with more than 30 years of experience championing the arts, deepening community partnerships, cultivating civic engagement, and fostering access, diversity, equity, and inclusion across higher education. She is the President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Board Chair of National Campus Compact, Secretary of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), Member of EdVestors BPS Arts Expansion Arts Advisory Board, Member of the Boston Public Schools Committee Nominating Panel, and Member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Higher Education Leadership Council. She has also served on the search committee for the Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts, as a juror for the prestigious Brother Thomas Fellowship, and is a regular guest on GBH’s The Culture Show with Jared Bowen.
TICKETING NOTICE
This event is free with advance registration. MAAM may accommodate unregistered walk-up guests on the evening of this event only as capacity allows; walk-up tickets on the evening of the event are not guaranteed. Evening events often sell out; plan ahead and register in advance.
DOCUMENTATION NOTICE
Photos and/or videos will be taken at this event. By attending this event, you acknowledge and agree that your likeness may be included in photos and videos of the event and that those photos and videos may be used by MassArt in connection with MassArt and MassArt Art Museum communications. If you do not agree with this usage, please notify a staff member upon arrival to receive a no-photo sticker.
ACCESS
MassArt Art Museum is committed to creating a welcoming, accessible, and inclusive environment during in-person and virtual programs and events. To request an access or disability-related accommodation, please contact MassArt Art Museum at maam@massart.edu at least two weeks before the date of the event.
FREE
ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
