The 2018 Arts Dean’s Lecture Series on Creative Entrepreneurship is part of the Arts Division’s new creative entrepreneurship initiative entitled Artist21. This year’s series features a distinguished roster of arts practitioners, creatives, educators, and advocates who provide illuminating insights, practical tools, and personal stories on how to shape an artistic or arts-related career in the 21st century.
As a component of the course THEA 7-01 taught by Dean Susan Solt with co-instructor Nada Miljkovic, the series is open to graduates and undergraduates. Non-arts students are also welcome to enroll in the course and attend the series.
This series is free and open to the public. All lectures are held on Tuesdays, April 3-June 5, 5:20-6:50 p.m. in the Media Theater at UCSC's Theater Arts Center.
The Arts Dean's Lecture Series on Creative Entrepreneurship opens on Tuesday, April 3, with The Da Vinci Mindset presented by Dean Susan Solt.
Distinguished Professor of Theater Arts Susan Solt, the UC Santa Cruz Arts Dean, was previously a producer of such major feature films as Presumed Innocent (starring Harrison Ford) and Doc Hollywood (starring Michael J. Fox) for Warner Bros. Susan’s film career began with Sophie’s Choice (starring Meryl Streep) and included eight years in New York as Academy Award-winning director Alan J. Pakula's producer. Susan then founded her own start-up venture as president of Dryads Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based production company with a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. This was followed by a stint as senior vice-president of production for Miramax Films. She then taught at CalArts where for nearly a decade she served as dean of the School of Theater and founding producer/artistic director of the Center for New Theater. She earned her MFA in theater administration from Yale School of Drama, her MA in African-American Studies, and soon a PhD in history from UCLA. As a scholar, Susan writes on Shakespeare’s Othello and the construction of race.