Creativity, Empathy and AI: A National Summit on The Human-AI Creative Partnership
About "Creativity, Empathy, and AI"
This April in Washington, DC, Virginia Tech, along with Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, and a2ru, will gather those at the forefront of leveraging technology for creative generation.
Visit the Virginia Tech Event Page
The a2ru network has addressed this topic in depth since 2023, with a special issue on Generative AI and the arts, panels, webinars, and a working group devoted to exploring this topic and knowledge exchange.
The influence of AI has been widely felt across a wide range of artistic, expressive and creative domains. Across theater and performance, music, design and architecture, the fine arts, creative writing and the humanities, experts and practitioners have been crafting a point of view and policies at their universities, in their classrooms, in research, and in practice on how to explore the nuances, capture the promise, and confront the challenges of new AI technologies rather than avoiding them or regulating student use. With practitioners and educators at the nexus of creativity and AI, this will be the first time the network will convene nationally to focus singularly on advancing human-computer creative partnerships to transform participatory teaching, learning and creative practice.
This summit will focus on the use of AI as a collaborator in the creative process and how forms of computational co-creation will transform what is possible. It will bring together:
- Arts educators from creative writing and the visual, sonic, performing, and applied arts
- Technologists and innovators in creativity and AI
- Pedagogical experts in the arts focused human-AI and/or human-computer creative partnerships
- Funders, industry experts, and policy makers invested in the conversation of human-AI and/or human-computer creative partnerships
Registration for this event is now full. Please contact a2ru Executive Director Maryrose Flanigan at flanigam@umich.edu with any questions.
Logistics & Travel
The convening will take place in Washington, DC, April 11 and 12, 2024.
Day 1, April 11: Practice
105 N Union St, Alexandria, VA 22314
Day 2, April 12: Policy
National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Ave., NW
Travel and Lodging
Reagan National (DCA) is the closest airport but summit attendees may choose Baltimore-Washington (BWI) or Dulles airport (IAD).
HOTEL OPTIONS
Alexandria
Hotel Indigo the closest to the Torpedo Factory (just a couple of blocks away)
Sheraton Suites (7 blocks away)
The Alexandrian Old Town Alexandria (5 blocks away)
Hilton Alexandria Old Town (walking distance to metro; 18 blocks away from the Torpedo Factory)
Driving distance in Alexandria:
DC
Hotels located near the Blue Metro line (Foggy Bottom/GWU) that is a direct connection with the King St in Alexandria:
Participants
- Changwoo Ahn, Professor of Environmental Science & Policy, George Mason University
- Christine Alexander, Lecturer, Science, Technology and Society, University of Maryland
- Barry Anderson, Professor, Department of Media, Art, and Design, University of Missouri-Kansas City
- Jillian Arnold, IATSE AI Negotiations Subcommittee Chair; President of Local 695; Sound, Video, Projection / Recording and Workflow Engineer
- Bill Ayton, Artist & Associate Professor, Arizona State University
- Diana Ayton-Shenker, CEO, Leonardo/ISAST
- Nic Bennett, Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas at Austin
- Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Associate Professor of English and Director, MFA in Creative Writing, University of Maryland
- Heidi Boisvert, Assistant Professor of AI & the Arts, School of Theatre + Dance, College of the Arts, University of Florida
- Mallika Bose, Associate Dean for Research, Creative Activity and Graduate Studies, College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State
- Daragh Byrne, Associate Teaching Professor, Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University
- Mark Clague, Interim Executive Director of the Arts Initiative and Professor of Music, University of Michigan
- Osubi Craig, Director of the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship (CAME), College of The Arts, The University of Florida
- Katy Day, Literary Arts Specialist, National Endowment for the Arts
- Christopher d’Amboise, Director, LIVE Center, George Mason University
- Jax Deluca, Media Arts Director, Visual Arts Division, National Endowment for the Arts
- Roger Eastman, Director of Immersive Media Design (IMD) and Professor of the Practice in Computer Science, University of Maryland-College Park
- Lakita Edwards, Arts Education Program Specialist, National Endowment for the Arts
- TyRuben Ellingson, Senior Director, Narrative Media Group, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Rosemary Feit Covey, Experimental Printmaking
- Maryrose Flanigan, Executive Director, a2ru
- Alexzandra Fogle, Program Analyst, National Endowment for the Arts
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Karen Franklin Johnson, Program Chair, Arlington (VA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated
- David Franusich, Multimedia Designer, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, Virginia Tech
- Sergei Gleyzer, Associate Professor and Director, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama
- Domhnaill Hernon, EY
- Jacob Holster, Lecturer of Music Education, Penn State
- Ayanna Hudson, Chief Strategy, Programs & Engagement Officer, National Endowment for the Arts
- Yvonne Houy, Learning Technology Innovation Manager, University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh, Assistant Teaching Professor, School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University
- Carlos Francisco Jackson, Dean, Stamps School of Art, University of Michigan
- Frank Jacobus, Department Head and Professor of Architecture, Penn State
- Uma Jayaram, Global Head of PAIR, Electronic Arts
- Evan Jenkins, Communications Associate, Visit Alexandria
- Jennifer Ji, Senior Director of Corporate Strategy, Electronic Arts
- Brett Johnson, Curator of Artistic Advancement, City of Alexandria, VA
- Robin Jordan Fleisher, Artist & Commissioner, City of Alexandria Commission for the Arts
- Jessica (Jess) Johnson, Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Allyson Kennedy, Program Director, Computer and Network Systems, National Science Foundation
- Craig Kier, Director, Arts for All, University of Maryland
- Andrew Kim, Design Research Director North America, WorkSpace Futures, Steelcase
- Rodney Kimbangu, Communications Coordinator, Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology, Virginia Tech
- Benjamin Knapp, Founding Executive Director, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, Virginia Tech
- Aaron Knochel, Associate Professor of Art Education, Penn State
- Peter Lane, Associate Professor of Music, University of Georgia
- Todd Leen, Information & Intelligent Systems, National Science Foundation
- Mark Leibert, Professor of the Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Golan Levin, Professor of Art, Carnegie Mellon University
- Laura Levin, Director, Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technology, School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, York University
- Alexander Lerch, Associate Dean for Research and Creative Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Kimberly Lyle, Assistant Professor of Sculpture & Technologies, University of Georgia
- Eric Lyon, Professor of Practice in Music, School of the Performing Arts, Virginia Tech
- Kristen Marcinek, Staff Assistant Intern for the Serious Games Initiative, Wilson Center
- Tom Martin, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT), Virginia Tech
- Shannon Fitzsimons Moen, Associate Director, a2ru
- Jeff Morris, Director, Music Technology Program, Texas A&M University
- Patricia Mullaney-Loss, Social Science Analyst, Office of Research & Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts
- Elizabeth Newbury, Director, Serious Games Initiative, Wilson Center
- Vernelle Noel, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University
- Sonja O’Brien, Program Coordinator for the Serious Games Initiative, Wilson Center
- Sarah Parsons, Associate Dean for Research, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, York University
- Alana Quinn, Senior Program Associate, Cultural Programs, National Academy of Sciences
- Termeh Rassi, Chief Strategy Officer, Leonardo/ISAST
- Elaine Reeder, Director of Curriculum Development, VCU Online and Continuing and Professional Education, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Benjamin Rosenthal, Associate Professor of Expanded Media, University of Kansas
- Alexander Rudd, Program Manager, Amazon Expressions HQ2
- Marc N. Ruppel, Senior Program Officer, Public Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities
- Margaret Salazar-Porzio, Deputy Director, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
- Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Applied Creativity, Texas A&M University
- Mark Sullivan, Creative Director, CoLab Studio, MSU Museum, Michigan State University
- J.D. Talasek, Director, Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences
- Jeanette Taylor, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Georgia
- Laura Torchia, Instrumental Music Teacher, Alexandria City Public Schools
- Matthew Vollmer, Professor and Director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program and the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program, Virginia Tech
- Doug Ward, Associate Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas
- Laurel Watkins de Jong, AAAS Science Policy Fellow, National Science Foundation
- Yan Wu, Graphics Developer and Reporter, Washington Post
- Jenn Joy Wilson, Associate Dean for Research and Creative Practice, College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University