Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/699873
t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 6 30 30 JULIE FARR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR THE HOUSTON MUSEUM DISTRICT, SAT DOWN WITH WILLIAM F. McKEON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF STRATEGY AND OPERATING OFFICER OF THE TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER, TO TALK ABOUT THE CITY'S EXPANSIVE OFFERINGS IN VISUAL ARTS AND HOW INCREASING COLLABORATION BETWEEN MUSEUMS AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES WILL BENEFIT RESIDENTS AND VISITORS ALIKE. Q | I understand you are from Pennsylvania? A | Yes. I've lived in most parts of the state, and most recently in Pittsburgh before I came to Houston. Q | What brought you to Houston? A | The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC). I've had the typical, convoluted career path of a nonprofit arts administrator and was on a board in the Pittsburgh area when the director of the Society for Contemporary Craft, which is a counterpart of HCCC in Pittsburgh, turned to me one day and said, 'I'm thinking about retiring. Are you interested in this position?' I had been in that job maybe two months when the headhunter for HCCC called to see if I would be interested in coming to Houston, but it wasn't the right timing. However, the person they did bring in ended up having to move out of state a year later. The headhunter remembered me and called when it had been well below freezing in Pittsburgh two weeks straight. It was snowing nonstop and I was daydreaming about playing golf, and I thought, 'I'll talk with Houston.' At the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft there are regular exhibitions, usually three varying at a time. What's really dynamic about it is the artist residency program. There are five open studios where visitors can walk in and see an artist at work. Visitors can talk to them, watch and touch their work. It's a highly competitive program now. What I really loved about it is that the majority of the artists come from outside the area. Whenever possible, they stay in Houston because they can find jobs; they're filling the teaching positions; they're buying their first houses. I was at a meeting the other day at a corporate office downtown and the work on the walls was by one of our former resident artists—that is wonderful to see. SPOTLIGHT