Melanie Fales: What Art Can Be
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Reception, 6:15pm
Talk, 7pm
at the BRIC
108 E Proctor Street, Carson City
What Art Can Be
CCAI Nevada Neighbors Talk by Melanie Fales
The Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] is pleased to present a public event with visiting curator Melanie Fales. Her illustrated talk, “What Art Can Be” is the latest installment of Nevada 
Neighbors, CCAI’s ongoing series of illustrated public talks. The talk will take place on Wednesday, October 16 at 7pm at the BRIC, 108 E Proctor St, Carson City. There will be an informal reception for Ms. Fales preceding the event at 6:15pm. The presentation and reception are free, and the public is cordially invited.
Melanie Fales will discuss presenting contemporary art at the Boise Art Museum [BAM] where she has served as Executive Director since 2008. She is committed to sharing original works of art with the community to further the understanding of art, self, the human condition, and our global society. She believes that art museums play an important role in preserving the past, shaping the present, and helping to determine a positive future. She would like to strengthen the understanding among the public that art museums are educational institutions with education at the core of their missions and places where free-choice, lifelong learning is interactive and fun.
Ms. Fales said, “As the only collecting accredited art museum within a 300-mile radius, BAM fulfills an important responsibility to engage people throughout the region who have a wide range of interests by providing art experiences that meet their expectations and also challenge them to broaden their understanding of what art and an art museum can be.”
As part of her CCAI visit, Ms. Fales will give her talk to art students and faculty at 
Douglas High School in Minden and at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village.
Ms. Fales began her career at BAM in 1996 as an art educator and joined the senior management team in 2002 when she was named Curator of Education. While she has a passion for all areas of the museum, her focus has been on education, community engagement, and collaborative partnerships. Fales holds a bachelor’s degree in art with emphasis in painting and art history and a master’s degree in education concentrating on art museum education from Boise State University. As the recipient of a Rotary International Ambassadorial Graduate Scholarship, she carried out graduate work in art history and museum studies at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris, France and completed an internship at the Musée d’art Américain Giverny. In 2009 Fales was awarded a fellowship and attended the Performance Measurement for Non-Profit Organizations Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School.
The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the 
encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area’s diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online projects.
The Carson City Library co-sponsors the Nevada Neighbors series with CCAI. The Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Nevada Arts Council, City of Carson City, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Bank Foundation, John and Grace Naumann Foundation, and the Carson Nugget.
[second image: giving the public talk at the BRIC]
[bottom image: fall Nevada Neighbors bookmark]
