Jonathan Katz, Executive Producer of Exhibit at California Academy of Sciences to Speak at Colloquium

Jonathan Katz, CEO of Cinnabar Inc. and executive producer of the "Altered State" exhibit on climate change for the new California Academy of Sciences, will speak to the museum/academic community about risk-taking at the May 30 Risk and Reality colloquium organized by Dr. Susan Spero of John F. Kennedy University in San Francisco.

The colloquium runs 10:00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., at the JFKU Berkeley campus, 2956 San Pablo Avenue. Attendance is free to JFKU students, faculty and staff, $15 for alumni, and $30 for the general public. Katz's presentation, "Seven Rules of Risk," will examine the nature of creative risk and provide specific tools for its successful mitigation. "Taking creative risks is an integral part of developing exhibits that raise vital social and political issues," says Katz. "Many interesting and engaging subjects have elements of risk attached, but we have to tackle them because they are important to the audience. "Instead of trying to avoid risk, which in the museum community is all too often the typical response, we need to learn to embrace risk."

The 10,000-sq.-ft. "Altered State," part of 35,000 sq. ft. of multimedia exhibits that Katz's company, Cinnabar Inc., produced for the California Academy of Sciences, is a prime modern example of a museum embracing a risky topic. "As a respected scientific institution, the Academy went beyond simply presenting information and took an advocacy position to tell visitors what the situation is and what they should do about it," says Katz. "It's important for museums to step up. They have the authenticity to take a stand."

Margot Roosevelt wrote in The Los Angeles Times that, "For all its theatricality, what makes the Academy even more unusual is its uncompromising stance on climate change. This is a museum with a point of view. It all but shouts at the visitor: 'Do something about it!'"

Embracing the risky climate change topic could be considered inherent to the Academy's overall approach in creating what Condé Nast Traveler named "the greenest museum ever constructed." Explains Katz: "With Renzo Piano as architect, the Academy recreated itself as a world-class demonstration of green building principles in addition to recreating its exhibits. Going 'green' couldn't just be about how the building was built - it had to also be about what statements were made. 'Altered State' is a deeper illustration of the sustainability advocacy that the building represents."

Dr. Susan Spero, JFKU faculty member and organizer of the May 30 colloquium, also considers understanding creative risk as vital to success in a changing museum landscape. "I believe that we are in a huge transition for our cultural institutions right now. We are again defining our purpose and ways to best serve our communities," she says. "A conversation with an open and trusting group of people is one of the steps toward understanding what these big, ever-present ideas mean to each one of us."

For more information about the event, email museum@jfku.edu.