Date, Time and Location
February 27, 2026
10:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m
Sedona Art Center
15 Art Barn Rd, Sedona, AZ 86336
Vision & Sound Symposium 2026
About
Join the Sedona Arts Center and the ASU Center for the Study of Race and Democracy for a powerful 2026 Vision & Sound Symposium. This year's keynote speaker is Brett Cook, a deeply accomplished and insightful artist who grapples with issues of place, presence and loss in American society and African American communities. Acclaimed choreographer and ASU Institute Professor Liz Lerman and ASU counselor Austin Gamble will co-lead the Critical Response Process session that is an integral part of the symposium. Arizona-based Vision and Sound artists will discuss their work and engage with audiences in compelling gallery talks.
Keynote Speaker
Brett Cook is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who uses storytelling to distill complex ideas and creative practices to transform outer and inner worlds of being.
His elaborate installations feature painting, drawing, and photography to tell pluralistic stories with broad representation. His public projects typically involve community workshops featuring arts-integrated pedagogy and contemplative strategies—along with music, performance, and food—to create a fluid boundary between art making, daily life, and healing.
Teaching and public speaking are extensions of Cook’s social practice that involve communities in dialogue to generate experiences of reflection and insight. He has taught at all academic levels in a variety of subjects, and published in academic journals from the Maryland Institute College of Art and Harvard University, among others. In 2009, he published Who Am I in This Picture: Amherst College Portraits with Wendy Ewald and Amherst College Press, and in 2015, Clouds in a Teacup with Thich Nhat Hanh and Parallax Press. He was formerly a Visiting Professor in Community Arts/Social Practice and Diversity Studies at California College of the Arts and Director of Social Practice and Pedagogy at San Francisco State University Healthy Equity Institute.
Cook has received numerous awards, including the Lehman Brady Visiting Professorship at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Richard Diebenkorn Teaching Fellowship at the San Francisco Art Institute. Recognized for a history of socially relevant, community-engaged projects he was selected as cultural ambassador to Nigeria as part of the U.S. Department of State’s 2012 smARTpower initiative. His work is in private and public collections including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the Walker Art Center, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Harvard University. He is a trustee of A Blade of Grass, an arts nonprofit dedicated to social engagement.
Presenters
Liz Lerman is an internationally renowned choreographer, writer, and educator.
She is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2017 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, and the 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Award. Current projects include building the Atlas of Creative Tools, an online resource, her touring production of Wicked Bodies, and a new project, Legacy Unboxed, that includes a series of research performance events called My Body is a Library. Also coming soon is a collection of essays to be published by Wesleyan University Press. Liz founded and led Dance Exchange from 1976 until 2011. She is the author of Teaching Dance to Senior Adults, Hiking the Horizontal, and Critique is Creative, co-authored with John Borstel. Liz’s retrospective titled Brett Cook & Liz Lerman: Reflection & Action was featured at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from October 2022 until June 2023. She is currently an Institute Professor at ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and a fellow at the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy.
Austin Gamble is a therapist, coach, and consultant committed to holistic transformation.
A former two-sport collegiate athlete, he has spent much of his career studying performance—both on and off the field. Austin holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Visual Arts from Duke University and an M.Ed. in Counseling and Human Development from Hardin Simmons University. His multidimensional background allows him to guide clients through complex transitions with deep empathy and a results-oriented approach. He believes the outcome of therapy is a direct result of the effort given; putting an emphasis on working in conjunction with the client to reach their goals as well as a greater understanding of themselves. He utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing among other techniques. Austin pursues creative expression through photography, sculpture, and painting.
Moderators
Lois Brown, PhD
As director of the ASU Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, Lois Brown oversees the only entity at ASU and in the state of Arizona that positions race and democracy in direct relation with each other. The Center, which is based in the Office of the University Provost, advances and creates initiatives that intensify the intellectual, pedagogical and programmatic efforts of the university. Brown, who also is ASU Foundation Professor of English, is committed to programming, partnerships and outreach that enable the center to focus on race and democracy in the context of education, social justice, public history, poverty and economic opportunity, the arts, law, government, the sciences and the environment. Brown's public speaking and presentations on equity, leadership, justice and inclusion complement the Center's efforts to support and achieve positive systemic change and justice.
Julie A. Richard
Vision and Sound 2026 is presented by the Sedona Arts Center in partnership with the ASU Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and is supported by generous grants and sponsorships. Chief Executive Office Julie Richard oversees the organization that became the Sedona Arts Center in 1961 after an official renaming. 1994 was the year of expansion with the addition of a new building to house an art gallery, classroom space, and the community theatre, which was founded in 1970. In 2001 the mission was redefined to focus primarily on education through the School of the Arts and gallery exhibitions of the visual arts. The School of the Arts has become a catalyst for creative development for students of all ages, from the very young through the golden years of life.
Today the Sedona Arts Center is a rich legacy of the founders’ vision. As one of Northern Arizona’s oldest 501(c) 3 nonprofit organizations it continues to be a gathering place where artists and those who love art can explore, teach and exhibit. The Arts Center has grown into an educational institution dedicated to nurturing creative discovery, learning and sharing through arts education and artistic development with an international presence.
2026 Symposium Program
Click here for full program and artist profiles
Sponsors
The generous support of the sponsors below, make possible the month-long Vision and Sound programming.
