The Artist as Citizen Conference was inaugurated in 2014, as an outgrowth of the ASTEP Leaders Network, an effort to build community among the inspiring young artists ASTEP was getting to meet and work with every year.

At first the network lived and operated exclusively online — ASTEP Student Chapters in Boston, St. Louis, New Orleans, Austin, Oakland and many other cities were supported primarily via video conferences from New York, digital resource guides, and a private Facebook group wherein they could connect and disseminate useful information. As the community grew, however, it was determined that an opportunity must be sought to bring together these formidable young talents, and allow them to meet one another and collaborate in shared time and space.

The first significant stakeholder to green light the concept of an annual retreat was Mary-Mitchell Campbell, ASTEP’s Executive Director. Herself no stranger to the growing appetite around the country for socially-engaged arts practices, and of course as aware as anyone of ASTEP’s unique ability to leverage its decade’s worth of experience in the field, she was enthusiastic about the idea and suggested a potential partner in Dr. Joseph Polisi, the president of Juilliard.

ASTEP has deep roots at Juilliard, a institution that has done as much as any to push the envelope for relevant, rigorous and forward-looking arts training in the 21st century. The co-founders of ASTEP were all students at the school when they met, and Mary-Mitchell was on faculty there the year ASTEP was born. Dr. Joseph Polisi, in particular, was a mentor and a guiding light, as were the principles he espoused in his 2004 book of essays, The Artist as Citizen. When Dr. Polisi signed off on the venture, lending ASTEP the use of his book’s title as a name for their annual event, and offering the use of Juilliard’s world-class facilities, the Artist as Citizen Conference was born.