A Life Devoted to Leadership in the Arts

Annette Jael Lehmann-Kolesch in conversation with Steven D.
Lavine and Jörn Jacob Rohwer


[24.03.2021]


Why there is no greater success than failure: Jörn Jacob Rohwer's
publication looks at how personal doubts and weaknesses became
the basis of a leadership style based on listening, learning and
consensus building.


In profound conversations with author Jörn Jacob Rohwer, Steven
D. Lavine tells his personal story for the first time, talking
about cultural politics, philanthropy, the avant–garde, his
center of life Los Angeles, where he directed the California
Institute of the Arts for three decades (1988-2017). Spurred by
self–doubt and a desire to fail, he emerges as a subtle thinker,
visionary, and transatlantic mediator between the worlds of art,
education, and politics.


The California Institute of the Arts: an arts college just
outside Los Angeles. Opened 50 years ago, »CalArts« was long in
crisis before Steven D. Lavine led it to financial prosperity and
international renown. Today, the art school is a cradle of
Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize winners, of Mellon and
Guggenheim Fellows – a hotspot of U.S. creativity.


The online conversation started with an introduction by Peter
Weibel and was moderated by Annette Jael Lehmann-Kolesch.