Join author and community engagement legend Donna Walker-Kuhne as she delivers a keynote address on engaging audiences today and discusses her upcoming book Champions for the Arts.

PEM Reads celebrates the art of literature and the creative act of writing through a year-round series of collaborative book club readings and author events, both in person and online. By gathering to read and discuss world-class literature and meet authors, PEM Reads seeks to deepen our sense of community and celebrate great storytelling. We hope you’ll join us!

This program is generously supported by the Lowell Institute.

About the Author

Considered the nation's foremost expert in audience development, Donna Walker-Kuhne has spent her career developing successful strategies for increasing access to the arts. Over the past ten years, Walker-Kuhne has traveled to over 100 U.S. cities and 5 continents to give lectures, workshops and keynotes specifically focused on community engagement. Her guide Champions for the Arts: Lessons and Successful Strategies for Engaging Diverse Audiences synthesizes her findings from the last decade into an accessible text that provides sustainable, measurable community engagement strategies for leaders in the arts community — with a specific focus on ways to drill deeper into issues of diversity, inclusion and equity. Including case studies from around the world that offer models for creating sustainable audiences and membership, Walker-Kuhne offers a practical yet visionary way of thinking about community engagement in the arts as a vehicle for social change.