Research in the Arts Day

David Holland is the Deputy Director at WESTAF where he guides its advocacy and public policy programs, leads external relations, and spearheads leadership and professional development programming, grantmaking, and technical assistance and consulting services across teams. He is leading the development of the Creative Economy Strategic Plan for the State of Washington and authored the Creative Economics and Economic Recovery report in collaboration with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Holland previously served as associate director of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston and in leadership positions with VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation, VCU School of the Arts, ART 180, the Latin Ballet of Virginia, Arts & Business, and the UK innovation foundation Nesta. Holland's early career includes roles as a senior consultant with BOP Consulting, a global consultancy on culture and the creative industries, and as campaigns officer at the UK’s National Campaign for the Arts. He is a Salzburg Global Fellow, Commager Fellow, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Holland holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Amherst College and master’s degrees in international studies and diplomacy and the history of art from the University of London, SOAS.

Wendi Hassan has over thirty years of experience in arts and museums administration, grant writing, fundraising, marketing, programming, arts education and outreach, and facilities management. She has helped organize new nonprofit arts organizations and has helped others gracefully disband. Wendi has served on the research and data committee for the Utah Cultural Alliance and has presented workshops for the Utah Nonprofits Association, Utah Museums Association, Utah Society of Fundraisers and the Wells Fargo Economic Summit.

Wendi currently serves as Executive Director for the Cache Valley Center for the Arts (CacheARTS) which manages the Ellen Eccles Theatre, Thatcher-Young Mansion and Bullen Arts Center. Each year CacheARTS hosts 100 performances, 2,000 art classes and 100,000 patrons.  CacheARTS is also the Local Arts Agency for Logan City and Cache County with the charge of connecting individuals to regional arts opportunities and nurturing the greater arts ecosystem.

Wendi teaches Quantitative Methods in the Arts at USU in the fall and has also taught Theatre Management and Leadership. She holds Master’s Degrees in Arts Administration and Policy (The Ohio State University) and Business Administration (Utah State University).

Shaun McNiff is author of Imagination in Action: Secrets for Unleashing Creative Expression; Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go; Art Heals; Art as Medicine; Integrating the Arts in Therapy; Art-Based Research; Art as Research and other books.

An exhibiting painter who has had a seminal influence on the areas of creativity enhancement, the arts and healing, and art-based research, he has lectured and taught throughout the world. McNiff has received various honors and awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Journal of Applied Arts and Health and the Honorary Life Member Award of the American Art Therapy Association.

He established the first integrated arts in therapy and education graduate training program at Lesley University from which the field of expressive arts therapy emerged and in 2002 Lesley appointed him as its first University Professor.