Date

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Location

Seawell Ballroom 1350 Arapahoe St, Denver, CO 80204

Time

10:30 a.m. VIP & Mayors Networking Reception

11:30 a.m. Registration

11:45 a.m. Prelude Concert Reception by Neoma

12:10 p.m. Welcome & Cities Summit of the Americas Logo Award Winner

12:20 p.m. Keynote Speaker Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson on The Role of Arts, Culture, and Design in Building Vibrant and Healthy Cities

12:45 p.m Cleo Parker Robinson Performance Freedom Dance

12:55 p.m. From the Americas Video

1:00 p.m. Mayors from the Americas Panel

1:40 p.m. Final Remarks

2:00 p.m. Event Ends

Moderator

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson

Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts | The nation’s first African American and Mexican American woman to be NEA Chair.

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson’s work focuses on understanding and elevating arts, culture, and deign as critical elements of healthy communities. Dr. Jackson became the 13th chair of the National Endowment for the Arts in January 2022, after confirmed appointment by the U.S. Senate in December 2021.

Dr. Jackson was appointed to the National Council of the Arts by President Barack Obama in 2012 where she served until becoming chair of the NEA. Dr. Jackson was co-chair of the County of Los Angeles Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiatve and, most recently, served on the advisory boards of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Equity Center at the University of Virginia, the Strong, Prosperous and Resilient Communities CDhallenge (SPARCC), and L.A. Commons. She served on the board of directors of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County (The Music Center), the Association of Arts Administration Educators, and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.

Mayor Claudia López

Bogotá, Colombia

Mayor Claudia López Hernández is the first elected female mayor of Bogotá. Mayor López served as Senator from 2014 to 2018 and ran as vice-presidential candidate in the 2018 presidential election.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek

Calgary, Canada

Mayor Jyoti Gondek is the first elected female mayor of Calgary. She is known as a driven community builder, diversity champion, and promoter of cross-sector partnerships. She served as City Councilwoman before her election.

Mayor Jeni Arndt

Fort Collins, Colorado

Mayor Jeni Arndt is the mayor of Fort Collins, CO, where she was born and raised. A proud Colorado native and educator, Mayor Arndt lived and worked in Mozambique, Africa and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.

Ana Maria Hernando

From Buenos Aires, Argentina showcasing Fervor

Ana Maria is a multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on using empathy to make the invisible visible. Her art invites viewers to question our preconceptions of the other – including nature and the earth – their worth, and their value. During her childhood, she watched women in her family come together to sew, crochet, and embroider, sharing the everyday with one another, a power that was difficult to define but impossible to ignore as a community.

The Biennial of the Americas is a proud organizing parter of the inaugural Cities Summit of the Americas

The Cities Summit in Denver, CO from April 26-28, 2023 will promote regional cooperation, convening subnational leaders from across the entire Western Hemisphere with diverse and inclusive representatives of government, civil society, business, academia, youth, culture and the arts, and indigenous and underrepresented groups.

Events will include plenary sessions, stakeholder roundtables, expert panels, networking sessions, commercial engagements, and public outreach activities, all to address a range of priorities local communities across the Americas share.

The Biennial of the Americas is a proud organizing partner of this event alongside the U.S. State Department, the State of Colorado, and the City of Denver.

Learn More & Participate.