Yang Yingshi

Ed.M. AIE '04

Yang Yingshi attended the HGSE Arts in Education Program, during the 2003-04 academic year, on a Courtney Sale Ross Arts in Education Scholarship that is usually granted to AIE students from China who maintain an interest in museum education. He had come that year from a master’s program in arts and cultural management at Peking University, and before that from undergraduate study in English at Nankai University and professional training in journalism at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He had done a good deal of academic work, always with the intent, he says, of “promoting art education to the general public.”

In fact, he had already done a good deal of such promoting as well. Since 2000, he had served as an art critic and editor for the China Daily in Beijing, and had been an active observer and participant on the contemporary Chinese art scene, publishing dozens of art reviews and essays in English and Chinese. Trained in traditional Chinese calligraphy, Yingshi had studied the relationship between Chinese calligraphy and contemporary culture, and had curated exhibitions such as "Calligraphy as Source and Resource: Chinese Contemporary Art" (Asia-Australia Arts Center, Sydney; 2004) and worked as a consultant for exhibitions such as "Brushes with Surprise: The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China" (The British Museum, London; 2002). In other words, his wasn’t a case of a novice coming to AIE in search of a good introduction to the field, but of an experienced thinker and doer arriving in hopes of expanding his knowledge base.

Susan Fuhrman (left), President of Teachers College Columbia University, listens to a presentation by Yang Yingshi, doctoral student of the College’s Art and Art Education Program, on his Chinese calligraphy, at the President’s Office on May 14, 2007.At HGSE, Yingshi had the pleasure of taking AIE former founding director Jessica Hoffmann Davis’s year-long core courses on the arts in education, relishing “the passion, energy and wisdom she put into the preparation and presentation of each single session.” He has continued to enjoy inspiring conversations with Howard Gardner, his advisor from that year, and enjoys the acquaintanceship he has made with current AIE director Steve Seidel since graduation; and fondly remembers working with such faculty members as Shari Tishman, Roger Dell, Terrence Tivnan, and James Honan. Focusing on “the educational roles of cultural institutions,” and on arts administration in the West, Yingshi also took courses at the Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences during his year in AIE, and was particularly impressed by the university-wide advocacy of those complementary opposites, leadership and teamwork. “At Harvard,” he recalls, “I realized that I should honor my commitment to making changes to arts and cultural institutions back in China, especially fostering their educational role to the general public through efforts on practice, administration, and policy-making levels.”

Not surprisingly, Yingshi has continued to develop his interests in arts administration, museum studies, and cultural enrichment since his graduation in June 2004. That September, he began work on a doctorate in arts education at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York, where a number of other AIE students have also studied in recent years. Specializing in arts administration and art museum education, he has enjoyed scholarship and fellowship support from TC itself, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Hawaii Community Foundation REC Fund. “I am finishing up the coursework for my doctoral study at Columbia,” he says. “In the next stage of my study, I will be researching the role of art museums as educational institutions in the US and examining their implications to China.” If all goes as planned, Yingshi will graduate within the year and return to China  “to work at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing.”

Representatives from the Teachers College Chinese Students and Scholars Association and the College’s Office of International Services pose for a group picture with President Susan Fuhrman (center) and the Chinese calligraphy by Yang Yingshi (second from right).In fact, as a graduate student in New York, he has already started working to help make changes to China. In summer 2005, he initiated and co-organized the first-ever international workshop and conference on arts administration education in Beijing. That summer, he also brought a high-profile delegation from NAMOC and other Chinese cultural institutions to investigate the design, facilities, and management of leading art museums in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. In fall 2006, again, he initiated, fundraised, and coordinated a groundbreaking two-month visit for NAMOC’s education director to research and observe art museum education in six major cities of the United States.

In the meantime, though, he has been using yet another generous grant to continue his studies, this time at the Asia Society Museum in New York. As a Getty Museum Leadership Fellow for the 2006-07 academic year, he is getting on-site training for museum professionals in Asian art. “It's a great experience for me so far,” he says with the same gracious acknowledgment of good fortune that he has always shown in what is turning out to be a distinguished career.