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creative:impact - EMU Fulbright Scholar Arrives In Seoul, South Korea Just As COVID-19 Hits

Susan Badger-Booth

Fulbright Scholar Susan Badger-Booth, EMU professor of Arts Management & Entertainment, felt well-prepared for her teaching assignment that would take her to the Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea for the winter semester.  She and her husband Bill considered all the contingencies....or so they had thought.  No sooner did they arrive when the COVID-19 virus struck.  Deb Polich and David Fair connect with Susan in Seoul to find out what happened next on this edition of "creative:impact."  Listen here.

Deb Polich
Deb Polich, President and CEO of the Arts Alliance

Creative industries in Washtenaw County add hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy.  In the weeks and months to come, 89.1 WEMU's David Fair and co-host Deb Polich, the President and CEO of The Arts Alliance, explore the myriad of contributors that make up the creative sector in Washtenaw County.

ABOUT SUSAN BADGER-BOOTH

Professor Susan Badger Booth has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award for the winter of the 2019-20 academic year. She will be teaching a graduate course with field work in Cultural Planning at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea.  Hongik is recognized as the foremost arts university in South Korea.  Cultural Planning takes its roots when civil society, business, and government enter a conversation on how arts, culture, and place effects our daily lives.  Student field work in cultural planning at Hongik will leverage local cultural assets to strategically enhance the Hongdae neighborhood adjacent to the university campus.  

Professor Booth was the associate researcher on the Washtenaw County Cultural Master Plan in 2008.  Her work in creative placemaking also includes a Feasibility Study for Expanding Arts Education Programs in the Washtenaw County Schools in 2010 and a Creative Cooperative Study in 2017.  Susan is the author of a book chapter on creative entrepreneurship as a tool for community engagement in Building Community not Audiences, 2012.  She serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Arts Management and the journal Artivate and is the past secretary of the international Association of Arts Administrators in Education.   

Professor Booth earned her MFA in Theatre Management from Columbia University in 1992.  In addition, she holds a BFA in scene design from Boston University and spent her early career as a regional theatre props artisan.  Prior to teaching Professor Booth also had a career as a fundraiser for arts organizations such as the Arden Theatre Company of Philadelphia and managed the Toledo Cultural Arts Center’s capital campaign which raised $4.7 million locally and $15 million from the State of Ohio.  Before she joined the faculty at Eastern Michigan University in 2006, Professor Booth taught at Bowling Green State University.  

Professor Booth is one of over 800 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and/or provide expertise abroad for the 2019-2020 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.  Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.  The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State.  Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.

RESOURCES:

Discovering the Soul of Seoul

Susan Badger-Booth

Fulbright Scholar Program

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— David Fair is the WEMU News Director and host of Morning Edition on WEMU.  You can contact David at734.487.3363, on twitter @DavidFairWEMU, or email him at dfair@emich.edu

Contact David: dfair@emich.edu
Polich hosts the weekly segment creative:impact, which features creative people, jobs and businesses in the greater Ann Arbor area.
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