Sharon Louden

Sharon Louden wears many interchangeable hats: artist, educator, advocate, consultant, community builder, founder and director of the Institute for Sustained Creativity, and editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books. As a changemaker, Louden amplifies creative voices and advances meaningful opportunities for artists — particularly those who are underserved and underseen — across all disciplines to help them sustain their creative lives.

With decades of experience across sectors, Louden is a visionary leader and connector who bridges communities and catalyzes change. She is a skilled collaborator, convening siloed stakeholders from the nonprofit and business sectors to generate dialogue and drive collective progress. At its core, all of her work is rooted in her active creative practice as a working artist.

Sharon graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Weisman Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Louden's work is held in major public and private collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.

Louden organized a popular Lecture Series between 2009-2019 at the New York Academy of Art, interviewing luminaries and exceptional individuals in the art world and from afar. She continued this lecture series at the Chautauqua Institution in Western, New York, which took place weekly for nine weeks during the Chautauqua Institution summer season (2019-2022).

Sharon is a much sought-after keynote speaker and thought leader on the arts, how artists sustain their creative lives, and the role that artists play in our lives, embedded throughout society.

Sub-specialties:

Nonprofit Arts Leader
Public Speaker
Advocate for Artists
Educator (Higher-Education)