Karen Farber

she/her
Vice President of External Affairs,
Buffalo Bayou Partnership
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Karen Farber is Vice President of External Affairs at Buffalo Bayou Partnership where she oversees public art, programming, communications, marketing, visitor services, and community engagement for this non-profit with a mission to create and steward welcoming parks, trails, and unique spaces along 10 square miles of waterfront in the center of Houston, Texas. From 2005-2020, she served as Director of the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, which is dedicated to the performing, visual, and literary arts. There, she hosted residencies and programs with leading artists from around the globe. Karen was a 2002-3 arts management fellow at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and started her career in non-profit and arts organizations in New York City, where she was born and raised. She has been a consultant, panelist, and board member for many cultural organizations nationally. She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an M.A. in Performance Studies and a B.F.A. in Experimental Theater.

Breakout Panelist: Sharing Power, Shaping Spaces