Michael Rohd, founding director of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice (CPCP) and the Sojourn Theatre company, will join Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts as Institute Professor, starting in fall 2016.
Rohd has worked around the nation to design and lead theatre-based community engaged, participatory projects and processes focused on social practice, civic practice and local capacity-building. He is a former faculty member at Northwestern University and held the Doris Duke artist residency at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theater Company.
Rohd, pictured at left, is the Herberger Institute’s second Institute Professor, and joins Liz Lerman whose was appointed to ASU’s faculty in spring 2016. As Institute Professor, Rohd will teach and work with Lerman and others as part of the “ensemble lab” — a think tank and platform for experimenting and collaborating with artists, scholars and community leaders from around the world to creatively address issues within and beyond the arts and the academy.
“I am delighted that Michael is coming to ASU as he brings deep insight into the way we understand community and social practice in the arts,” said Lerman. “He is a wonderful teacher and collaborator. I look forward to being challenged by his ideas and to work alongside him as joins the visionary work of the Herberger Institute faculty, staff and students who are forging such a new and dedicated path for the arts in civic life.”
In addition to his time on campus and developing ASU initiatives in the Phoenix area, Rohd will continue his work through the independent, nationally-focused, non-profit CPCP, which houses the award-winning Sojourn Theatre, pictured above. Both programs will be based at — and in frequent partnership with — ASU and the Herberger Institute. Under Rohd’s direction, the center and university will explore opportunities to continue their ongoing work to create arts-based, cross-sector civic practice programs.
“I am thrilled for the opportunity to be a part of the expansive vision ASU President Michael Crow and Herberger Institute Dean Steven Tepper are articulating in Arizona,” said Rohd. “It is a vision aligned with CPCP’s core values and existing programs.”
Top photo: Sojourn Theatre's "On the Table" presentation, which took place in Portland, Oregon. Photo courtesy Sojourn Theatre
More Arts, humanities and education
![ASU outdoor sign grazed with branches of yellow palo verde tree flower blooms](/sites/default/files/styles/block_image_16_9_med/public/2024-09/ASU%20ASU%2020220406PaloVerdeBlooms_019-DD.jpg?itok=IdDIbtqT)
ASU researchers awarded $1M grant to cultivate civic virtues in Arizona public universities
Principled Innovation is the backbone behind a recent $1 million dollar grant award to a team of Arizona State University researchers for their project, Cultivating Civic Virtues Through Action.…
![music theatre and opera season](/sites/default/files/styles/block_image_16_9_med/public/2024-08/Season%20story.jpg?itok=h_uLjQXc)
ASU Music Theatre and Opera season spotlights composers, students and masterworks
The 2024–25 ASU Music Theatre and Opera season features projects that illuminate contemporary composers and writers, student-led work, and iconic masterworks that push the boundaries of opera…
![A woman and a man pose for a photo while waving at the camera](/sites/default/files/styles/block_image_16_9_med/public/2024-08/DSC03811%20%281%29.jpg?h=0fa838e3&itok=BDTfoI6r)
Arizona couple donate $10M to Arizona PBS, the largest gift in the station's history
Sue Hart-Wadley and Searle Wadley have always loved PBS for its educational, entertaining and inspirational programming. After years of learning from its variety of offerings, the Arizona couple are…