Critical Conversations is back with a panel featuring St. Louis artsfolk James McAnally, Jessica Baran, and Elizabeth Wolfson! These three brilliant humans, all critics/curators, will grapple with topics including the means by which we construct narratives and structures of taste, who signs off on them, and the validity of conventional arts hierarchies. Further questions to be considered: What is the role of the critic and the curator? What about streams of funding for the intellectual infrastructure through which art is understood? Who holds metaphorical purse strings? Should the tastes of a few wealthy benefactors determine what is shown and what is collected? Is there a better way? How can we ensure a more rigorous and fruitful arts ecosystem? What works, and what needs to change? Our new format will be more conversational and less formal, but will continue to build on the conversations Critical Mass is having with artists both on and off the record. See you all there!