PERFORMING OUR FUTURE:
F O R U M
BEN FINK
Ben Fink moved to Whitesburg, Kentucky in 2015 to manage Appalshop’s projects in arts- and community-based cultural and economic development. A theater director and dramaturg, Ben has served on the board of directors of Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed, Inc., trained and directed the homeless-and-housed zAmya Theater Project, and worked as dramaturg on the German-language premieres of the musicals Grey Gardens and Anyone Can Whistle. A scholar and practitioner of community organizing, Ben has organized with faith, labor, and neighborhood organizations in the Twin Cities, consulted with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, and directed community engagement programs at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in rural southern New Jersey, where he also spent several summers running youth theater and creative writing programs. A writer and teacher, Ben holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of Minnesota, where he also taught and trained instructors for many years. His writings on theater, pedagogy, and organizing have been published in Theater Topics, HowlRound, and the University of Colorado Press; his first book, The Problem With Education Technology (Hint: It’s Not the Technology), was released in February 2016.