An evening with Scott Williams and Paul Vangelisti will challenge audiences to make new connections about design’s purpose and practice.

Los Angeles, CA (Thursday, February 21, 2008)—AIGA/LA, the professional association for design, together with OTIS College of Design collaborate to present 180 Degrees: U-turns From The Intersection of Design and Culture, a series of conversations that go beyond traditional design speak. The first event of the series, Stories of Place and Purpose will feature Scott Williams, Chief Marketing Officer of Morgans Hotel Group and Paul Vangelisti, Poet and Chair of MFA in Writing at Otis College of Art and Design. This evening speaking engagement is open to the public and will begin with a reception and after the conversation, follow with the opportunity to view highlights of the permanent collection from MoCA. The event will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles on Wednesday, February 27 from 6:30PM-10:00PM.

Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Time: 6:30PM – 10:00PM
Venue: MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, 250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Pre-Registration Tickets:
AIGA Members, $20
Non-Member (Public), $30
Student AIGA Members, $10
Otis Faculty/Students, $10
Non-AIGA/Non-Otis Students, $15

At the Door Tickets:
Tickets will be $5 more when purchased at the door.

To purchase tickets, call (818) 558–3968, or visit www.aigalosangeles.org.

SCOTT WILLIAMS
With a career spanning theater, TV and hotels, Scott Williams is a brand builder focused on the theatrical narrative at the heart of brands. As Chief Marketing Officer of Morgans Hotel Group, he is the chief architect of brand strategy and realization for the hotels that invented the concept of “hotel as theater.� Prior to Morgans, he launched successful campaigns for the hotels of Starwood, including textbook success stories at W and Westin. Williams’s television career included marketing and producing efforts at CBS, ESPN and HBO. And as a writer, producer, teacher and actor, he gained a solid theatrical background at San Francisco American Conservatory Theater, where he received an MFA, and at the storied Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Williams serves as board President of the Red Ribbon Foundation for AIDS and advisory board member of the Stamford Center for the Arts. Married with three children, Williams resides in Greenwich, Connecticut.

PAUL VANGELISTI
Poet Paul Vangelisti has edited several anthologies of poetry, including one each in Italian and Polish. His anthologies of Los Angeles area poets were among the first such collections to begin defining the historical trajectory of post-World War II poetry in Southern California. Vangelisti is the author of almost twenty collections of poetry and was awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988. Vangelisti also produced many broadcasts of poetry readings through a long association with Pacifica radio station KPFK in Los Angeles and directed L.A.T.E. (Los Angeles Theater of the Ear), which produced both live and recorded radio theater broadcasts of classic plays by Pirandello and Brecht, as well as contemporary playwrights.

Vangelisti is currently the Chair of the MFA writing program at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

About AIGA/Los Angeles
AIGA Los Angeles is one of the first independent chapters of AIGA, the largest professional association for design in the country. AIGA/LA serves as a local hub for the design community and celebrates excellence in design through its educational and inspirational programs, exhibitions, scholarships and publications. AIGA/LA is committed to helping all designers achieve their greatest potential as significant contributors to the economic and cultural vitality of our region.

Contact:
Rachel Elnar
AIGA/LA Communications & PR
(213) 623-7267
rachel@aigalosangeles.org