Helen Klisser During is an art advisor, curator, and photojournalist who has championed global art projects for over 25 years. Recognised by KEA as a World Class New Zealander, she creates, documents, and fosters cultural exchange to promote understanding and address issues of social justice. An art world insider, Helen nurtures relationships among individuals and institutions to create significant cultural initiatives. Helen is committed to facilitating partnerships and cultivating connectivity using her extensive global networks.
Helen serves as Ambassador to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor at Auckland University of Technology, where she has co-founded the AUT Art Science Lab, a dynamic cross-pollination space where multidisciplinary artists, innovators and industry experts combine to solve real-world challenges.
Helen has directed and produced numerous large-scale arts programmes including #UNLOAD: Arts Trigger a Conversation, a foundation to promote conversation through the arts and education around the issue of gun violence in America, and Voices for the Future, an immersive art installation by Joseph Michael which projected collapsing icebergs onto the United Nations General Assembly and Secretariat buildings in NYC ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit and global school strikes in 2019.