Rehema Barber, the final candidate for the Tarble Arts Center director, said art is a way to ignite change.

“I believe that art bridges barriers, connects communities and creates conversations, while also effecting change within its audiences,” Barber said.

Barber will have an open session interview for students, faculty and community at 2:15 p.m. until 3:15 Thursday at Tarble.

There, students and community members will have a chance to ask Barber questions about her vision for the future of Tarble.

Barber visited Eastern Wednesday for her first interview.  Her second interview will be Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with various meetings, including a presentation and a private screening.

If chosen for the new director, Barber said she wants to create new partnerships with local and national intuitions.

Barbers also said she hopes to showcase innovative programs.

“I would also be dedicated to creating thought-provoking exhibitions and programs that inspire conversation and viewer imagination,” she said.

She currently works at University of Illinois’ School of Art and Design in Champaign.

There, she coordinates Figure One, an off-campus exhibition operated by the university. She has had this position since 2013.

Barber said she curated one of its most ambitious projects to-date, which is called “Social Habitat: The Porch Project” by Heather Hart.

She said she also looks over a staff of student gallery attendants and teaches an exhibition practice course for the art and design school.

From 2004 until 2008, Barber worked at the Amistad Center at the Wadsworth Atheneum, in Hartford, CT.

While working there, some of her duties were developing and organizing historical and contemporary art exhibitions using some collection materials and loaned works from private and public lenders.

Barber has previously worked for the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Mo.

She taught fourth grade public and private schools about the museum and the collections it held.

Between the years 1999 to 2000, Barber was the Rights and Reproduction Assistant for the Chicago Historical Society in Chicago.

She said she performed jobs such as researching and cataloguing photo archives, along with assisting researchers.

She also curated an installation of work by contemporary African American artists and wrote a magazine and newspaper copy about museum exhibitions and programs.

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2812 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.