I am the director and a cofounder of October Gallery, an art gallery and cultural complex with a restaurant, meeting spaces, and a beautiful courtyard garden, located in a three-story Victorian building in the heart of London (Fig. 1). I work closely with Artistic Director Elisabeth Lalouschek (Fig. 2) and a multicultural team. October Gallery maintains a broad-ranging program of exhibitions of art from around the world and a flourishing education department. Other core activities include a wide variety of events embracing theater and dance performances, concerts, artistic and scientific talks, seminars, workshops, and more.
I was raised in the Rocky Mountains in Grand Junction, Colorado. Surrounded by striking vistas in every direction, I most wanted to travel. The cultural meme for my generation was to be on the road, and I knew that to escape that small-town mind, if I could speak other languages, I...