Kurt Andersen Now Officially a Visionary

Author, editor, columnist, radio talker: Kurt Andersen's worn a lot of hats. Now he's getting fitted for a new one: visionary.

The Spy co-founder and Studio 360 host has accepted an invitation from the Art Center College of Design, a Los Angeles school, to serve as its "visionary in residence" during spring semester 2009.

"It's embarrassing to say, although I should be flattered," says Andersen.

"We've been talking about it for a couple years. I've never lived anywhere else but New York since college, so I always thought being in Los Angeles could be fun, if it was under the circumstances of a finite posting." He only had two conditions, both of which were met: that he be able to produce his show from L.A., and that it not happen until his youngest child graduates from high school.

Andersen will be the second visionary in residence at the Art Center, which he describes as the West Coast equivalent to the Rhode Island School of Design. The first was Bruce Sterling, a novelist and futurist. "He's more obviously a visionary," says Andersen.

As for the curriculum, well, that remains to be determined. "It's unclear what I'm supposed to do, it's so open-ended," he says. "I'll make up some inter-disciplinary course, curate a lecture series and just hang around with students, I guess."