November 12, 2010 - 11:30am to 3:30pm
55 E. Monroe
On November 12, 2010, the Cultural Policy Center hosted a forum on “Jobs in the Arts: the experience of six degree-granting institutions in the Chicago area,” with representatives from the Department of Cultural Affairs, Columbia College, the University of Chicago, DePaul University (The School of Music and The Theater School), the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and researchers from NORC, Slover Linett Strategies, and the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project at Indiana University.
The forum was coordinated by Paula Duffy, former director of the University of Chicago Press and a current nominee for membership on the National Council on the Humanities, in partnership with the Cultural Policy Center.
The goal of the forum was to share information across arts programs of the major institutions in the Chicago area about the recruitment, retention, career advising and job placement services for current arts students and recent graduates. Thirty people participated in this unique opportunity to share information about the employment opportunities and challenges facing artists in the Chicago area.
The forum also featured several presentations:
- Barbara Koenen, director of Chicago Artist Resource (CAR) , Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, reporting on the city’s professional development programs for artists;
- Julie Burros, director of cultural planning, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, reporting on the city’s development of the Cermak Creative Industry District;
- Nick Rabkin, Senior Researcher at NORC and Research Affiliate of the Cultural Policy Center, reporting on the preliminary findings from his research on the Teaching Arts Research Project, the first national study of teaching artists that has surveyed and interviewed 3500 artists and 750 program managers across the U.S.
- Sally Gaskill, Associate Director, the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), at Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research, reporting on the annual online survey, data management, and institutional improvement system designed to advance arts training and inform cultural policy.