Guest Speakers & Community Forums
Teaching Artists and the Future of Education — panel & community forum — February 15, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
6:15 PM - 9:00 PM
Film Row, Columbia College Chicago
1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor
Teaching Artists, hybrid professionals who link the arts to education and community life, are redefining the roles that the arts can play in public education. Who are teaching artists? Where and how do they work? What new strategies might they offer to help ailing public schools? And how can schools become generative sites of creative growth for artists, teachers and students?
A new national study of teaching artists shows that their work in schools is already providing answers to these questions. Join us for the first Chicago presentation of the Teaching Artist Research Project, a study of teaching artists and their work in a dozen cities, including Chicago.
PRESENTER:
Nick Rabkin is a research affiliate of the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago, and the principal investigator of the Teaching Artist Research Project at NORC at the University of Chicago. He teaches cultural policy at Columbia College Chicago.
RESPONDENTS:
Jessica Hudson, Independent Performance Artist/Teaching Artist
Cecil McDonald, Jr., Photographer/Teaching Artist, Columbia College Chicago
Mario Rossero, Director of the Office of Arts Education, Chicago Public Schools
Dr. Margaret Beale Spencer, The Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education, University of Chicago
Reception will follow program.
This forum is presented by the Teaching Artist Development (TAD) Studio at CCAP. For more information about TAD Studio, go to colum.edu/tadstudio. Funding for this colloquium was made possible by support from the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Cultural Policy Center, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, and NORC at the University of Chicago.
Sponsored by: Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) at Columbia College Chicago; the Cultural Policy Center, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, and NORC at the University of Chicago; and Ingenuity, Inc.
Emerging Practice Seminar — April 29, 2011
This event was hosted by CultureLab, a new joint initiative between the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago, and a consortium of leading arts consultants from the U.S., U.K., and Australia. CultureLab's Emerging Practice Seminar is a concerted effort to bring forward promising new practices in the cultural sector and transmit them to the field.
Each year, two practice areas are selected that represent important developments for the arts field. This year nearly 100 people met for a day focused on:
- Uses of technology in audience engagement
- Revenue management and dynamic pricing
The discussion of each topic featured several case studies drawn from arts organizations from Chicago to Sydney.
Also, a lunchtime session included a live debate on the role of mobile devices in theaters and museums, featuring Martha Lavey, artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Alan Brown, Principal at WolfBrown.
Click here to see the presentations.
Screening of Trust with filmmaker Nancy Kelly — February 23, 2011
The Cultural Policy Center hosted a screening of the documentary film Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives. The filmmaker, Nancy Kelly, attended and answered questions after the screening, along with several veterans of the Albany Park Theater Project.
Trust is a feature-length verité documentary about Chicago's Albany Park Theater Project, a neighborhood teen theater that creates original plays from members' real life stories, transforming their lives and their community in the process. The film tells the story of eighteen-year-old Marlin, a survivor of rape who — propelled by her participation in the theater — experiences a healthy movement away from identifying herself with that trauma. For some more background on the inspiration for the film and its policy recommendations, see this interview with filmmaker Nancy Kelly.
February 23, 7:00-9:00 p.m., followed by a reception
Harris School of Public Policy Studies
1155 E. 60th St.
Room 142
Jobs in the Arts — November 12, 2010
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.
The National Arts Index — March 3, 2010
Randy Cohen, Vice President of Policy & Research, Americans for the Arts
9:00-11:30 a.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater
How do we measure the health of the cultural sector? Although tools exist to take the pulse of the economy, until now, Americans have not had an index of cultural indicators that tells us about the cultural health of the country. The National Arts Index combines four kinds of measures—
- financial (measures of artists’ income; revenues to arts organizations);
- capacity (measures of capital assets and employment);
- participation (measures of attendance and personal art making); and
- competitiveness (the number of degrees granted in the arts; philanthropic support for the arts).
Taken together, these indicators present a comprehensive assessment of the health of the arts in the U.S. and, considered over time, the Index gives us a sense of the direction for the arts sector — a kind of cultural “canary‐in‐the‐coal‐mine.”
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion about what this means for the arts in Chicago and how we can use this kind of research to strengthen the sector.
This event was co‐sponsored by the CPC, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Arts Alliance Illinois, and the Arts & Business Council of Chicago.
A New WPA — October 27 & 28, 2009
On October 27 and 28, Arlene Goldbard gave a series of formal and informal presentations in Chicago as a guest of the Cultural Policy Center. Ms. Goldbard is a writer, lecturer, and arts consultant whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics, and community. She has frequently addressed academic, professional, practitioner and community audiences on topics ranging from the ethics of community arts practice to the need for a paradigm shift in cultural policy.
In New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development (2006), she describes the theory and practices of community cultural development as “the work of artist-organizers and other community members collaborating to express identity, concerns and aspirations through the arts and communications media.” Her contributions to the field of cultural policy include books, essays, journal articles, foundation reports, and a widely-referenced blog. On her blog is "An Open Letter to President Obama: Repairing Democracy" and a discussion of cultural recovery, based on the “White House Briefing on Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery” that brought a group of artists and activists to Washington, D.C., last May.
Art, Politics and Community: Open to Question
On October 27, Ms. Goldbard gave a Social Justice brown bag lunch with students, co-sponsored by the Universtiy Community Service Center and the Cultural Policy Center.
A New WPA: Why a Sustainable Future Demands Cultural Recovery
On October 27, Ms. Goldbard gave a public lecture at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies. Read a transcript of the talk (PDF).
Community Discussion on "The State of the South Side Arts Community"
On October 28, Ms. Goldbard engaged in a conversation about the importance of the arts for fostering dynamic communities and cultural democracy, presented by the Southside Arts & Humanities Network of the Civic Knowledge Project, in collaboration with the Cultural Policy Center. Issues addressed included how the economy has impacted the south side arts community, what that means for small and emerging arts and humanities organizations locally and nationally, and where to go from here.
Urban Humanities — March 7, 2005
A town-hall style discussion featuring Danielle Allen, Dean of the Division of the Humanities; Julie Ellison, founding director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life and Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan; and Chuck Thurow, Executive Director of the Hyde Park Art Center. Moderated by CPC Faculty Director Larry Rothfield.
Noon-1:30 p.m.
DuSable Museum of African American History, 746 E. 56th Place
Throughout its history, the University of Chicago has had a complicated relationship with its surrounding community, one in which cooperation and inspiration has competed with tension and suspicion. This event, which filled the DuSable's theater to capacity, examined ways of using the arts and humanities as tools to build stronger relationships and communities. Attendees included representatives of several South Side community-based, non-profit educational and arts organizations, university faculty and community relations staff, and other interested individuals.
State Cultural Policy: What is it? Does Illinois have one? Should it? — May 24, 2004
Presenter: J. Mark Schuster, Editor and Project Director of Mapping State Cultural Policy: The State of Washington (Cultural Policy Center 2003)
Discussants: Reginald Jones, Executive Director of the Steans Family Foundation, and Kristina Valaitis, Executive Director of the Illinois Humanities Council
Respondent: Jody Kretzmann, co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD Institute) at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University and an advocate of mapping community level assets as part of a planning process
Noon-2:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
The research process and some of the most significant findings for Mapping State Cultural Policy: The State of Washington will be presented. A discussion of a series of questions on the applications of this study or similar studies like it to state policymakers and cultural practitioners will then follow. As the first study of cultural policy on the state level, the book provides a method and framework for examining the totality of a state’s direct support and interventions in support of its culture. The report represents the range of ways this state enacts cultural policy, sometimes without deliberate attempt to do so.
The Visual Art Critic — April 29, 2003
Andras Szanto, Deputy Director, National Arts Journalism Program, Columbia University
In dialogue with James Elkins, Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute.
10:00 a.m.-noon
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
In 2002 the NAJP completed an intensive survey of visual arts critics and released the results in a detailed report. Does the popular news media provide sufficient exposure for artists, arts institutions and the ideas that govern their work? The findings of this unprecedented survey suggest that although arts critics have carved out an important role at many news publications, on the whole criticism has been struggling to keep up with the swift evolution of the art world. Art is underrepresented in news coverage and critics are underemployed. These signs of vulnerability contrast with the art world’s exuberance during the last two decades.
The Social Impact of the Arts — March 11, 2003
Mark Stern, Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and Director, Social Impact of the Arts Project.
10:00 a.m.-noon
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
The Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) has done extensive investigations of the importance of the arts and culture for community building, focusing its research on Philadelphia. For instance, SIAP evaluated the William Penn Foundation’s Culture Builds Community initiative, which sought to improve the organizational capacity of community cultural providers and to support their efforts to strengthen their role in community building, and in 2001, SIAP collaborated with The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) on a project designed to combine SIAP's indicators of neighborhood assets with TRF’s more extensive set of indicators. In 2002, SIAP received funding for a new project — "Documenting Culture's Reach" — that will allow them to examine the dynamics of the cultural sector and its relationship to other social factors.
The Lessons of the Chihuly Show — February 18, 2003
Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
10:00 a.m.-noon
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
The Chihuly exhibit has created a citywide and national buzz, has attracted visitors from all over the world, and has reminded Chicagoans of a previously neglected landmark in the city. But has it contributed to the economic and social development of the poor and predominantly African-American neighborhood that surrounds it? What is the impact of this show on the mostly middle-class audiences visiting it for probably the first time? What lessons can this show provide city and arts planners looking to integrate arts and culture projects into community development? This project includes an examination of key economic indicators, an analysis of public and leadership opinion, and an investigation of similar art based redevelopment strategies, and recommendations for future endeavors of this type.
The Creative Engine — January 28, 2003
Neil Scott Kleiman, Director, and Robin Keegan, Deputy Director, Center for an Urban Future, New York
In dialogue with Terry Clark, Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago
10:00 a.m.-noon
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Subtitled "How Art and Culture is Fueling Economic Growth in New York City Neighborhoods," the report documents the roles of arts and culture in growth from Harlem to Queens over the past decade, and offers recommendations on how to make arts-fueled economic development happen. The issues it raises are important for both arts and culture organizations and for cities and neighborhoods, many of which could reap great benefits from the type of arts and culture-fueled growth that some communities already have experienced.
Advocacy and State Cultural Policy — May 6, 2002
Jonathan Katz, CEO, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
In dialogue with Lawrence Rothfield, Associate Professor of English, Faculty Director, Cultural Policy Center, the University of Chicago
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
State government support has been for some time an increasingly important revenue stream for the arts, culture, and the humanities in the United States. Advocacy at the state level for the arts has been a particularly marked success, reflected in budget allocations surpassing the growth rate of state government overall. What is the infrastructure for advocacy at the state level? What works best and what are future challenges? What lessons learned from state-level culture advocacy apply to other levels of public sector advocacy and to increasing resources for cultural activities in general? Dr. Katz and Professor Rothfield will discuss these issues in light of the CPC grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to carry out an initial study of the cultural policy network in the state of Washington.
Read a transcript of Katz's presentation.
Arts and Culture and City Revitalization — April 15, 2002
Robert Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts
In dialogue with Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology, the University of Chicago
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
How have arts and culture initiatives helped to revitalize struggling communities and make successful communities even stronger? What lessons can be gleaned for Chicago and its wide variety of neighborhood and communities? Robert Lynch heads Americans for the Arts, an arts information clearinghouse dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for Americans to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Saskia Sassen is one of the foremost theoreticians of globalization and the information society, with a particular interest in the global city.
What is the Likely Future of Federal Cultural Funding? — March 4, 2002
Stanley N. Katz, Director, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University
In dialogue with Don Michael Randel, President and Trustee of the University of Chicago
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Stanley Katz, Professor and Director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is President Emeritus of the American Council of Learned Societies. His research has long focused upon the relation of philanthropic funding to public policy. The author and editor of numerous books and articles, his piece "Rethinking the Humanities Endowment" appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2001. Don Michael Randel is a distinguished scholar of music and has been President of the University of Chicago since 2000.
Cultural Policy in Ireland in an International Context — February 4, 2002
Patricia Quinn, Director, Irish Arts Council
In dialogue with Mark Schuster, MIT & Visiting Professor of Cultural Policy, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
The contemporary arts in Ireland recently have experienced a growth in government funding and a larger share of political attention than ever before. A third national strategy for arts development has been prepared and submitted by the Arts Council to Government, and when adopted, will provide a planning framework for arts development until 2006. Patricia Quinn discusses some of the implications of adopting an evidence-based approach to planning for the arts in Ireland, and Mark Schuster offers an international comparative framework.
Getting Down to the Basics: Fundamental Research into Cultural Preferences and Success — March 29, 2001
Don Coursey, The University of Chicago Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies
& Colm O'Muircheartaigh, The Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies & NORC
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive, Room 600
Two new projects at the University of Chicago explore innovative ways to measure the basic but elusive experiences at the heart of a cultural institution’s success. Professor Coursey examines the ways people make decisions about investing time in cultural activities, and Professor O’Muircheartaigh is developing a sophisticated new survey instrument to accurately assess the aesthetic experiences of museum visitors.
Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and the Columbia College Chicago Center for Arts Policy
The Social Impact of the Informal Arts in Chicago Neighborhoods — March 16, 2001
Alaka Wali, Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, The Field Museum
& Elena Marcheschi, Columbia College Chicago Center for Arts Policy
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive, Room 600
The multitude of creative artistic experiences that fall outside traditional non-profit and commercial settings are known as "unincorporated" or "informal" arts. This research investigates the composition of the informal portion of the arts sector within specific communities, studying its relationship to the non-profit and commercial parts of the sector, and exploring its social impact on participants, their communities, and beyond.
Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and the Columbia College Chicago Center for Arts Policy
Art and Culture through a Neighborhood Lens: Implications for the Development of Cultural Policy — March 1, 2001
Maria-Rosario Jackson & Joaquin Herranz, The Urban Institute
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive, Room 600
How are art and culture valued at the neighborhood level? How can they be integrated into broader policy and planning discussions about neighborhood well-being? This project studies the ways residents, community builders, artists, and arts administrators who live and work in a neighborhood perceive the role of arts and culture in it. By better understanding the complex relationship between neighborhood and culture, the project aims to provide tools for creating policies and programs that can improve quality of life, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and the Columbia College Chicago Center for Arts Policy
The Future of the Performing Arts in America — February 8, 2001
Kevin McCarthy & Arthur Brooks, The RAND Corporation
Noon-3:00 p.m.
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, 450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive, Room 600
The best of times or the worst of times? Many observers of arts and culture in the United States at the dawn of the 21st century aren't sure. The Pew Charitable Trusts have commissioned the RAND Corporation to investigate the arts landscape in an effort to answer this question. This presentation exhibits the highlights of RAND's research.
Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and the Columbia College Chicago Center for Arts Policy