Kate Dumbleton

Associate Professor, Arts Administration and Policy. BA, 1989, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; MA, 2008, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Concurrent Positions: Artistic and Executive Director, Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Productions: Rovate '04, Mirror Ball '05, Glass Head '06; Fixtures and Fissures '09; Hyde Park Jazz Festival, 2012-present. Recordings: The Sophisticate, Port Chicago, Harriet Tubman. Music Curator/Consultant: Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco; Cafe Royale, San Francisco; Bruno's Jazz Club, San Francisco; Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago; Jazz Institute of Chicago; Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago; UChicago Presents. Board of Directors: Enrich Chicago; ArtsFirst Chicago.

I have been a part of the SAIC faculty since 2008, first as part-time faculty and now as an Associate Professor. I am also an alumna of the Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy program. It is impossible to overstate how much the SAIC community has meant to my life and work. SAIC is a fascinating environment in which to engage in critical questions about culture. It is a place for makers, thinkers, producers, organizers, designers, advocates, curators, creators, philanthropists, innovators... and on and on. SAIC embraces complexity and all its attributes. It is also a warm community that supports student learning with profound depth and commitment.

My teaching philosophy is based on placing students at the crux of theory-practice. I try to create a learning environment in which students are continually and critically engaged with history, theory, and creative practice in the context of making things happen in real time. It is my hope that students in my classes are actively engaged in creating the future, not simply learning skills for the present. I want students to practice making change. This is what I hope the Management Studio does through a diverse set of experiences.

My own work for the last 20 years has been primarily in jazz and improvised music. In all of my work is a fundamental interest in how and why ideas, people, and systems organize; how to continually shape environments that support experimentation and creativity; and what it means to lead emergent systems. I am interested in the interplay between composition (or structure) and improvisation (emergence).

My current work aside from SAIC is as the Executive and Artistic Director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on the South Side of Chicago. The South Side has a rich history in jazz and improvised music, from Louis Armstrong to the black experimentalist movement of the AACM. The Festival is a fascinating evolving cultural model and a major production annually. In addition to this, I work closely with the individual artists to support their efforts to develop various aspects of their work.

Kate Dumbleton is an Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Executive and Artistic Director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Kate’s work in jazz, improvised music, and performance spans nearly three decades and includes music direction for jazz clubs and festivals; curatorial direction of artist residences; direction of interdisciplinary projects in music, dance, theater, visual art, film; venue and record label management; administrative direction; and artist management. Since Kate joined the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in 2012, the organization has grown significantly, including the launch of a commissioning program, the development of neighborhood initiatives, multi-organization symposia, and the cultivation of international artist exchange projects. She serves on multiple curatorial committees, advisory councils and boards. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors with Enrich Chicago and ArtsFirst Chicago. 

Collaboration and coalition building; commissioning and developing new work; advocating for individual artist support; urban planning and cultural programming; environmentalism sustainability/adaptation; systems theory; improvisation as methodology; black experimental music; design theory; cultural justice.