Graduate Overview

The Art of Arts Administration

The arts have always been at the vanguard of negotiating the most challenging cultural questions of the day. Exhibitions, performances, concerts, festivals, public art, social-practice projects, and countless other cultural experiences—both within and outside the walls of formal arts institutions—have informed and engaged populations; sparked transformational conversations; and catalyzed historic change.

Arts Administrators are charged and entrusted with shaping, maintaining, re-envisioning, and even revolutionizing the very platforms and organizational mechanisms through which arts-inspired conversation and change can occur. Understood like this, Arts Administrators are much more than mere conduits through which art must pass between artist and audience. They must be responsive, adaptive, dialogic problem-solvers and re-imaginers whose work with art and artists is, by nature, mutually creative.

The true art of Arts Administration is an intelligent elasticity: an ability to respond to emergent conditions generatively and with intention; to adjust platforms for expression as needs outgrow and circumvent them; and to remain always nimble, ethical, conversational, and visionary enough to navigate the frontiers where status quo meets change.

You + SAIC: The Future of Civic Imagination

Who you are:

• You’re curious, open-minded, socially engaged, and action-oriented.
• You know cultural expression and the arts are essential to the well-being of individuals and communities.
• You’re committed to digging deeply into discourse and action to reimagine systems and policy towards justice. 
• You enjoy the fluid, changeable nature of the terms “art,” “artist,” and “practice.” You know there is more than one answer to many of art’s questions.
• You’re interested in working with people from all over the world to collaboratively imagine and develop the future of arts administration.
• You’ve already begun. You’ve tried things; experimented on your own; engaged with people, places, projects, and ideas. You’re ready for more.

Who we are:

• We believe in our students. We are committed to developing and supporting their emerging visionary leadership so they will be prepared to reimagine arts and cultural organizations and create the future of the field.
• We explore, experiment, and connect—not in a static, theoretical learning space but in a real-time, real-world urban studio lab environment, using studio practice and methodology.
• We work collaboratively—not only because it’s an essential practice, but because it’s also the best way to a better future.
• We surround ourselves with artists and the arts. We learn from them, we learn for them, and we learn with them.
• We don’t work in isolation. We believe the arts are an essential part of cross-sectoral collaboration towards social change and we embrace partners from across fields of practice and lived experience.
• We engage daily with the vast and diverse resources of the Chicago cultural scene: our largest and most dynamic learning space.
• We hold firm that Arts Administration is a creative practice of its own, and we equip and empower our students to shape and sustain their own artistic and professional practices.
• We know that change happens only when multiple levels of advocacy and action work together. We think at the systems and policy level to build networks and power toward change that is environmentally sustainable and socially just. 

What students say:

• "I love the way that SAIC sees exploration as a priority (...). It’s only by exploring and seeking things out that you make meaningful connections to the world around you."
• "I feel more equipped to be a leader."
• "Experimentation was really emphasized, and looking at Arts Administration as an artistic practice in itself."
• "It’s not an MBA program that happens to be arts-related. It’s really taking a look at Arts Administration both alongside and integrated with contemporary art practice and theory."
• "SAIC is known for recruiting and bringing in—and producing—some of the best artists in the country. So, being part of that dynamic incubator was to my advantage in entering the art world."
• "Being in a studio and knowing what it was to be an artist was the best possible way to be able to represent artists when working inside of institutions, nonprofits, or museums."
• "I’m interested in a type of scholarly investigation which I think is really rigorous, but it doesn’t fit the mold of a certain kind of traditional scholarly work. The School of the Art Institute was really the only program that fit the needs that I had—that I have—and is actually unlike any Arts Administration program in the country."
• "There’s such a breadth of culture here in Chicago, and so many arts organizations..."
• "The depth of conversations that you get to have across such a wide range of scenarios within the field is amazing, and not something you can find anywhere else."

Our Students:

• Have hailed (to date) from North America, South America, Central America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
• Arrive with backgrounds in visual arts; dance; music; theater; cultural studies; art history; social sciences; law; philosophy; political science; education; social services; hospitality; urban studies; youth activism; social justice; social entrepreneurship; and more.
• Often work full-time jobs during their studies. They can be found at arts and cultural institutions throughout Chicago, and in leadership positions across the school and the museum, including the Office of Civic Engagement; the Sullivan Galleries; and Special Collections. To facilitate students' learning alongside work lives and cultural engagement, we schedule as many required classes and activities as possible in the evening.
• Have created wide ranging theses and thesis projects, such as “Adaptive Capacity: Necessary Components & Strategies for Contemporary Non-Profit Arts and Cultural Organizations”, “New Imaginations for the Role of the Museum Trustee”, “Following the Crowd: Understanding Donors Through Virtual Fundraising“, “Working at the Line: Three Studies of Arts Administration at the U.S.-Mexico Border”, “Balancing Dichotomies: Visioning an art administration paradigm for India”, “Racing Culture: Exploring Race, Inclusion and Equity in Arts Institutions”, “A Parallel World: Hip Hop Dance in China”, “Transferability of East Asian Arts Festivals in Rural Areas: Community Revitalization Through Creative Placemaking in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan”, “Creative Social Enterprise in Scotland: An Exploration of how Glasgow's Creative Social Enterprises Contribute to the Social Economy”, and “Rethinking Radio: Storytelling as Civic Activism”.  Abstracts can be perused in the MAAAP Thesis Archive.

Our Alumni:

• Support each other professionally and stay connected, trough alumni events and a dedicated LinkedIn Group
• Are invited back to share their experiences, give feedback to current students, and teach in our program
• Can be found in professional positions across Chicago, the US and globally. 
• Work at the J Paul Getty Museum, the Brain Research Foundation, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy; Christie’s, Artforum Magazine, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival, the Public Design Commission of the City of New York, the Peabody Essex Museum, Northwestern University, Reykjavik Art Museum, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Shenzen Bienniale, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Smithsonian Institution, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, The Field Museum, Young Chicago Authors, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, The Obama Foundation, Venice Architecture Biennale, and many others.

We bring leaders in culture and civic engagement into our classrooms to share their experiences and insights.

Recent guest speakers include:

• Tara Rodríguez Besosa (Co-Founder, El Departamento de la Comida; Member, OtraCosa Queer Land Collective, Borikén) 
• Vu Le (Speaker; Writer, NonprofitAF.com; Founder of RVC; Author of Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Build Epic Partnerships)
• Claire Rice (Executive Director, Arts Alliance Illinois)
• Petra Kuppers (Disability Culture Activist; Community Performance Artist)
• Hilesh Patel (Executive Director, Invisible Institute)
• Laura Zabel (Executive Director, Springboard for the Arts)
• Nikiko Masumot and Michael Rohd (Center for Performance and Civic Practice)
• Elizabeth Corr (Manager of Art Partnerships, National Resource Defense Council)
• Deborah Cullinan (Chief Executive Officer, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)
• Allison Glenn (Senior Curator and Director of Public Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston)
• David Callahan (Founder and Editor, Inside Philanthropy; Author of The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age)
• Marc Bamuthi Joseph (Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts)
• Abigail Winograd (MacArthur Fellows Program Fortieth Anniversary Exhibition Curator, Smart Museum of Art, Modern and Contemporary Art)
• Michael Levine (Vice President, Grenzebah Glier and Associates)
• Jonathan Vanderbrug (Deputy Director of Civic Engagement, Arts Alliance Illinois)
• Tara Willis (Associate Curator of Performance, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago)
• Megha Ralapti (Residency and Special Projects Manager, Hyde Park Art Center)
• Elizabeth Neukirtch (Assistant Vice President, Silverman Group)
• Allegra Burnett (Digital Media Consultant)
• Liz Madeja (Director of Content Marketing and Digital Experience, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
• Rebekah Levin (Evaluator; Consultant; Pathways Initiative)
• Kate Bowen, Alden Burke, and Adia Sykes (Project Directors, Chicago Arts Census)
• Roberto Bedoya (Cultural Affairs Manager, City of Oakland)
• Madeleine Grynsztejn (Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago)
• Peter Hyer (Director of the Media & Technology Portfolio, IDEO San Francisco)
• Carolina Jayaram (Former CEO, United States Artists; Current CEO, YoungArts)
• Ra Joy (Former Executive Director Arts Alliance Illinois. Current Executive Director, CHANGE Illinois)
• Jamie Kalven (Writer; Human Rights Activist; Director of the Invisible Institute)
• Tony Karmen (President and Director, EXPO Chicago)
• Faheem Majeed (Artist and Co-Director/Founder, Floating Museum)
• Ian David Moss (Founder, CreatEquity; CEO, Knowledge Empower Consultants)
• Caroline Older (Executive Director, Chicago Artists Coalition)
• Andreas Östberg (Founder, School of Rock, Mexico)
• Angelique Williams Power (Former Program Director, Culture, The Joyce Foundation; Current President, Field Foundation Illinois)
• Mike Reed (Musician; Composer; Founding Director, Pitchfork Music Festival; Programming Chair, Chicago Jazz Festival; Owner and Director, Constellation)
• Sarah Ross, Artist (Chicago Justice Torture Memorials; Prison and Neighborhood Arts Project)
• Laura Samson (Enterprise Strategy Lead, Boeing Global Engagement)
• Jacqueline Terrassa (Woman’s Board Endowed Chair of Museum Education, Art Institute of Chicago)
• Yesomi Umolu (Exhibitions Curator, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts)
• Roberta Uno (Director, Arts in a Changing America)