Committees
Services to Artists Committee
Description
The Services to Artists Committee (SAC) was formed by the CAA Board of Directors in order to seek broader participation by artists and designers in the organization and the Annual Conference. SAC identifies and addresses concerns facing artists and designers; creates and implements programs and events at the conference and beyond; explores ways to encourage greater participation and leadership in CAA; and identifies ways to establish closer ties with other arts professionals and institutions.
Recent Projects
Since the 2001 Annual Conference in Chicago, the Services to Artists Committee has programmed ARTspace, the “conference within a conference” that presents a series of innovative programs of special interest to artists, though people of all disciplines are welcome. The committee has begun formulating plans for thematic days for ARTspace.
SAC is also in the midst of an ongoing conversation and reevaluation of its core mission and is discussing ways in which the community created by ARTspace could continue to benefit CAA members outside the Annual Conference. Committee members have a strong desire to implement programming that would facilitate an exchange of ideas of artist members throughout the year. Currently under a regular three-year review, the committee discussed these type of projects at its business meeting at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles as a follow-up to the review process.
SAC also works with the Exhibitions Committee to promote exhibition opportunities that are comparable to CAA’s prestigious publications program.
ARTspace
ARTspace offers an informal, dynamic setting with morning coffee hours, sessions and panels, and other social events. Past sessions and presentations have covered artists’ residencies, health and safety issues, and conservators speaking on artists’ materials. Other diverse, timely panels have addressed arts funding, politics and art, censorship, and criticism. For the Annual Artist’s Interviews, renowned artists, usually those with long-standing connections to the host city, are invited to discuss their work publicly with a respected colleague.
Related SAC activities at the conference include the Media Lounge, which allows artists to present single-channel video or interactive work in a continuously running program. Another successful event, first held at the 2004 Annual Conference in Seattle, is ARTexchange, which allows artists to present portfolios of drawings, photographs, sculptures, paintings, prints, books, and work on battery-powered laptops on, under, or above six-foot tables. The call for participation for the Media Lounge and ARTexchange is published in the September and November issues of CAA News.
Read about events in past ARTspaces:
- 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles
- 2008 Annual Conference in Dallas–Fort Worth
- 2007 Annual Conference in New York
- 2006 Annual Conference in Boston
2010 Annual Conference
The following committee-sponsored session will take place in ARTspace at the 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago.
Meta-Mentors: Opt Out of Obscurity
Friday, February 12, 12:30 PM–2:00 PM
Columbus GHIJ, Gold Level, East Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chairs: Sabina Ott, Columbia College Chicago; Reni Gower, Virginia Commonwealth University
Curator’s Perspective
Michelle Grabner, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Suburban
Critic’s Perspective
Corey Postiglione, Columbia College Chicago and Artforum
Gallerist’s Perspective
Gosia Koscielak, Koscielak Gallery
Producer's Perspective
Duncan MacKenzie, Bad at Sports: Contemporary Art Talk
Richard Holland, Bad at Sports: Contemporary Art Talk
Committee Members
Brian Bishop, Framingham State College, chair (2011)
Thomas Berding, Michigan State University (2012)
Patricia Flores, Diablo Valley College (2011)
Ken Gonzales-Day, Scripps College, CAA board liaison
Reni Gower, Virginia Commonwealth University (2011)
Julie Green, Oregon State University (2012)
Sharon Louden, independent artist, New York (2013)
Sabina Ott, Columbia College Chicago (2012)
Vesna Pavlovic, Vanderbilt University (2013)
Patricia C. Phillips, Rhode Island School of Design (2012)
Melissa Potter, Columbia College Chicago (2012)
