CAA News

The Career Services Guide is designed to inform job seekers and employers about career services at the 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago. The publication, which will help you navigate Career Services events and provides answers to frequently asked questions, is available now as a PDF. Study this guide carefully so that you will know what to expect from conference interviewing and how best to prepare for a successful experience.

Job candidates can review the basics of the conference employment search. Read about Orientation, the introduction to Career Services where you can ask questions, and the Candidate Center, your home base at the conference. Also, learn more about the Online Career Center, where you can search for position listings, post application materials, and arrange interviews. The guide includes tips for improving your CV, portfolio, and supplemental application materials.

Employers will find details in the guide for renting interview booths or tables as well as recommendations for posting jobs and conducting interviews at the conference. You can begin preparations now for Career Services through the Online Career Center or onsite at the Interviewer Center.

The Career Services Guide will also be published with the January 2010 issue of CAA News, and copies will be handed out at Orientation and in the Candidate’s Center. All conference Career Services will take place at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. For more information about job searching, professional-development workshops, and more, visit the Career Services section of the conference website.

CAA is committed to supporting and advancing the careers of arts professionals. As a CAA member, you have access to a diverse range of mentors at Career Services during the 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago. All emerging, midcareer, and even advanced arts professionals can benefit from one-on-one discussions with dedicated mentors about career-management skills, artists’ portfolios, and professional strategies.

You can enroll in either the Artists’ Portfolio Review or Career Development Mentoring. These sessions are offered free of charge.

Artists’ Portfolio Review

The Artists’ Portfolio Review offers artist members the opportunity to have slides, digital images, or DVDs of their work reviewed by curators and critics in personal twenty-minute consultations at the 2010 Annual Conference. You may bring battery-powered laptops; wireless internet, however, is not available in the room. Sessions are filled by appointment only and are scheduled for Thursday, February 11, and Friday, February 12, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.

All applicants must be current CAA members. Participants are chosen by a lottery of applications received by the deadline; all applicants are notified by email. To apply, download, complete, and return the Career Development Enrollment Form or use the form in the 2010 Conference Information and Registration booklet, which was mailed in October. Please send the completed form to: Artists’ Portfolio Review, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; fax: 212-627-2381. Deadline: January 11, 2010.

Career Development Mentoring

Artists, art historians, art educators, and museum professionals at all stages of their careers may apply for one-on-one consultations with veterans in their fields at the 2010 Annual Conference. Career Development Mentoring offers a unique opportunity for participants to receive candid advice on how to conduct a thorough job search, present work, and prepare for interviews. Sessions are filled by appointment only and are scheduled for Thursday, February 11, and Friday, February 12, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.

All applicants must be current CAA members. Participants are chosen by a lottery of applications received by the deadline; all applicants are notified by email. To apply, download, complete, and return the Career Development Enrollment Form or use the form in the 2010 Conference Information and Registration booklet, which was mailed to you in October. Please send the completed form to: Career Development Mentoring, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; fax: 212-627-2381. Deadline: January 11, 2010.

Become a Mentor

CAA also seeks mentors for the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring at the 2010 Annual Conference. Participating as a mentor is an excellent way to serve the field while assisting the professional growth of the next generation of artists and scholars.

Participating as a mentor in CAA’s two Career Services mentoring programs at the Annual Conference—the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring—is an excellent way to serve the field while assisting the professional growth of the next generation of artists and scholars.

Artists’ Portfolio Review

CAA seeks curators and critics to participate in the Artists’ Portfolio Review during the 2010 Annual Conference in Chicago. This program provides an opportunity for artists to have slides, digital images, or DVDs of their work critiqued by professionals; member artists are paired with a critic, curator, or educator for twenty-minute appointments. Whenever possible, artists are matched with mentors based on medium or discipline. Volunteer mentors provide an important service to artists, enabling them to receive professional criticism of their work. Art historians and studio artists must be tenured; critics, museum educators, and curators must have five years’ experience. Curators and educators must have current employment with a museum or university gallery.

Interested candidates must be current CAA members, register for the conference, and be willing to provide at least five successive twenty-minute critiques in a two-hour period on one of the two days of the review: Thursday, February 11, and Friday, February 12, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day. Send your CV and a brief letter of interest to Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs. Deadline: December 4, 2009.

Career Development Mentoring

CAA seeks mentors from all areas of art history, studio art, art education, film and video, graphic design, the museum professions, and other related fields to serve in CAA’s Career Development Mentoring. Mentors give valuable advice to emerging and midcareer professionals, reviewing cover letters, CVs, slides and digital images, and other pertinent job-search materials in twenty-minute sessions.

Interested candidates must be current CAA members, register for the conference, and be prepared to give five successive twenty-minute critiques in a two-hour period on one of the two days of the session: Thursday, February 11, and Friday, February 12, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day. Art historians and studio artists must be tenured; critics, museum educators, and curators must have five years’ experience. Curators and educators must have current employment with a museum or university gallery.

This mentoring session is not intended as a screening process by institutions seeking new hires. Applications are not accepted from individuals whose departments are conducting a faculty search in the field in which they are mentoring. Mentors should not attend as candidates for positions in the same field in which workshop candidates may be applying. Send your CV and a brief letter of interest to Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs. Deadline: December 4, 2009.

CAA is pleased to announce two more National Career Development Workshops, to be held next month in Pittsburgh and Detroit. Throughout 2009–10, CAA is offering eight workshops across America, providing essential training to emerging and midcareer visual artists.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: November 10

The next CAA National Career Development Workshop, entitled “Artists & Communities: Hybrid & Hyphenated,” will take place at the Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC) on November 10, 2009, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The workshop, held from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM with a postworkshop gathering for networking, is a collaboration between CAA and SCC.

After morning registration and a light breakfast, the workshop will be introduced by Susan Schear, CAA national workshop project consultant. Topics for the day will cover networking, artist and digital communities, crafting an art career, community resources, and practical business application. Lunch will be provided, and a tour of the exhibition, Transformation7: Contemporary Works in Wood, will take place.

Workshop presenters include Elizabeth Perry, a writer and new-media artist; Brigitte Martin, a jewelry maker; Laura Jean McLaughlin, a ceramicist; and representatives from the Lawrenceville Corporation, the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, Braddock Redux, and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.

General admission is $30; $15 for students and seniors. A limited number of stipends are available—please contact Susan Schear. To attend the workshop, please call 412-261-7003, ext. 26, or send an email to SCC. Credit cards are accepted through PayPal on the SCC website. Please make checks payable to College Art Association.

Detroit, Michigan: November 20–21

For the next National Career Development Workshop, CAA will host a two-day event in Michigan that will focus on students and artists living, working, and practicing in the greater Detroit area. The workshop takes place November 20–21, 2009, at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and will include participation from several universities, colleges, and institutions, including the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Wayne State University, Oakland University, and Lawrence Technical University. The workshop runs from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM each day.

CAA spoke to directors and chairs of programs in the region to garner information and ideas regarding needs for professional development for students and communities. The workshops will address overall protocol; developing a strong and compelling professional portfolio (writing, photography, etc.); researching and writing grants; how to approach a gallery and getting into galleries and other locations; securing residencies and fellowships; marketing and networking; the role of technology and social media; how to transform skills for other jobs or positions in and outside the arts (including teaching, museums, galleries, and design); participating in fairs (e.g., fine arts, design firms, architecture); and listening to stories, dos and don’ts, and recommendations from successful practitioners, artists in various disciplines, and business owners.

The workshop cost, with a discount for students and seniors, will be announced soon. Breakfast and lunch will be included.

About the Workshops

CAA’s National Career Development Workshops are supported by a second generous grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. Topics are chosen in discussion with each venue and its constituents, and range in format and subject in order to provide relevant and useful career-development counsel.

CAA News is pleased to present a special web-only feature article, Leading the Full Life: Balancing Career and Family, based on a roundtable discussion of the same name that took place at the 2009 CAA Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Participants in the discussion, led by an artist, Marie Thibeault, and an art historian, Nicola Courtright, talked about the possibilities, successes, and troubles of balancing a professional life as an artist or academic with personal goals of having a family and raising children.

Afterward, Thibeault asked a number of artists—nine women and one man—to write about their experiences of being a parent while maintaining an active art practice. The participating artists for “Leading the Full Life” are Constance Mallinson, Hagop Najarian, Amy Thornberry, Sandra Dal Poggetto, Virginia Katz, Philippa Blair, Nancy Curran, Hilary Norcliffe, Tera Galanti, and Christina Shurts.

Part-time faculty in the state of Oregon scored a victory late last month, when their state legislature overwhelmingly approved the Oregon Faculty and College Excellence (FACE) Act. The bill will provide access to healthcare insurance to part-time faculty at community colleges and universities through the Oregon Educator’s Benefit Board plan. The bill also requires schools to track and annually report on faculty staffing and salary ratios, to be reviewed by the legislature and governor.

The Senate vote was unanimous: 30-0; the House passed the bill 54 to 1. The FACE Act now goes to Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski for his signature. Jillian Smith and Rob Wagner from AFT Oregon have the complete story.

Faculty and College Excellence (FACE), a branch of the American Federation of Teachers, is a national campaign that advocates for equity in pay and benefits for contingent faculty members through organizing, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining. Another goal is to ensure that three-quarters of undergraduate courses are taught by full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty, and that qualified contingent faculty have the opportunity to move into such positions when they become available. The Oregon legislation is the first time that elements of FACE have been adopted by a state.

CAA has 135 individual and 21 institutional members in Oregon.

“My original source of income for the summer (teaching) has fallen through, so I am a bit desperate to find a job,” asks a graduate student of two career specialists at the Chronicle of Higher Education. In the form of a conversation, Julie Miller Vick of the University of Pennsylvania and Jennifer S. Furlong of Columbia University give excellent advice in the Career Talk section of the newspaper’s website.

Among the suggestions provided by Vick and Furlong:

• “If you have experience working with archives, approach museum and university archives in your geographic area to see if they need part-time help with any projects that align with your background”
• “Besides writing, editing and research, think about other areas in which you might build your expertise, such as Web design, graphics applications, computer programming that relates to your discipline, presentation skills, and foreign-language skills”
• “Be sure that you put together a timeline of things you’d like to accomplish this summer and into the fall”

Read the full article—and the entire column archives—at the Chronicle’s Career Talk section.

CAA has received funding from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation to offer two additional years of National Career Development Workshops for artists in 2009–10. The grant allows CAA to continue the 2007–8 program in which ten workshops were presented at various locations in the United States.

Held in underserved areas, the workshops are designed to meet the specific needs of artists in each region. In the past, topics have included presentation skills, writing artist statements, networking, planning, grant preparation, and career options. The workshops have been highly successful, and CAA has forged partnerships with schools, art museums, co-op galleries, and art societies across the nation.

Artworks in Trenton, New Jersey, is the location for the first 2009–10 workshop. Scheduled for May 9, from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM, it will provide tools, tips, resources, best practices, and networking opportunities for artists. Also taking place is a postworkshop networking reception, just around the corner at the Mill Hill Saloon, 300 South Broad Street, in Trenton.

The cost for the complete day, including breakfast and lunch, is $25 ($15 for students and seniors). Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis; contact Artworks at 609-394-9436 to confirm your place. For details regarding the day’s schedule, write to Artworks or Susan Schear, CAA national workshop project consultant.

The Trenton workshop is cosponsored by the Arts and Business Council of Greater Trenton, in partnership with Artworks and the College of New Jersey.

You can enroll in either the Artists’ Portfolio Review or Career Development Mentoring at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. These sessions are offered free of charge.

Artists’ Portfolio Review
The Artists’ Portfolio Review offers artist members the opportunity to have slides, VHS videos, digital images, or DVDs of their work reviewed by curators and critics in personal twenty-minute consultations at the 2009 Annual Conference. You may bring battery-powered laptops; wireless internet is not available in the room. Sessions are filled by appointment only and are scheduled for Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.

All applicants must be current CAA members. Participants are chosen by a lottery of applications received by the deadline; all applicants are notified by email. To apply, download the Career Development Enrol­lment Form or use the form in the Conference Information and Registration booklet. Please send the completed form to: Artists’ Portfolio Review, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Deadline: January 16, 2009.

Career Development Mentoring
Artists, art historians, art educators, and museum professionals at all stages of their careers may apply for one-on-one consultations with veterans in their fields at the 2009 Annual Conference. Career Development Mentoring offers a unique opportunity for participants to receive candid advice on how to conduct a thorough job search, present work, and prepare for interviews. Sessions are filled by appointment only and are scheduled for Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.

All applicants must be current CAA members. Participants are chosen by a lottery of applications received by the deadline; all applicants are notified by email. To apply, please download the Career Development Enrollment Form or use the form in the Conference Information and Registration booklet. Please send the completed form to: Career Development Mentoring, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Deadline: January 16, 2009.

The Career Services Guide is designed to inform job seekers and employers about career services that are available at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Examine this guide carefully so that you will know what to expect from conference interviewing and how best to prepare for a successful experience.

The Career Services Guide will also be published in the January 2009 issue of CAA News as a colored-paper insert; copies will also be available at Orientation and in the Candidate’s Center at the conference.

All Career Services will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California. For more information about job searching, visit the Career Services section of the conference website.