CAA News

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published an article on what “Conference Rookies” should expect while on job hunts at academic conferences. Two academic career experts—Julie Miller Vick of the University of Pennsylvania and Jennifer S. Furlong of Columbia University’s Center for Career Education—provide tips and pointers on scheduling interviews, eating, organizing materials, and more.

CAA will soon publish its Career Services Guide on the conference website. The document will also appear in the forthcoming January issue of CAA News and be available at Orientation and in the Candidate Center at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. In the meantime, both job candidates and interviewers are encouraged to review CAA’s two Standards and Guidelines dealing with the job search—Etiquette for CAA Interviewers and Standards for Professional Placement—as well as to read CAA’s recommendations for preparing CVs and résumés for artists, art historians, and museum professionals.

CAA is now taking preorders of Graduate Programs in Art History: The CAA Directory. This easy-to-use directory includes over 260 schools and English-language academic programs in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and elsewhere worldwide. An index lists schools alphabetically and by state and country for quick reference.

Member Rate: $39.95 + shipping and handling
Nonmember Rate: $49.95 + shipping and handling

Please visit our online store to reserve your copy of the directory today. If you are ordering on behalf of an institution or department within a university, please use this form and submit via fax or post. At this time, online purchases can only be processed for individuals.

The directory is your indispensable, comprehensive guide to schools offering master’s, doctoral, and related degrees in art studies, including:

• History of Art and Architecture
• Visual Studies
• Museum Studies
• Curatorial Studies
• Arts Administration
• Library Science

Listings provide:

• Descriptions of specialized courses
• Number, names, and specializations of faculty
• Facilities such as libraries, image libraries, and labs
• Student opportunities for research and work
• Information on financial aid, fellowships, and assistantships
• Details on housing, health insurance, and other practical matters

Graduate Programs in the Visual Arts: The CAA Directory, which includes studio art, graphic design, applied arts and design, film production, art education, and conservation, will be available in early 2009.

Participating as a mentor in CAA’s two Career Services mentoring programs—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 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. This program provides an opportunity for artists to have slides, VHS videos, 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 26, and Friday, February 27, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.

Send your CV and a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, Artists’ Portfolio Review, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email them to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.

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 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 26, and Friday, February 27, 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.

Please send your CV and a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, Career Development Mentoring, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email them to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.

With the Alaska State Council on the Arts, CAA will present career-development workshops for visual artists on Saturday, November 8, 2008, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The workshops will be held at the BP Energy Center, 900 E. Benson Boulevard, in Anchorage.

In a panel discussion “How the Heck to Sell Work Outside” (9:30–10:45 AM), artists and arts professionals from the Anchorage and national art community will discuss the challenges of making work outside an established art market. Strategies for finding new markets and venues will be discussed.

In “Career Alternatives: Beyond the Gallery” (11:00 AM–NOON), Susan Schear will cover the spectrum of artist opportunities available today; what a graduate school degree means in today’s art market; and how to navigate the exhibition world, including galleries, art fairs, museums, and other venues.

In “Beyond Slides: Technology for Artists” (1:00–2:00 PM), presenter Mariano Gonzales will demonstrate basic techniques for documenting artwork and creating digital portfolios. The session will introduce the computer-based technologies used in developing and distributing artists’ portfolios. Participants will learn to prepare digital images for presentation onscreen and in print using affordable hardware and software solutions. CD portfolios, web galleries, PowerPoint slides, and PDF files will also be discussed.

In “Collaboration as an Artistic Practice” (2:15–3:45 PM), Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki ask the question, “Why collaborate?” As a model for this workshop, they will use their national, interview-based project Trappings, which is a collaboration not only between two artists but also with project participants and commissioning organizations. The artists will discuss the advantages, concerns, and challenges of collaboration that they have encountered in Trappings.

For preregistration, please call the Alaska State Council on the Arts toll free at 888-278-7424.

CAA’s National Career Development Workshops for artists are supported by a 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. For more information about the workshops, please write to Melissa Potter.

In locations around the country, CAA offers workshops for visual artists on a range of topics, from health and safety in the studio to grant writing to professional relationship building. Each workshop is developed in collaboration with regional institutions to serve the specific interests of their local constituencies. Please check back periodically as more workshops are announced for 2008. Below are two upcoming workshops.

Cleveland, Ohio
On October 22, 2008, 10:30 AM–3:00 PM, CAA will offer career-development workshops at the Cleveland Institute of Art. The program will take place at the Russell B. Aitken Auditorium and include “The Tools of Self-Promotion: How to Initiate and Build New Relationships,” with Jackie Battenfield; a lunch and networking event; and “Pricing Your Work,” with Susan Schear of ArtIsIn.

Anchorage, Alaska
On November 8, 2008, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, CAA will offer a day of professional-development workshops hosted by the Alaska State Council on the Arts at the BP Energy Center in Anchorage. The program will include a panel discussion called “How the Heck to Sell the Work Outside” and workshops entitled “Career Alternatives: How to Support Yourself as a Working Artist,” “Beyond Slides: How to Be an Artist in the Twenty-First Century,” and “Working in an Artist Collaborative,” presented by Two Girls Working. There will be an afternoon reception.

More Information
CAA’s National Career Development Workshops are supported by a generous grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. Questions regarding the workshops for artists should be directed to Melissa Potter, CAA career development associate.

Participating as a mentor in CAA’s two Career Services mentoring programs—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 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. This program provides an opportunity for artists to have slides, VHS videos, 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 26, and Friday, February 27, 8:00 AM–NOON and 1:00–5:00 PM each day.

Send your CV and a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, Artists’ Portfolio Review, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email them to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.

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 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 26, and Friday, February 27, 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.

Please send your CV and a brief letter of interest to: Lauren Stark, Career Development Mentoring, CAA, 275 Seventh Ave., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email them to lstark@collegeart.org. Deadline: December 12, 2008.

Applications for the 2008 Professional Development Fellowship Program are now available.

CAA awards fellowships in the amount of $15,000 to qualified graduate students in visual art and art history; grants may be used to help recipients with various aspects of their work, whether for their job-search expenses or purchasing materials for their studio. In addition, one or more fellowships are awarded to a PhD student specializing in American art; this award is made possible with support from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. As in the past, honorable mentions may also be recognized.

The main purpose of the fellowship program is to support outstanding graduate students from diverse backgrounds who may have been underrepresented in their fields. By offering financial assistance to promising MFA and PhD students, CAA can assist the rising generation during this important transitional period in their lives.

This year, application forms and requirements for both visual-art and art-history fellowships have changed. Submission of material by all applicants must now be sent on CD or DVD; slides, videocassettes, and some paperwork in hard copy are not accepted. Please go to the website for specific application requirements; published below are general guidelines.

Art-History Fellowships

Applicants to the art-history fellowships must include the following on a CD: application form; essay; CV; dissertation prospectus; sample dissertation chapter; and timetable for dissertation completion. Letters of recommendation; a copy of your 2007 IRS income-tax form or 2008 Free Application for Student Federal Aid (FASFA); and graduate transcript must be submitted in hard copy and mailed to CAA with the CD. Deadline: October 1, 2008; fellows are chosen by December 31, 2008.

Visual-Art Fellowships

Visual-art fellowship applicants must include the following on CD or DVD: application form; essay; résumé or CV; description of your MFA exhibition and its timetable; all visual documentation (up to six images of your work, properly labeled and formatted for both PC and Macintosh); and image script (caption list and short descriptions of the work). Letters of recommendation; a copy of your 2007 IRS income-tax form or 2008 Free Application for Student Federal Aid (FASFA); and graduate transcript must be submitted in hard copy and mailed to CAA with the CD or DVD. Deadline: October 1, 2008; fellows are chosen by December 31, 2008.