Jessica Cochran has left her position as Curator of Exhibitions and Programs at the Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago. She was there four years and curated group exhibitions such as “Social Paper” and “Structures for Reading.” Cochran is now curator of a private contemporary art collection.
Cortney Lederer has resigned as Director of Exhibitions and Residencies at the Chicago Artists Coalition, where she worked from 2011-2014. At the CAC, Lederer designed residency programs for artists and curators (called “Bolt” and “Hatch”). She is pursuing an independent art consulting and curating company, CNL Art Consulting.
Jamilee Polson Lacy has accepted a position as Director and Curator of Providence College Galleries, in Rhode Island. While working as an independent curator in Chicago for many years, Polson Lacy organized the nomadic Twelve Galleries Project (founded in 2008), and was managing editor of the Bad at Sports blog. She says that the Providence College Galleries is a new initiative supported by a capital campaign to exhibit contemporary art at the college, and is modeled on UIC’s Gallery 400. She will return to Chicago periodically with her husband, Stephen Lacy (of Academy Records), to complete forthcoming exhibitions at Western Exhibitions and Columbia College Chicago, among other projects.
Tempestt Hazel is the new Arts Program Manager at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park. She will work to grow their residency, exhibitions and public programs. Hazel was formerly the Professional Development Manager at the Chicago Artists Coalition (from 2012-2014), and continues to curate independently and administer the arts website Sixty Inches from Center.
Joel Kuennen, former Chicago Editor at ArtSlant (from 2012-2014) is relocating to New York City to become ArtSlant’s Director of Operations. ArtSlant is an international website that publishes art criticism and features in sixteen cities.
Daniel Tucker has accepted the position of Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Manager at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, where he will spearhead two new graduate art programs in community engagement. Tucker received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2013, and has contributed art criticism to this publication, among many other projects.
Nicole White has accepted a full-time lecturer position on the Photography faculty at the University of Kentucky. White was formerly Assistant Director at Schneider Gallery, a photography gallery in River North, and co-organized exhibitions since February, 2013, at independent art venue 3433 in Albany Park, which she “quietly disbanded in June.”
United States Artists, an arts-granting foundation that recently relocated from Los Angeles to Chicago at the behest of new Chief Executive Director Carolina Jayaram, has hired two additional staff: Britton Bertran as the Fellows Program Officer, and Meg Leary as Director of Programs. Bertran was formerly Educational Programs Manager at Urban Gateways, and Leary was Communications and Program Officer at the Irving Harris Foundation.
