For Immediate Release Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383
February 4, 2005
Chicago, IL - After an extensive nationwide search, Jane M. Saks (42) - cultural leader, community activist and poet - has been appointed as the founding Executive Director of Columbia College Chicago's Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media.
"I am thrilled with the selection of Jane as our founding director," says Ellen Stone Belic, Columbia trustee and search committee member, "this project has been a dream of mine for years." Belic, who not only envisioned, but helped fund the Institute, notes that "the exploration of the intersection of gender, culture and creativity is a passion of Jane's and her high profile in the Chicago arts and philanthropic communities means she can hit the ground running to develop the Institute into something truly significant."
Saks, who has been serving since 1996 as the Director of Advancement for the College of Architecture and the Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago, views this as an opportunity to build a world-class initiative from the ground up.
"This is an incredible opportunity for me professionally and personally. Columbia is one of the most innovative arts and media educational institutions in the country. With the internal resources of vibrant, creative faculty, staff and students, I believe the Institute can be a place to debate, present, investigate and respond to some of the most important issues of our society and culture, and will become a rich civic resource for the city and a model of programming, policy and scholarship." Saks explains. "There is no Institute like this one anywhere in the country. With unprecedented institutional vision and support from Columbia College and guidance from key faculty, students and an advisory board that will include a broad base of community representation, and critical philanthropic support, we can create an Institute that is local, national and international in its vision and engagement."
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The focus of the Institute - which also received federal funding support through the efforts of Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) - will include production, presentation, partnerships, research and scholarship addressing issues of women, gender, arts, media, representation and access. Programs will include interdisciplinary, curriculum-based resource development with a wide range of external partners and Columbia faculty collaborators; mentoring and leadership development; visiting scholars, Columbia faculty scholars in-residence, research on issues of gender and the media; public programming, conferences, performances, lectures and publications; and an international artist-in-residence program.
"I envision the Institute bringing together the poetic and the practical, the theoretical and the applied, the academic and the 'real world.' I look forward to the Institute working closely with the academic departments and schools of the college and with the other prestigious Centers at Columbia including the Center for Black Music Research, the Center for Arts Policy and the Center for Asian Arts and Media, providing a strong resource base for Columbia's students and faculty and for the larger arts and civic communities." Saks said.
"Our search took more than 18 months, but it was worth the wait," says Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Columbia's dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and head of the search committee. "The scope and success of Jane's work around issues of gender in relation to culture and creativity, her outstanding record of community development, commitment to inclusiveness, diversity and youth development, expertise in collaborative initiatives and her breathtaking level of energy will make our dreams for the Institute a reality."
Jane M. Saks is a Chicago native and graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Her experience includes art gallery management, exhibition curation, collaboration building and consulting in the areas of philanthropy and programming for clients including the Chicago Community Trust, the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation and the Chicago Public Library.
During her tenure at UIC, in addition to her fund raising and communications/publications responsibilities, Saks helped to create and advance a wide range of educational, interdisciplinary projects, public/private collaborations and community partnerships. Examples include: "Mayors' Institute on City Design, School Design as a Catalyst for Community Development," "International Summer Institute in Digital Media," "At the Edge"-- an annual series of six artist-curated exhibitions, the exhibition "Between Sound and Vision," "Architectural Graduate Design Studio Focused on Brooks Extension, ABLA Homes" -- and extensive visiting artists and artists-in-residence program.
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Saks has created projects in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Chicago Housing Authority, the Joyce Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Schools, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Chicago Public Library, The Field Museum, The Rural Studio, The Mexican Fine Arts Museum Center and many arts and community groups.
She sits on several advisory boards including the Chicago Foundation for Women, South Africa's Constitutional Court Architectural Artworks Programme Committee and the City of Chicago Mayor's Design Initiative.
In addition, she serves, or has served, on numerous other boards, task forces, advisory boards, juries and committees including The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Annual Individual Artists Awards, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Individual Artists Grants, Sculpture Chicago, Randolph Street Gallery, Horizons Community Services, City of Chicago/Public Arts Program, Chicago International Artists Program, Young Women's Leadership Charter School, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, the Chicago Reporter and Project 2000/Human Relations Foundation. She was a 2003/2004 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow.
Jane M. Saks has published poetry and essays in literary and art periodicals including Dialogue Magazine, The Poet's Voice, Miami Art Museum, and ApexArt.
As a writer, she has collaborated with visual artists including, Kerry James Marshall, Jim Hodges and Inigo Ovalle-Manglano. She has been a visiting lecturer and critic and has taught workshops at institutions and organizations that include, Northwestern University, DePaul University, the School of the Art Institute, New York University, PEN International, the Harlem Community Center, the Orleans Parish Prison, the College Art Association and the Guild Complex.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.