40 students + 14 creative professionals = 1 dynamic evening.
The Denison Museum recently hosted a creative career match-up - a sort of speed-dating event that matched students interested in creative careers with professionals in the arts.
More than 40 Denison students attended the event. They met for five-minute bursts with a series of local creatives from a variety of fields, including music, design, multimedia, conservancy, and more.
Megan Hancock, senior curator of education and exhibitions at the Denison Museum, said, “This event is for the entire student body - all majors and minors - interested in seeing how their skills translate into creative industries. So, you can be a lawyer, CEO, or CTO at a museum. You can use your history degree and work for an Arts Council - even take your computer science degree and work for Orange Barrel.”
Denison’s Knowlton Career Center provides career communities for students that bring together the people, opportunities, tools, and resources needed to plan for what’s next after Denison. The Visual, Written, and Performing Arts Career Community explores environments where individuals can imagine, innovate, and inspire a creative and artistic life. Students interested in becoming performers, novelists, journalists, editors, designers, producers, filmmakers, or combining their creative skillset with another field, learn how to build an exciting, and often unconventional, career path.
The panelists shared lots of great advice:
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” said Megan Cavaugh, COO of the Wexner Center for the Arts.
“You can’t do it all as one person,” said Sarah Barr, executive director at Wild Goose Creative, “Surround yourself with people who have the passion and skill to make your organization thrive.”
“Fail as much as you can” offered Joey Gurwin, owner and producer of Oranjudio Recording.
Students gained other insights, too.
Studio Arts BFA candidate Timah Bey ‘23 learned of many new potential careers.”It was very enlightening to meet all these people in fields that are not necessarily in their artistic practices.”
Seyeong Hanlim is a senior majoring in political science, philosophy, and studio art. “I attended to explore future career paths, and gain further thought on how to merge my passion for both art and law,” she said. “Deidre Hamlar, lawyer and program director at Columbus Museum of Art, offered me great advice on how she managed to pursue art and law in her life. She said something that resonated with my heart: ‘My stand was with social justice, equity, and law, but my passion was in the arts…and I found that law and art are interactive fields.’”
Professionals who attended the event include:
- Sarah Barr: executive director of Wild Goose Creative
- Amy Butler: designer & co-founder Amy Butler LTD.
- Megan Cavanaugh: COO for the Wexner Center for the Arts
- Heather Galloway: conservator for Galloway Art Conservation
- Currecia Gamble: director of Community Engagement & Partnerships at Orange Barrel Media
- Joey Gurwin: owner/producer at Oranjudio Recording
- Deidre Hamlar: director Aminah Robinson Legacy Project and Curator at Large at the Columbus Museum of Art
- Tim Juengst: executive director of the Midland Theatre
- Dan Katona: deputy director for the Ohio Arts Council
- Michelle Maguire: freelance prop and set stylist
- Ellen McDevitt-Stredney: creative director at Oologie
- James McDevitt-Stredney: director of No Place Gallery
- Stephen Montague: owner, Artificial/Columbus Ohio
- Mary Rathke: senior TV producer and videographer manager at WOSU Public Media
