Atiya Dorsey graduated from the Heavener School of Business at the University of Florida in 2017. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration (Marketing) with minors in Dance and Entrepreneurship. As an African American curator and photographer, Atiya’s work examines the lens through which we view black bodies in the arts—especially within dance and film. More specifically, she strives to create strong, visual images through black & white photography in order to address pertinent issues that are plaguing Black communities such as gentrification and displacement. Atiya looks forward to continuing this work in Washington, DC after graduating from Teachers College. Continue reading “An Interview with Tia Dorsey, ARAD’s new Social Coordinator”→
Isabella Rivera is currently pursuing her Master’s in Arts Administration at Teachers College and is ARAD’s Social Media Coordinator. She recently graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez with a B.B.A. in Marketing and a Minor in Fine Arts. She also studied at UMass Amherst and Cornell University. Her passions lie in contemporary and feminist art, photography, and nonprofit work. Last year, her volunteer experience at the Museum of Art at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (MUSA)—as well as her aunt Carmen Fishler Ruiz—inspired her to further explore the art field as a career path, which she says “happily brought her to ARAD.”
What is your role as social media coordinator?
As social media coordinator, I oversee ARAD’s Facebook and Twitter social media platforms. My work involves creating content, researching and coordinating social media posts in collaboration with ARAD’s staff and faculty on a daily basis.
What do you look forward to within this position?
Now that I am Social Media Coordinator, one of the things I’m looking forward to is having the opportunity to meet more ARAD alumni and assist with my photography and editing skills during special events. I’m also very humbly excited to just be part of the team, learn, and grow closer to this amazing program at TC.
Why is ARAD’s social media important?
ARAD’s social media is important because we have the responsibility to inform and provide essential opportunities to alumni, prospective and current students. Keeping an active presence on Facebook and Twitter is a critical way to connect with our audience and develop the best marketing efforts for ARAD’s community and individuals interested in our program.
What past experiences help you with this job?
For most of my undergrad years, I was lucky enough to work in two part-time jobs that required creating ongoing original content and intensive digital marketing efforts, which have prepared me to work with ARAD’s platforms now. I love the flexibility and creative independence that goes into managing social media, and ARAD has given me the chance to explore that further more.
What else are you up to this semester?
This semester I’m taking courses at TC such as Cultural Policy, Organizational Psychology, P&P Visual Arts and Marketing for the Arts that will essentially help in my strategic planning when it comes to ARAD’s social media. I’ve also been wanting to broaden my skills and professional development further more within the Arts Administration field and have recently accepted an internship at Independent Curators International (ICI) in the development department for the Spring 2020 semester.
This Fall I had the honor to be an ARAD microgrant recipient for professional development. The grant helped me travel to Mexico where I presented in the Third Cultural Policies Forum organized by the Arts and Culture Observatory sponsored by my alma mater Universidad Iberoamericana and the Spanish Embassy in Mexico.
We’ve asked ARAD students to share more about their academic work with us. Sadie Yanckello, ARAD ’20 volunteered to discuss a paper she wrote for Arts In Context, taught by Dr. Jennifer Lena in the Fall 2018 semester.
Sunny Leerasanthanah was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and lives in New York City, where she is completing her MA at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2016, she received a BFA in Film, Photography, and Visual Arts at Ithaca College, New York. Sunny plans to work with non-profit visual arts organizations and institutions in the future, while balancing her work as a multidisciplinary artist. She has previously completed curatorial internships at the Brooklyn Museum, Public Art Fund, and most recently, Art21, where she contributed to their upcoming anthology book of interviews with international contemporary artists. In addition to work and graduate school, she enjoys working on different artistic projects.
Naomi Litman-Zelle is entering her second year in the Arts Administration program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology, and spent time after graduating working in the world of fundraising for an educational non-profit organization. Her interests include art museum education and community engagement with a focus on diversity and inclusion initiatives. While enrolled in ARAD, Naomi has interned at the Rubin Museum.
Naomi shared her reflections on life in ARAD with us (as well as a few of her cartoons!):
What attracted you to the Arts Administration Program at Teachers College, Columbia University?
I wanted to be in New York City, and after some research, I realized that TC would be a great fit for my interests. A lot of the faculty also have a social science background, which set the ARAD program here apart from other programs I was looking at. I also liked hearing at Admitted Student’s Day that the admissions committee carefully selected the cohorts so that there would be a broad range of interests and backgrounds. It’s been a real joy to learn so much from my fellow classmates.
What are the three things you need to have on you at all times?
I always carry an extra layer in my bag. In New York in general and especially at TC, you never know what the temperature in a room is going to be, so I always like to be prepared. Also, I usually have pens and a notebook with me for class and to doodle in on the train or during down time.
How are your studies helping to advance your career goals?
I think I’ve become more focused in what I want and I’ve made really great connections that will be useful to me when I graduate. Beyond just job opportunities, having contacts and doing informational interviews with some of the foremost leaders in the field are a tremendous asset.
Describe student life as a member of the ARAD community.
I’ve loved befriending the folks in my cohort. It is a really positive and friendly group, and I think we’ve built a nice community. From happy hours to study sessions, it’s been nice having a group of people with such similar interests and schedules. Being a grad student also means my downtime differs from my 9-to-5 friends, so I definitely take advantage of being able to see a movie at 2 p.m. or going to an event on a weeknight!
What have been some of your favorite cultural experiences in New York City?
I think the theater I’ve seen is probably the highlight. I have been to some Broadway shows, but the most fun things I’ve seen have been either student shows or performances produced or performed by people I know.
Courtesy of Naomi Litman-Zelle.
What is one topic you have been discussing in Arts Administration classes this week?
It’s summer right now for me, so I’m not in classes, but something I’ve been thinking a lot about is the repatriation of art objects. I visited the art museum in my home state when I was visiting a couple weeks ago, and it houses the largest solid piece of jade outside of China. Having the Jade Mountain in the museum is really valuable from an educational standpoint, but I sometimes wonder what right the museum has to such a sacred object. I think about this with regards to the Temple of Dendur at the Met as well; this idea of ownership of objects from foreign countries and whether or not it makes sense to house them in American museums. It’s a complex issue, but fascinating and important.
In your view, who are some of the major influencers working in arts administration right now?
I think Kimberly Drew is someone who really inspires me. She’s a pop-culture icon that brings a really important voice to the museum and art history community, and she manages the social media for the Met. Also Annie Polland, the new VP of education and programming at the Tenement Museum. I recently heard her speak at the NYCMER conference hosted at TC, and she was really inspiring. She’s super invested in the community and using storytelling to connect the museum to the broader public, and I think that’s an amazing concept.
What is your professional ambition or dream?
I would love to be the director of programming/community engagement at an art museum or arts organization.
Who are your three favorite artists, in any medium?
Courtesy of Naomi Litman-Zelle.
There are too many to list! I draw cartoons in my spare time, so some of my biggest inspirations are Gary Larson (The Far Side), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Roz Chast (The New Yorker) and Cathy Guisewite (Cathy). I love how they mix humor and art.
Marina Piedade, ARAD ’18, was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. She completed her Bachelor in Communications and Advertising from the University of São Paulo, and afterwards went on to live in London to study photography at the University of the Arts London. For the last ten years, she has worked as a full-time professional photographer and after moving to the US in 2015, graduated from ARAD program this past May.
Get to know her through these rapid fire questions:
What attracted you to the Arts Administration Program at Teachers College, Columbia University?
I was looking for an Arts Administration program specifically. The Columbia program, beside being a very well esteemed program in a Ivy League University, had the most approachable students and faculty. I felt wanted there.
What are the three things you need to have on you at all times?
Phone charger, a bottle of water, and migraine pills.
How are your studies helping to advance your career goals?
My studies definitely helped me to get a better overall understanding of the area. Also, as we can tailor half of the credits to our own interests, it is possible to find classes to target specific flaws in your own knowledge.
Describe student life as a member of the ARAD community.
As we have such a small program, we developed a “family like” environment, were everyone knew each other’s names. I have no doubt that I have made some friends for life during my two years at TC.
What have been some of your favorite cultural experiences?
My favorite cultural experiences were in fact visiting amazing museums and organization outside the city, and learning about what else happens in the tri-state area. These experiences can only happen when you are not a tourist focused only in New York City.
What is your professional ambition or dream?
Work as a ED of a large visual arts museum.
Who are your three favorite artists, in any medium?
Our Spring 2018 Microgrant Recipient, Beryl Ford shared her reflections on Black Portraitures– BP IV: The Color of Silence, a conference she attended in Cambridge, Massachusetts with help from funding by the ARAD Microgrant.
It was such a rewarding experience to be able to use my ARAD micro-grant to attend the fourth iteration of Black Portraitures– BP IV: The Color of Silence. As a budding arts administrator, I found it truly inspiring to convene with the major players– influencers, scholars, museum professionals—in the black art world who are thinking critically about visual expression. This year’s conference theme– The Color of Silence– was particularly compelling because it focused on the increasingly Diasporic nature of the artists and ideas of the Black Portraitures community– finding its intellectual roots in the African Diaspora as it is expressed throughout Latin America. As Henry Louis Gates Jr. explained in his opening remarks, “The Color of SIlence refers to the visual expressions of the national imaginaries prevalent throughout the African Diaspora, in which political ideologies that negate racial differences render black subjects invisible.”
Each panel was thoughtfully organized to respond to and navigate this question of invisibility. During the conference, I attended the following panels: The Curator, the Artist, the Art Historian, and the Critic, Black Agency, Black Freedom: Portraits of Survival in Word and Image, Portraits of Power: The Aesthetics of Resistance, and Queer Identities. From each of these nuanced conversations, I gained a better understanding of how the visual arts work to support activism and are deployed to shed light on the experiences that are purposefully ignored and shrouded in darkness. As an arts administrator, I believe that it is my responsibility to be aware of the barriers precluding certain groups access to the visual arts! Given this, attending the BP IV conference was invigorating because I felt as if I was part of a larger collective endeavor that is working toward and is concerned with a similar goal.
Thanks for sharing your reflections with us Beryl, we are so proud to be watching you bloom!
Prior to joining the ARAD program, Nadia Kyne held the position of Assistant Principal Flute and Piccolo with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for six years. During her tenure with the orchestra, she served on a number of management-musician committees and was elected Chair of the Orchestra Committee, the musicians’ representative on the board of directors. Committed to bringing music education to underserved communities, she taught at an after-school outreach program in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and worked as a teacher-participant in a collaborative study with the UBC Faculty of Education on the effects of music education on self-regulated learning outcomes. Nadia holds degrees in Flute Performance from The Juilliard School and The Curtis Institute of Music, and aims to pursue a career in orchestral management upon graduation from Columbia.
What attracted you to the Arts Administration Program at Teachers College, Columbia University?
With the goal of transitioning from performing to a career in orchestral leadership in mind, I wanted to find a program that would complement the work experience that I’d already had, by providing me with the best practical skills to make me an effective administrator. For me, the ARAD program’s core curriculum offers the perfect mix of business, arts, and law classes, and I was very excited to have the opportunity to tailor my education with elective options throughout Columbia’s schools. The fact that the program is offered through Teachers College, a school with a strong social justice tradition, made it even more appealing for me.
What are the three things you need to have on you at all times?
Coffee, Spotify, and an unlimited metrocard.
Describe student life as a member of the ARAD community.
I love being a part of this cohort. I’m surrounded by inspiring peers who bring an incredible diversity of experience in the visual and performing arts, and I get to learn from them every day. Our professors constantly challenge and motivate us to think more deeply and comprehensively about the issues facing the field, and students from the 2nd-year class have been a huge support, providing advice and mentorship along the way. And being in New York is a huge added bonus! There are always amazing things to see and do, and countless opportunities to learn from administrators who are working at the very top of the field.
Who are your three favorite artists, in any medium?
It’s impossible to name just three! As a start: Gustav Mahler, Nina Simone, and Diana Vishneva.
Zamara Choudhary graduated summa cum laude
from CUNY Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2016, where she majored in History with minors in English and Arabic Studies. A native Brooklynite, Zamara enjoys exploring the diaspora of cultural organizations in New York City, and dreamed of working in a museum as a child. Zamara has interned at Studio in a School, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of the Cityof New York, and the Brooklyn Museum. She hopes to use her unique background and passion for social justice to facilitate cross-cultural understanding and exchange through the arts.
What attracted you to the Arts AdministrationProgram at Teachers College, Columbia University?
I approached three forks in the road at the end of my undergraduate career: education; historical academia; and arts administration. I ultimately selected the Arts Administration program at Teachers College, Columbia University because I felt it combined all of my interests with its flexible, interdisciplinary curriculum and ability to cross-register into other schools at Columbia University. There is also no place more suitable to study the arts and its impact on diverse communities than New York City, where the numerous new shows and exhibitions enrich academic experience.Describe student life as a member of the ARAD community.
When coming into this program, I did not expect to create such strong relationships with my incredible cohort. I have never been surrounded by such a supportive and close-knit community, who are so passionate about inciting change through the arts. My peers force me to think differently and critically about multiple issues, both in and outside the classroom, allowing me to come into my own as an arts administrator of the twenty-first century.
Who are your three favorite artists, in any medium?
Only three? I would choose mangaka Junji Ito, mixed-media artist Faig Ahmed, and soul singer Sam Cooke.
Sunny Leerasanthanah was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and lives in New York City, where she is completing her MA at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2016, she received a BFA in Film, Photography, and Visual Arts at Ithaca College, New York. Sunny plans to work with non-profit visual arts organizations and institutions in the future, while balancing her work as a multidisciplinary artist. She has previously completed curatorial internships at the 
Naomi Litman-Zelle is entering her second year in the Arts Administration program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology, and spent time after graduating working in the world of fundraising for an educational non-profit organization. Her interests include art museum education and community engagement with a focus on diversity and inclusion initiatives. While enrolled in ARAD, Naomi has interned at 
