Opportunities

A number of national diversity studies and surveys within the arts field offer stark statistics regarding racial representation. The Atlantic ranked Arts & Entertainment as the third least diverse profession, only behind Legal and Social Scientists. A 2015 report from Nonprofit Quarterly found that the 181 art museums that responded to their survey had “…no sign of a leadership pipeline for museum staff from historically underrepresented minorities. Among those highly paid positions of curators, conservators, educators, and leaders, four percent are African American, three percent are Latino, and Asians account for six percent. Whites hold 84 percent of these high-level jobs.” Other studies also show consistently a bias for women in leadership and the socio-economic hardships for low and moderate-income individuals trying to get into the arts field. This lack of diversity impacts what artists are selected for exhibitions and what artwork gets collected, thus perpetuating the cycles of discrimination and disparity.     Buffalo Arts Studio’s Expanding the Leadership Pipeline (ELP) program offers three avenues for talented young people to access arts training, participate in professional development, and develop long-term relationships that will help individuals find success within the arts field. Curatorial and Arts Management internships offer a combination of training, mentorship, and hands-on experience working in a professional arts center.  Teaching Assistantships provide meaningful experience alongside world-class teaching artists who effectively share their process and engage students. Artist Apprenticeships strategically pair ELP participants with mid-career working artists willing to share both their process and their learned experiences along their own professional journey. ELP candidates are guided along the path that best suits their individual creative and career goals, and Buffalo Arts Studio assesses the efficacy of the ELP program by collecting participant surveys, outcome data, and personal narratives, which we use to refine our practices.   Curatorial and Arts Management Internships introduce students to the skills needed to work in a variety of arts and cultural institutions. We actively recruit intern candidates from underrepresented populations at area high schools, colleges, universities, and partner service organizations such as Aspire of WNY. The staff constructs individualized, focused projects and meaningful learning opportunities that fit within the students’ interests and demanding schedules. All interns reflect on their learning regularly and are guided as they translate their experience into the proper resume format.   Teaching Assistantships provide talented young artists paid opportunities to work and learn alongside professional teaching artists, helping them manage supplies, achieve learning outcomes, and engage with students. Teaching Assistants are exposed to innovative concepts like creating site-specific installations with reclaimed materials and state-of-the-art processes like using polytab fabric to paint panels that are later installed onto building exteriors. Teaching Assistants also learn important transferable skills such as effective communication, project scheduling, and team management.   Artist Apprenticeships give young artists the opportunity to develop new skills and techniques as well as form professional networks. Apprentices work under the mentoring guidance of professional artists who serve as role models and help them to experience art as a realistic profession or course of study. Apprentices learn important transferable employment skills including problem solving, creative thinking, collaboration, and project management.   Buffalo Arts Studio is working to effect change across the spectrums of gender, race, class, as well as physical and developmental disabilities. Through the ELP program, we work to be responsible stewards of tomorrow’s arts leadership by breaking down systemic barriers and increasing diversity within the predominantly white, upper-class arts field. The empowerment, mentorship, leadership, and learning opportunities for underrepresented communities will help us fulfill our mission of arts access, community engagement and development, and building the ladders of opportunity for arts professionals across every stage of their career.

Expanding the Leadership Pipeline is made possible through the generous funding of New York State Council for the Arts.