VCU Receives Grant To Help Develop Working Artists

By Tom Gresham

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts has received a $75,000 grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation to continue the school's popular graduate course, "Professional Practices for Fine Artists," aimed at empowering visual artists to succeed in the marketplace.

An earlier grant from the foundation enabled VCU to launch the course in 2003. The new grant will allow VCU to offer "Professional Practices for Fine Artists" for another five years. The foundation has now committed a total of $152,000 to VCU for the course.

Approximately 75 students have taken the VCU course, which provides emerging artists with a deeper understanding of the opportunities and responsibilities of a professional artist. The intent is to provide students with the practical and personal tools they need to confidently make a transition into the professional world.

Richard Toscan, dean of VCU School of the Arts, said the research and resulting curriculum that has evolved from the original grant has had an important impact on VCU and its students.

 

"Art schools measure their success through the accomplishments of their students and alumni," Toscan said. "This course gives our students the tools to make the difficult move into the professional arena with confidence as well as an understanding of what lies ahead. We will continue to support this important effort."

Nicole Chevalier, the foundation's program director, said VCU has demonstrated a strategy to train its students that matches the foundation's mission.

"Virginia Commonwealth University's continued development and refinement of their artist professional practices course serves as a model for all universities," Chevalier said. "The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation board believed it was very important that this type of work continue to be supported in order to affect the field, which is one of the goals of the foundation's 'Marketplace Empowerment for Artists' grant-making program."

The VCU course, which is offered to graduate students in the Painting & Printmaking and Sculpture + Extended Media departments, includes frequent visits from professional artists, gallerists and critics, as well as a trip to New York City to meet with VCU alumni and other working artists and to visit a broad range of galleries and art spaces.

Joseph Seipel, senior associate dean and director of graduate studies for VCU School of the Arts, will continue to oversee the course, which includes the participation of several arts faculty members. He said it has been evident from the outset how "hungry and enthusiastic" students are for the information the course provides.

"This class helps students understand the realities of life after receiving an MFA degree," Seipel said. "It also helps them see what incredible assets, skills and competencies they have and how suitable those attributes are to the workforce."