MATCHing students with their careers

At UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), opportunities for students to apply their creative skills outside the classroom can help connect their education to careers in the Cincinnati community.

Jordan Tate, a professor of art at DAAP, has worked to create more of those opportunities for artists to become involved in nonprofit organizations and use their skills to address community needs. Along with Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Jay Twomey, that work helped lead to a new partnership between UC and Wave Pool through MATCH, a three-year artist employment program designed to place artists in Cincinnati nonprofit organizations.

Boris Oicherman, the executive director of Wave Pool, wanted artists to see valuable employment combined with stable income. Keeping those artists in Cincinnati can be done by showing that it’s possible through this program.

“Wave Pool's mission is supporting artists in Cincinnati, and we wanted to show local employers, artists and funders that artist employment can work here,” Oicherman said.

“Cincinnati has no shortage of artists, but it offers them few ways to earn a living from their creative capacities, and many leave. The collaboration with UC extends the model to students, future artists and humanities professionals, who get paid co-op experience inside working arts organizations, and gives the city a better chance of keeping them.”

The program was supported by $250,000 in grants from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr. Foundation and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. MATCH will place three artists in paid, 30-month positions at Washington United Church of Christ, Findlay Market and Wave Pool, where they will lead long-term projects within each organization.

Tate and Twomey wanted to find ways for students to apply some of the soft skills they learn in the humanities and the arts and find career paths that they find rewarding and hope to provide that in MATCH.

"Any students with creative skills and interests, regardless of their major, will be able to put their talents to use in the community,” Twomey said. “What’s a bit different about this one, though, is that these co-ops really allow students to focus on their creative talents. They’ll get to see, as well, and in pragmatic ways, how people in their community benefit from the arts.”

UC students will play a role in supporting those projects through paid co-op positions. Students from DAAP, the College of Arts and Sciences and other areas of the university will work alongside the artists and nonprofit organizations throughout the program, giving them useful work experience while still in school.

At Washington United Church of Christ in Camp Washington, students will help support the development of a multigenerational ceramics program. The program will offer year-round workshops for children and families while connecting with existing church programming and community partners. Students will assist with planning, administration and publicity for the program.

At Findlay Market, students will support an artist working with the market’s Food Innovation Program, while another placement with Wave Pool and the Common Good Alliance will focus on establishing a Cultural Land Trust in Camp Washington.

The co-ops are designed to provide paid experience while allowing students to apply skills learned in their academic programs to community-based projects. Tate said the program can also help students explore career paths connected to their degrees while developing experience working with nonprofit organizations.

“We wanted to find ways for students to apply some of the soft skills that they learn in the humanities and the arts and find ways to seek career paths that they find rewarding and are also related to their degree programs,” Tate said.

The program also addresses a gap in opportunities available to students interested in nonprofit work. Nonprofit internships are typically thought of as unpaid, which can make them less accessible to students who need paid work experience. MATCH provides students with compensation while allowing them to contribute to projects with a broader impact on Cincinnati.

The partnership also builds on previous work between Tate and Wave Pool. Tate previously collaborated with the organization on a $75,000 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant, which helped lead to full-time employment for artists and the creation of new programs in Cincinnati.

Through MATCH, Tate, Twomey and UC hope to continue expanding the role of artists in Cincinnati while giving students opportunities to use their skills in meaningful community settings. The program is expected to provide students with professional experience while connecting their classroom education to organizations and projects throughout the city that help members of the community.

“I can’t emphasize enough how beneficial the nonprofit co-op experience has been for students,” Twomey said. “They’re gaining a wider variety of transferable skills than might be the case in other co-ops. Plus, nonprofit co-op students feel terrific about the good that they’re able to do for people in the community.”

Featured image at top of DAAP students painting a wall at Wave Pool as part of the MATCH program. Photos/provided