Loyola University Chicago

Fine Arts

Department of Fine and Performing Arts

Career Resources

Welcome to a shortlist of recommended local, regional, national and international resources, which can inform and guide Loyola Fine Arts students. This represents only a portion of the great diversity of opportunity open to Fine Arts graduates in higher education and in many related professional fields.

Specific resources for Art History careers can be found here. 

Specific resources for Visual Communication careers can be found here. 

More general career counseling for Loyola faculty and students is available at Loyola’s Career Development Center.

Chicago/Local Resources
  • City of Chicago Museums and Arts
    • As with all major world cities, you could spend a lifetime exploring all of Chicago's nooks and crannies, but here are some great places to start.
  • Chicago Gallery News 
    • Founded in 1983, Chicago Gallery News is the central source for information about the area's art galleries, museums, events, and resources.
  • Bad at Sports
    • Bad at Sports is a weekly podcast produced in Chicago that features artists talking about art and the community that makes, reviews and critiques it. Shows are usually posted each weekend and can be listened to on any computer with an internet connection and speakers or headphones. Past shows can be accessed via the Bad at Sports website.
  • Chicago Visual Arts Calendar
    • The Visualist highlights the work of cultural producers such as, artists, makers, and curators that are central to your programming. While the Visualist is significant as a week to week destination for upcoming exhibitions, talks, and performances it is intended to function as a collective document of our community’s efficacy and our shared identity as cultural producers in this place.
  • Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC)
    • The mission of the Chicago Artists Coalition is to build a sustainable marketplace for entrepreneurial artists and creatives. As pioneers in advocacy and professional development, we capitalize on the intersection of art and enterprise by activating collaborative partnerships and developing innovative resources. The Chicago Artists Coalition is committed to cultivating groundbreaking exhibitions and educational opportunities, and to building a diverse community of artistic leaders that defines the place of art and artists in our culture and economy. The Chicago Artists Coalition is a registered 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. All contributions and donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
  • Chicago Artist Resource (CAR)
    • Chicago Artists Resource (CAR) is an innovative arts service and professional development website. As an online extension of the capabilities, resources and leadership of the city's cultural community, CAR demonstrates Chicago's commitment to the contribution artists make to a vital, world-class city. CAR is designed for individual artists and for arts organizations. Our focus is Chicago and the surrounding Midwestern region, but much of the information is useful for artists anywhere. Artists working in every media will find useful information on Chicago Artists Resource regarding creative, insurance, business, financial, legal, health and business information.
  • Filter Photo
    • Filter Photo is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Chicago, Illinois. Filter Photo’s mission is two-fold: first, to serve and support the photographic communities of Chicago and the Midwest; and second, to highlight Chicago as a vital center of the national photographic community.
  • Chicago Community Darkroom
    • Chicago's only Black & White Community Darkroom! We are a membership-based non-profit. Members enjoy 24 hour access! The organization offer a variety of classes covering beginner to advanced darkroom techniques. Non-members can participate in weekly PRINT OUT open houses.
  • Chicago Design Museum
    • Chicago Design Museum strengthens design culture and builds community by facilitating the exchange of knowledge through dynamic experiences. Through exhibitions, public and private programs, digital media, and workshops the museum facilitates an open conversation about design across disciplines and borders. We believe design has the capacity to fundamentally improve the human condition, and strive to make it accessible to everyone through a public space in the Chicago Loop.
  • Society of Typographic Arts (STA)
    • The Society of Typographic Arts is focused on the Chicago design community. We strive to engage our members through open, intimate and thought-provoking communication. We invite all design professionals to get involved and be heard to build a personality unique to Chicago.
  • Lillstreet Art Center
    • Founded in 1975, Lillstreet Art Center is a large community of artists and students working side-by-side in a friendly environment which encourages and inspires artistic growth in the individual. Lillstreet Art Center supports the arts through our education program, artist residencies, gallery exhibitions and retail sales opportunities, studio rentals, and arts-based professional development. Lillstreet is also the home to ArtReach, our sister organization providing arts education to underserved communities in Chicago.
  • Chicago Sculpture International
    • A 501(c) (3) membership organization established in 2004 devoted to championing sculptors and the creation of sculpture. Its members seek to expand the understanding and appreciation of sculpture through exhibits, workshops, and collaborations. Chicago Sculpture International brings sculpture to the community and promotes a community for sculpture and sculptors.
  • ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation
    • A gallery and foundation whose mission is to bring innovative, emerging and/or experimental visual art to a wide range of viewers, and to provide a nurturing atmosphere for the continued development of artistic potential and dialogue. As a non-profit cooperative operated by a collective of women artists since 1973, ARC works to empower women by providing professional and mentoring opportunities in the visual arts. ARC serves to raise public awareness on various community-based issues by presenting exhibits, workshops, discussion groups and programs by, and for, underserved populations.
  • Woman Made Gallery
    • A Tax-exempt, not for profit organization founded in 1992. Its goal is to cultivate, promote and support the work of female-identified artists by providing exhibition opportunities, professional development, and public programs that invite discussion about what feminism means today.
  • Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA)
    • The Loyola University Museum of Art is dedicated to exploring, promoting, and understanding art and artistic expression that illuminates the enduring spiritual questions of all cultures and societies. The Loyola University Museum of Art reflects the University’s Jesuit identity and is dedicated to helping people of all creeds to explore their faith and spiritual quest. The Museum interprets and displays the University’s medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque collection, known as the Martin D’Arcy, S.J. Collection, other museum permanent collections, and rotating exhibitions.
Regional/National Resources
  • Americans for the Arts
    • Americans for the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose primary focus is advancing the arts in the United States. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.

  • New York Foundation for the Arts
    • New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) provides the concrete resources that working artists and emerging arts organizations need to thrive. Established in 1971 as an independent organization to serve individual artists throughout the state, the mission of New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is to empower emerging artists and arts organizations across all disciplines at critical stages in their creative lives and professional/organizational development. In 2009, we extended our programs and services throughout the United States and the international community.
  • The Painting Center (New York)
    • The Painting Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the exploration of painting in all its possibilities; it does not champion one school or tradition, but welcomes and encourages diverse viewpoints regardless of their market appeal. The Painting Center is a gathering place for painters and those who love painting; it is a democratic arena that fosters dialogue, experimentation, and community among artists.
  •  The Drawing Center (New York) 
    • The Drawing Center, a museum in Manhattan's SoHo district, explores the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. Its activities, which are both multidisciplinary and broadly historical, include exhibitions; Open Sessions, a curated artist program encouraging community and collaboration; the Drawing Papers publication series; and education and public programs.
  • The Society for Photographic Education (SPE)
    • The Society for Photographic Education is a nonprofit membership organization that provides and fosters an understanding of photography as a means of diverse creative expression, cultural insight, and experimental practice. Through its interdisciplinary programs, services and publications, the society seeks to promote a broader understanding of the medium in all its forms through teaching and learning, scholarship, and criticism.
  • Lenscratch
    • A daily journal that explores contemporary photography and offers opportunities for exposure and community. Created in 2007, Aline Smithson set a goal of writing about a different photographer each day, presenting work in a way that allows for a deeper understanding of a photographer’s intent and vision.
  • American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) & AIGA CHICAGO
    • AIGA, the professional association for design, is committed to furthering excellence in design as a broadly-defined discipline, strategic tool for business and cultural force. AIGA is the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research and advance education and ethical practice.
  • Graphic Artists Guild
    • A national union of illustrators, designers, web creators, production artists, surface designers and other creatives who have come together to pursue common goals, share their experience, raise industry standards, and improve the ability of visual creators to achieve satisfying and rewarding careers.
  • How Design Live
    • This is an annual design event where the best creative minds in design, branding and marketing immerse themselves in five days of creativity and inspiration. It is where creative professionals from all over the world learn how their profession has the power to affect social change and power businesses. It’s where creatives converge to ignite their inspiration and create their own futures. Founded in 1985, the HOW brand began its life as a print magazine. Today, the brand still includes an award-winning design magazine, but has grown to encompass a host of products and events including several design competitions, HOW U’s online design courses, design books (available at MyDesignShop.com) and, of course, HOW Events. Whether you work for a design firm, for an in-house creative department or for yourself, it’s our mission to serve the business, creativity and technology needs of graphic designers.
  • American Craft Council
    • The American Craft Council is the leading arts nonprofit cultivating a culture of making. The American Craft Council recognizes the significant impact craft has on individuals and communities, preserving, cultivating, and celebrating this communal heritage. They support professional makers through unique nonprofit shows, offer educational resources, including a one-of-a-kind library, conferences, public lectures, and student programs. Their national awards spotlight emerging artists and honor masters. They promote the handmade through a resource-rich website and award-winning magazine, American Craft.
International Resources
  • College Art Association (CAA)
    • The College Art Association (CAA), as the preeminent international leadership organization in the visual arts, promotes these arts and their understanding through advocacy, intellectual engagement, and a commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners.
  • Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD)
    • SEGD is an international non-profit educational organization providing resources for design specialists in the field of environmental graphic design, architecture, and landscape, interior, and industrial design. SEGD members are leading designers of directional and attraction sign systems, destination graphics, identity programs, exhibits, and themed environments.
  • International Council of Design (ico-D) 
    • ico-D is the world body for professional graphic design and visual communication. Founded in 1963, it is a voluntary assembly of associations concerned with graphic design, visual communication, design management, design promotion and design education. ico-D promotes graphic designers' vital role in society and commerce and unifies the voices of graphic designers and visual communicators worldwide.
  • CFile
    • A global community of cutting-edge educators, ceramics creatives, critics, curators, collectors, dealers, and brilliant young techies. Our online campus distributes free groundbreaking lectures, classroom material, edgy videos, recent exhibition catalogs, monographs, textbooks—and soon, Critical, a scholarly journal.
  • Society for Contemporary Craft
    • Presenting contemporary art in craft media by international, national and regional artists since 1971, Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focused on multicultural diversity and non-mainstream art, as well as a range of classes, community outreach programs, and a retail store.
  • hyperallergic
    • Hyperallergic is a forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today. Founded in 2009, Hyperallergic is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
  • Critical Craft Forum
    • Critical Craft Forum (a Facebook page) is a place for makers, curators, theorists, historians, collectors, writers, critics and more to explore and discuss research, exhibitions, ideas and publications that span the terrain of craft.
Open Call Platforms (for application into Exhibitions/Residencies/Internships)
  • CaFÉ™
    • Open Call Platform. Brought to you by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), a regional nonprofit arts service organization whose mission is to strengthen the financial, organizational, and policy infrastructure of the arts in the West. This is accomplished by assisting state arts agencies, arts organizations, and artists in their quest to serve diverse audiences, enrich the lives of local communities, and provide access to the arts and arts education for all citizens. Through innovation, advocacy, and grant making, WESTAF encourages the creative development and preservation of the arts regionally and through a national network of customers and alliances.
  • Juried Art Services
    • The world's first and most advanced Digital Jurying and application system beginning in 2000 with the Smithsonian Craft Show. Jurors can view the artists' work along with accompanying descriptions and dimensions. Because they are self-paced, jurors have the time they need to properly review each application. The artist controls the layout of the works and sees exactly what the jurors see. The process is the most efficient and proven method available for the artists, shows and jurors.
  • Entrythingy
    • EntryThingy is a call for entries, management and art jury system. Receive and manage entries, host online and offline jurying and show galleries of your entries on your organization's website. 
  • Art Deadlines List
    • Public art commissions, art competitions, art jobs and internships, art scholarships and grants and fellowships, residencies, art festivals, call for entries/proposals/projects, and other opportunities, in all disciplines, for art students, art teachers, and artists of all ages, all skill levels, in all disciplines, everywhere.
  • Slide Room
    • SlideRoom is a very popular electronic interface used by many institutions to receive and review Portfolios from applicants. Each institution (schools, galleries, nonprofits etc.) receives their own branded portal where applicants apply and another portal where reviewers can privately evaluate submitted materials.
  • Res Artis Worldwide Association of Artist Residencies
    • An association of over 600 centers, organizations, and individuals in over 70 countries. Each member is dedicated to offering artists, curators, and all manner of creative people the essential time and place away from the pressures and habits of every-day life, an experience framed within a unique geographic and cultural context. Through Res Artis, organizations will become part of a global community of colleagues engaged in dialogue through our face-to-face meetings and virtually through our online presence. Those interested in attending a residency can use the information and resources on our website, gaining insights into the profiles of our members and staying informed about their events and application deadlines.
  • European Ceramic Workcentre (EKWC)
    • An artist-in-residence center and a center of excellence. Its aim is to promote the development of ceramic art, design and architecture. ekwc annually welcomes about 60 artists, designers and architects to experiment with ceramics for a continuous or phased period of three months. Sundaymorning@ekwc does not only offer studios, workplaces, the most advanced equipment and living space, but also the support of a team of specialists. This team gives a unique added value to the residency as 75% of the participants have no or little experience with ceramics. Intensive guidance allows the participants to realize their prearranged work plans. Participants enter through worldwide public application rounds.
Networking
  • LinkedIn
    • LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. It is mainly used for professional networking.
  • Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP)
    • An online survey, data management and institutional improvement system designed to enhance the impact of arts-school education. SNAAP will provide the first national data on how artists develop in this country, help identify the factors needed to better connect arts training to artistic careers and allow education institutions, researchers and arts leaders to look at the systemic factors that helped or hindered the career paths of alumni, whether they have chosen to work as artists or pursue other paths.
  • Academic360
    • A meta-collection of internet resources that have been gathered for the academic job hunter including faculty, staff and administrative announcements.
  • WayUp
    • A platform for students and recent grads to launch their careers.