Arts Professional Story: Carol Ng: Managing Director, Teatro Luna

Carol Ng

Recently, I decided to go back to graduate school in art education. This decision became a turning point in my career path and artistic life. Some people advised me that one should clearly know his or her career goals and skills before he or she even applies for graduate school. Honestly, it wasn't precisely like this in my situation. I had a bachelor's degree in performing arts management and two internships at a nationally renowned theater company, as well as an art museum.

After graduation, I worked in the fundraising and marketing office of a nonprofit social service organization in downtown Chicago for over a year. This experience taught me about the practices of institutional advancement and development; it also made me think about my practices as an artist and how I can more directly engage in a community. I enjoyed the process of relationship building among various groups through creative programming and activity implementation.

As a musician trained in the Chinese instrument Pipa and piano, I wanted a place where I could utilize my combined knowledge of performance art, organizational skills, passion for community art and cultural studies, and to turn them into art activism. I was certain about my love for Chicago, as a culturally enriching and inspiring city, yet I still did not have any pre-determined idea of what type of occupations I would pursue. The art education department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago claimed art activism as "critical, meaningful, and transformative," which drew my attention to apply for the school, and finally, I got accepted.

Graduate school has offered me a space to experiment, take risks, and most importantly, to rediscover myself and where I can fit in within the community, my niche.

To me, art is social and can only be called "art" when others experience it. The field of art education is an art of "crossing-over", it allows multidisciplinary practices to intersect and diverge. The focus of art education is on care for people and their needs are at the center of the practice. As a musician, art administrator, art educator and community artist, my graduate study embraces all my life experience and celebrates my own and others' personal stories. The best thing that has happened to me during my graduate study is three-fold:

- It reignited my passion.

The graduate art education program helps me clarify my professional vision and rethink what matters to others and myself in relation to our community. The process of writing my thesis was a powerful tool that opened my eyes to my passion for immigrants and linking their experience with performance. The journey of the project, from nothing to execution, was undeniably fulfilling to me.

-It reaffirms my aptitude.

Being in graduate school allowed me to pull my different skills together and put them into practice. The thesis project required planning, documentation, knowledge of performance techniques, teaching/facilitation, collaboration, and evaluation, in which I took full ownership of the process.

I learned more about essential politics of partnerships, ways of being self-reflexive and evaluate my own biases and difficulties during every stage of the project. Throughout my studies, the performance courses I took, including a Goat Island workshop, helped strengthen my understanding of performance art and test out various forms of collaboration that I found applicable for my own teaching practices.

The best way of teaching is to learn, and vice versa. Teaching and working with the community was an inclusive and comprehensive experiential moment. This was a significant stepping stone for my personal enrichment and professional development.

- It opens new doors to potential professional possibilities.

I spent two semesters in two different institutions in Chicago to conduct my thesis fieldwork. One was in an elementary school art class and another in a community college English as a Second Language (ESL) class. The experience in both places taught me flexibility. What's more, it helped to build my professional network, as well as "try out" various working environments and learn their organizational cultures.

Looking back, I probably would not have my current position and my board affiliation without going to graduate school and doing my thesis project. In the course of my thesis writing, my interest in serving the underrepresented females in the Chicago community grew. Beginning from the second year of my graduate program, opportunities came as I started working with Teatro Luna, a Chicago-based all-Latina ensemble theater company, and serving on the board of Beyondmedia Education simultaneously.

Teatro Luna focuses on bringing an underrepresented group to stage and redefining the mainstream and Beyondmedia Education aims to organize social justice through working with underserved women and young girls by using alternative media and arts. By working with these organizations I use both my knowledge and experience and I have found my niche. Graduate school refreshes my personal commitment to multidisciplinary art and community engagement, and defined my profession: art activism and advocacy.

Carol Ng is a performance artist, art educator and researcher. She works as the managing director at Teatro Luna and serves as a board member at Beyondmedia Education. Currently she is also a candidate for a Master of Arts in Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her research focuses include immigrant experience, performance art and multicultural education. Contact her at cng@artic.edu.