EVENT TO FOCUS ON CREATIVE CAREERS

Event to focus on creative careers
Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:14 AM
By Jeffrey Sheban

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Downtown facility where the symposium will take place
Attracting young arts professionals to Columbus and building the city's creative economy will be topics at a symposium sponsored by Ohio State University.

The 2008 Barnett Symposium, starting at 9 a.m. Friday and open to the public, also will explore career issues for arts professionals; arts enterprises being developed in central Ohio; and the creative work environment.

Those experienced in the arts -- as well as those just out of school -- will be front and center.
Speakers will include Susanne Jaffe, executive director of Thurber House; Mike Reed, a central Ohio artist and founder of the Couchfire Collective of emerging visual and musical artists; Thomas B. Schorgl, president and chief executive officer of the Community Partnership for Arts & Culture; Tom Hawk, director of Hawk Galleries; and Beverly Bethge, founder and chief creative officer of Ologie, an agency that works to boost brand recognition.

"These are people who are artists and leaders of creative enterprises, and we want to give examples of what is possible," said Wayne Lawson, director emeritus of the Ohio Arts Council and a professor in the Department of Art Education at OSU.

Ologie, founded in 1987 as Bethge Design, has managed branding campaigns for clients such as Nationwide Insurance, Limited Brands, Limited Too, Monsanto and the Cleveland Clinic. The 60-employee company relies on recent graduates to help maintain a creative work environment, Bethge said. "We find that students come out of school and they're ready to go," she said. "They don't come to the table with bad habits, which are really hard to break after five to eight years." Another way young people contribute to a creative workplace is by keeping everyone abreast of trends in communication and entertainment. "The way people communicate changes about every six months, and this generation gets it," Bethge said. "Companies like mine need that information and really value their opinions and their insight."

The symposium will take place in the OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., in the former Downtown Lazarus building. The cost is $25, or $10 for students, and includes meetings, lunch and a closing reception from 5 to 7 p.m. To register, visit www.arts.osu.edu/barnett08 or call 614-292-7183 before 5 p.m. Monday. The event is hosted by the OSU College of the Arts, Department of Art Education and graduate program in arts policy and administration.

jsheban@dispatch.com