Bio/CV
Biography
Tana Hargest defines her cultural production practice through three intersecting ways of working — creating art installations; audience and civic engagement through collective art actions; and work focused on effecting systemic change within the arts ecosystem through collaboration and consultation with arts organizations and grant makers.
Hargest’s art making incorporates interdisciplinary uses of interactive media, performance, film/video, and installation work. Hargest has exhibited at venues including: Mass MoCA; Walker Art Center; MIT’s List Visual Art Center; and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Hargest received a 2004 Franklin Furnace Future of the Present Grant; a 2003 Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship; a 2002 Jerome Foundation Media Arts Grant; a 2002 New York State Council of the Arts Individual Artist Grant; and a 2002 Creative Capital Grant. She’s also been in residence at MacDowell Colony, Gaea Sea Change Residency; and Smack Mellon Studio Program. Hargest received a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
From high-profile museums to community-based artists, Hargest advises stakeholders on change management, engages cross-disciplinary teams in emergent strategy and ideation, and implements projects to help grow mission-based programs, increase impact, and improve results. Hargest has previously served as the Executive Director of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature; Director of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts; Associate Director of The Soap Factory; Director of Education at Art 21, Inc.; Manager of New Media Learning at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; and Assistant Curator of Education at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
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CV/Résumé
Professional Experience
Lead Artist and Co-Founder, Dark Matter Cooperative Network — 2017 to Present
Principal, Hargest Art Consulting - 2009 to Present
Interdisciplinary Artist — 1997 to Present
Executive Director, Givens Foundation for African American Literature; Mpls, MN - 2014 to 2016
Assistant Director, The Soap Factory; Mpls, MN - 2012 to 2014
Director of Education, American Craft Council; Mpls, MN - 2011 to 2012
Director, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts; NY, NY - 2008 to 2009
Director of Education and Public Programs, Art21, Inc.; NY, NY - 2007 to 2008
Head of New Media Learning, The Museum of Fine Arts; Boston, MA - 2004 to 2007
Assistant Curator of Education and New Media, Bronx Museum of the Arts; Bronx, NY - 2000 to 2003
Additional experience
2019 - Present Don’t You Feel It Too? Cohort Member
2017 - Present The Subversive Sirens
2019 Emergent Strategy Immersion, Twin Cities, Facilitator
2018 Emergent Strategy Immersion, Detroit
2009-2010 President, MacDowell Art Colony Fellows Executive Committee
2006-2009 Member, MacDowell Art Colony Fellows Executive Committee
SELECTED GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2019 Cooperative Development Fellowship, Nexus Community Partners
2017 Knight Arts Challenge Grant, Knight Foundation
2017 Finalist, Forecast Public Art Mid-Career Project Grant, Forecast Public Art
2017 Nexus Community Partners, North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship
2016 Springboard for the Arts, Creative Economy Fellowship
2004 Franklin Furnace Future of the Present
2004 Longwood Cyber Residency
2003 The MacDowell Colony
2003 Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship
2002 Jerome Foundation, Media Arts Grant
2002 New York State Council of the Arts, Individual Artist Grant
2002 Creative Capital Grant, Emerging Fields
2002 Gaea Foundation Sea Change Residency
2002 Artist Residency Connection, Conjunction Arts
2002 Studio Program, Smack Mellon
2000 Artist in Residence, Harvestworks
1999 Artist In The Marketplace Program, The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1997 President’s Full Tuition Scholarship, Rhode Island School of Design
1996 V. Binger Full Tuition Merit Scholarship, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS
2017 Energy, Made Here, Hennepin Theatre Trust, Minneapolis, MN
2004 The Interventionists, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
2003 Only Skin Deep, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
After Whiteness, I Space, Chicago, IL
Skin Deep, Numark Gallery, Washington, DC
American Dream, Ronald Feldman, New York, NY
2002 Race in Digital Space, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2001 Mimic, GAle Gates, Brooklyn, NY
Freestyle, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Race in Digital Space, MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, MA
2000 Artist In the Marketplace 20th Annual Exhibition, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
1999 MFA Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
1998 Consumption, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
Sugar/White, Market House Gallery, Providence, RI
1997 Women in the Director’s Chair, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
BFA Exhibition, MCAD, Minneapolis, MN
1996 La Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Mexico City, Mexico
SELECTED PANELS/LECTURES
2017 Presenter, Making it Public, Forecast Public Art
2017 Moderator, Diversifying Funding panel, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
2017 Panelist, Next Step grant, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
2011 Presenter, 25th Annual AAW Symposium
2009 Panelist, City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs
2009 Panelist, WARP, Portfolio Review, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
2008 Panelist, Tribeca Film Institute, ADG
2008 Panelist, Renew Media, Media Arts Fellowships
2008 Panelist, Museums & the Web Conference
2007 Visiting Artist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2007 Panelist, NYFA, Artists’ Fellowships, Computer Arts
2006 Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities, Challenge Grants
2004 Visiting Artist, The Photography Institute, Summer Program, Columbia University
2003 Visiting Artist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2003 Visiting Artist, The Kitchen, NY, NY
2003 Juror, Longwood Cyber Residency, Bronx NY
2002 Sony Wonder Lab, Race in Digital Space Panel, Thundergulch
2001 Studio Museum in Harlem, Freestyle Artists Dialogue, moderated by Christine Y. Kim
2000 The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, Lecture
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tema Celeste, 98 Vol. 2003
One World Magazine, December 2002
Tema Celeste, 89 Vol., 2002
Social Text, 72 Vol. 21 No. 5
NY ARTS, June 2001
The Village Voice, May 22, 2001
New York Magazine, May 21, 2001
New York Times, May 11, 2001
Freestyle Catalogue 2001
Race in Digital Space Catalogue, 2001
Vibe, May 2001
Art Actuel, September-October, 2000
New York Times, August 18, 2000
AIM 20th Annual Exhibition Catalogue 2000
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Art, Photography, Rhode Island School of Design, 1999
Bachelor of Fine Art, Media Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 1997