Last night, hundreds of students from an array of Columbia schools gathered in Low Rotunda to take part in the annual Columbia University Center for Career Education (CCE) "Media and Publishing Networking Night."   For those SoA students and alumni who participated, it was an amazing event, attracting over 100 professionals working in a diverse set of media and publishing fields, including film and theatre, online and new media, freelance work, print journalism, broadcast journalism, book publishing, and marketing, public relations & advertising.

Students were given a chance to talk one-on-one with professionals, invited from industries as diverse as HBO, Radio Free Europe & Radio Free Liberty, CBS News, Disney ABC Media Networks, Hudson Review, Little Magic Films, For Impact Productions, PowerHouse Books, Turner Broadcasting, Social Diva Media, the New York Times, Deep Focus, NYC TV, Classic Media, HarperFestival, WNYC, Arts Power, UrbanGroove, L.L.C., Scribe Media, Conde Nast Publications, Scholastic, Clyde Media NBC, ESPN, HarperCollins, and many, many others.

Invited alumni from the School of the Arts (thank you, alumni!) included John Reed (Writing, ‘94), fiction author and freelance journalist, Stan Friedman (Writing, ‘90), Senior Research Librarian at Conde Nast Publications and Ken Kerbs (Film, ‘96), Photojournalist, CBS News.

Special thanks to the dedicated staff of the Center for Career Education for putting together a mind-blowing array of talent and knowledge, accessible to students in a single room. CCE continues to be one of the SoA’s greatest allies in helping students define for themselves (and sometimes redefine for themselves) what it means to be "an artist" in the 21st century.

It was an inspiring event, full of opportunities for artists to learn about "thinking outside of the box" in terms of career choices.  From entrepreneurs to freelancers, to artists in Fortune 500 companies, the information was flowing.  And although it may not flow at this magnitude until this time next year, there continue to be many upcoming opportunites for artistic career growth and development.  Some cases in point:

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Upcoming Artists’ Resource Center & CCE Events:
(lunch will be provided!)

Basic Grant Writing
Wednesday, April 4th at 1pm
LeRoy Neiman Gallery
Artists’ Resource Center & The Queens Council for the Arts
Learn the basics of creating and composing successful arts grant applications from a professional in the business.

Careers Outside Academia: A Discussion with Author Susan Basalla-May
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 6:00pm
Davis Auditorium, Schaprio Center
Susan Basalla, Author of "So What Are You Going to do with That? Exploring Careers Outside Academia" discusses expanded career options for graduate students.

Careers In… Freelance
April 10, 2007 at 7pm
Center for Career Education Conference Room
Are you interested in pursuing a less traditional career path and being a freelancer rather than working for a single company? Hear from alumni and professionals about how they have made it in freelancing careers within writing, editing, production and other sectors.

Artists’ Survival Tools II
Wednesday, April 11th at 1pm
LeRoy Neiman Gallery
Learn the tools that artists need to navigate the job search effectively. This brief workshop will discuss various job techniques  that artists need to know. Whether you are looking for a part-time, full-time or internship position, learn how to apply your creativity to the job search.

For more information regarding these and other CCE events, and to register for them online, be sure to visit CCE’s website at: http://www.cce.columbia.edu.