Tempestt Hazel

Tempestt Hazel

Tempestt Hazel is first and foremost a lover of the arts. That love motivated her undergraduate studies in art history and visual-arts management at Columbia College Chicago, where she graduated with a BA in 2010. While in school, she gained experience in everything from curatorial practice and art journalism to marketing and development, during stints at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the South Side Community Art Center, and Chicago Artists Resource.

Hazel’s passion for art, her mix of skills, and candid conversations with her classmate Nicolette Caldwell ultimately led her to cofound the web-based nonprofit organization, Sixty Inches From Center: Chicago Arts Archive and Collective Project, where she and Caldwell share the role of executive director. Sixty Inches From Center is an online archive of interviews, webisodes, and articles about Chicago’s art scene as it happens outside the city’s iconic institutions.

Hazel also works with Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events as project coordinator for three initiatives: the Chicago Artists Resource Outreach Program, Studio Chicago, and the Creative Chicago Expo. A writer for the 2010 Annual Conference Blog, she is elated to return for a second year for the New York event.