During a meeting of the city of Chicago’s Cultural Advisory Council on Tuesday (7 October), it was announced that the commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Clinée Hedspeth, had resigned, effective immediately.
When Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Hedspeth in March 2024, the announcement noted “a wealth of experience” in arts administration, public policy and community engagement, but arts leaders were sceptical. Not only was Hedspeth’s track record in the arts limited—she held positions including as a specialist at the auction house Phillips and as the director of curatorial services at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center—but her appointment meant the dismissal of the very competent commissioner Erin Harkey (who has since been appointed to run the advocacy organisation Americans for the Arts).
Within months, DCASE staff began leaving and it became well-known within the art community that the work environment at the agency was toxic. In April of this year, a newly formed advocacy group called Artists for Chicago wrote a letter to the mayor outlining the dysfunction at DCASE that included allegations of bullying, lack of communication and a staff unable to adequately keep up with its obligations because of the high turnover.
At least two formal complaints had been filed to the Office of the Inspector General, but on-the-record comments were impossible to obtain for fear of retribution. A letter sent to The Art Newspaper stated that a report from the Chicago Inspector General on the matter was expected in July. According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, the report was finally released recently and its contents were scathing—had Hedspeth not quit, the source said, she would likely have been fired. The Office of the Inspector General did not respond to The Art Newspaper’s requests for comment.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said: “Mayor Johnson has immediately begun the search for a new commissioner who will work to protect Chicago from the Trump administration’s cuts to cultural grants and institutions.”
An interim DCASE commissioner has not been named.