WHILE FREMONT laid the groundwork for MFTA, miles away Susan Glass was spearheading new initiatives and opportunities for artists.
Graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1978, Glass’s interests geared toward helping artists learn how to survive and thrive. After a stint as a CETA artist at American University’s Arts Administration Program, she was asked to be the administrator at Columbia University’s brand new Arts Administration Program.
The program fit her desire to merge the worlds of business and administration while making a positive impact on the arts. The curriculum emphasized training artists to be administrators, thus ensuring that artists’ place in the art world could extend beyond exhibiting their work. While at Columbia, Glass secured a fellowship at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Serendipitously, while at NEA, she was asked to review a recently submitted grant proposal from MFTA.