Meet Our New Board Member – Mina Hamburg

We are thrilled to welcome Mina Hamburg to our Executive Board. Mina brings helpful organizational and marketing experiences from her work – she is a Senior Manager in the Digital Customer Experience North America practice at Capgemini.

In our on-going conversation series, studio artists interview new board members to introduce them to our community. Mina and studio artist Chris Viau met on zoom this month for the latest installment.

CHRIS: How did you find Arts of Life?

MINA: I was looking for an arts organization to support. I have supported the Hyde Park Art center for some family art events in the past.  I didn’t know Arts of Life specifically, but my consulting work consists of digital experiences and project planning, so I thought my organizational skills could be helpful to an arts group in the city. I also wanted to help my hometown community. 

CHRIS: Why are you interested? 

MINA: I don’t think that the business and art sectors need to be as separate as they are. I think Chicago is really segregated in that sense and other cities on the coasts do it much better. There are ways to merge different industries together. It is a stigma, but for example, not all artists live in Logan Square for example. So I want to find ways to bring that collaboration across industries to Arts of Life.

CHRIS: Do you have new ideas?

MINA: Yes. Due to my experience in commerce and websites. I think a silver lining of the pandemic has been virtual experiences. Digital experiences can be taken outside of Chicago, within the US but also globally. I know that Arts of Life has hosted some events virtually, but we can build upon that. We can try to get more press. I just made an introduction to My Modern Met which has a big subscriber base. That article will come out in January and should get a lot of attention for Arts of Life. And I think I can support fundraising too. Do you have ideas?

CHRIS: More art sales.

MINA: Online and in person?

CHRIS: Yeah.

MINA: I know we are on Artlifting. Maybe Saatchi or I just learned of another site… Do you like Artlifting?

CHRIS: Yeah. Are you a good team player?

MINA: Yes, I believe I am a team player. I work in collaborative settings all the time for my day job – working with different teams and business units. It is important to work together as a team; being respectful of ideas and being able to act on them together. 

CHRIS: Have you worked with people with disabilities before?

MINA: I have not personally no. 

Do you have other interests besides art?

CHRIS: I am involved in summer camp. Nature inspires my art. Sunsets on the lake.

MINA: Do you like sports too?

CHRIS: Yeah. I play bocce and watch the Cubs. 

MINA: I see that you are a Cubs fan. My husband is from Hyde Park so we are White Sox fans. What inspires your poetry?

CHRIS: Nature. I write poetry too. I have books on amazon.

MINA: I’ll check those out. My husband just published his first children’s book on amazon. Well it was so nice to meet you Chris. I appreciated this opportunity to chat.

CHRIS: Nice to meet you.