Clara Inés Schuhmacher

Clara Inés Schuhmacher has two decades of experience in the cultural sector, working at the intersection of the arts, community and public space. In her current role as Senior Vice President, Programs at the Dumbo Improvement District, she curates cultural programming and public art with and for the neighborhood and its public spaces, helps to tell the individual & collective stories of Dumbo, and is involved in advocacy and planning at the city level. Clara has held leadership positions at New Music USA, Make Music New York, and the Village Halloween Parade. For many years, she was on the editorial team of Createquity, a pioneering ten-year research initiative to help make the world a better place by better understanding the arts, now in an archival state. She has toured Europe and South America as a vocalist, and her video art work, as part of the duo vvitalny, active in the 2010s, has been exhibited internationally. Clara holds a BA in Ethnomusicology from Brown University, an MA in Arts Politics from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is a 2017 graduate of the Coro Neighborhood Leadership fellowship. She lives in Brooklyn

What drew you to the MA Arts Politics program?

Honestly, it was the only program I applied to! I looking for a way to more deeply connect the work I was already doing in arts + community, get a practical-and also theoretical-grounding, learn from those who had come before me. This was the only program that offered this in a way that felt organic and flexible. Plus, how could I resist the opportunity to learn from incredible women like Karen, Kathy, Marta?

How did your experience in the program shape your work?

I graduated from this program more than 10 years ago, and yet it continues to be an active presence in my work. I count many of my APP classmates among my closest friends and collaborators, and often consult and brainstorm with them. I have Randy, Kathy, Marta and the voices of so many others in the back of my mind when thinking about my own curatorial practice. Its impact is indelible, and am so grateful to have passed through these doors.