Erin Harkey, who helped guide the city’s post-pandemic cultural reopening, has been picked to lead one of the nation’s leading arts advocacy nonprofits.
Harkey is set to become CEO of Americans for the Arts at the end of March, the Washington, D.C.-based agency announced Wednesday.
“Along with the AFTA board of directors, I am thrilled that Erin has accepted the role as our new CEO in the next stage of our journey,” Edgar Smith, chairman of the AFTA’s board, said in a written statement.
“The power in the world today is in networks. Erin is the right leader to serve, advance, and lead the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain and support the arts in America through advocacy, research, convening and collaboration.”
The arts organization highlighted Harkey’s 20 years of working in nonprofit and government sectors, and added that her experience would be valuable “amid ongoing threats to federal funding for programs like the arts and diversity programs.”
Harkey told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday that she is looking forward to her new job and is monitoring the spate of executive orders, including those affecting the arts, that have come down from the Trump administration.
“There have been other times in our nation’s history when the arts have faced challenges, but it has been a bipartisan coalition of folks that have ensured that the federal cultural agencies remain strong,” Harkey said. “So I don’t want to take any of that for granted, and it’s our job to really ensure in this moment that that support is still there.”
In November 2021, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Harkey to lead the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down theaters, live music and Chicago’s myriad festivals and special events. She slowly brought those events back to life, with the annual Blues Fest returning in full last summer and a full-out Air and Water Show in 2022.
At the same time, Harkey initiated the Sueños Festival in Grant Park, a two-day Latin Reggaeton event that has become a popular staple on the music scene.
She also shortened Taste of Chicago to a bite-sized, three-day event in July in Grant Park — preceded by three neighborhood Saturdays in June — to lessen the drain on diminishing police resources and promote what she called arts equity. Under Lightfoot, she also played a role in bringing NASCAR racing to downtown Chicago.
Mayor Brandon Johnson ousted Harkey in February 2024, as he assembled his team.
Harkey, a Los Angeles native, came to Chicago about eight years ago to work at DCASE. She said she is proud, among other things, of working to “build bridges” between different city agencies and of distributing about $23.5 million in grants in 2023 to various artists and arts organizations.
“Which was by far the most the city had ever given out to support individual artists and arts organization, and of course (the department) did all of that with the lens for expanding who had access to those funds,” she said.
Harkey’s ouster surprised and angered a number of people both in the arts community and in local politics.
Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), chairman of the City Council’s Special Events Committee, at the time branded Harkey’s ouster a “terrible” decision with “terrible timing.”
“It’s a bad move,” Sposato said. “She’s a good person. She’s a hard worker. She does a good job. And the timing of it. A lot goes in for the summer and now, you’ve got to bring somebody new in to be running the show for all of these fests and everything we have.”
Asked if she had any hard feelings toward Johnson, Harkey said: “Things happen for a reason, and I’m very happy, obviously, with where I’ve landed.”
Has she spoken to the mayor about why he fired her?
“No, we did not have that conversation,” she said.