The ICA Chattanooga at UTC
The ICA Chattanooga presents challenging, curious, and adventurous encounters with contemporary art and artists. The ICA is always free and open to the general public as well as to our UTC campus community.
About the ICA
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) launched the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at UTC—the first ICA in the state of TN—in Spring 2021.
The ICA supports a year-round exhibition schedule including temporary special exhibitions with visiting regional and national contemporary artists and exhibitions featuring works from UTC’s permanent collection of fine art. The exhibition schedule also offers opportunities for Art Department majors to present their work in a professional setting, including our annual BFA Thesis Exhibitions, Feinstein Scholarship exhibition, and annual juried student exhibition.
Financial Practices & Structure
General operating support for the ICA is provided by UTC’s College of Arts and Sciences.
W.A.G.E. is a New York-based activist organization founded in 2008 whose mission is to establish sustainable economic relationships between artists and the non-profit institutions that contract this labor. Since its inception and opening in 2021, the ICA follows W.A.G.E. standards and financial practices by integrating fair payment into all that we do reflected by the size of our general operating budget: the sustainability and feasibility of our exhibition calendar is built upon fair payments to artists, speakers, and production support for projects or exhibitions. The ICA Chattanooga will seek W.A.G.E. certification by 2024.
Our History
The ICA was formerly named the Cress Gallery of Art (2000-2020) which bore the name of artist and UTC Guerry Professor of Art Emeritus George Ayers Cress (American, 1921–2008).
Prior to the Cress Gallery of Art, the gallery was simply named the University Art Gallery and opened in 1980 with the new Fine Arts Center on campus. The University of Chattanooga Art Gallery has a century-long history, and its full archive is being digitized as of Summer 2023 for future public use.
UTC is a comprehensive, community-engaged campus of the UT System and an NASAD-accredited institution. UTC is an EEO/AA/Titles VI and IX Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution.
Image: Lecturer Carolyn Lambert (L) and exhibiting artist Ana Leonard (Photo & Media Art, 2021), discuss her work in the 2021 BFA Senior Thesis Exhibition at the ICA. Photo: Angela Foster, UTC.
Image: Assistant Professor Shane Ward (L) and exhibiting artist Emma Petrochko (Graphic Design, 2021), discuss her work in the 2021 BFA Senior Thesis Exhibition at the ICA. Photo: Angela Foster, UTC.
Image: Installation image of Home on view at the ICA, January 20-March 19, 2021. Photo: North Light Imaging.
INQUIRIES
General inquiries: hello@icachatt.org
Rachel Waldrop, Director and Curator
Office: 423-425-4689
rachel-waldrop@utc.edu
(email for tour or viewing appointments)
Pat Kelley, Administrative Assistant
Office: 423-425-4178
patricia-kelley@utc.edu
Note: The ICA galleries are curated spaces, and as such, do not accept unsolicited proposals from artists or guest curators. Unsolicited proposals are not guaranteed to be responded to or returned due to lack of capacity.
Thank you for understanding!