The Springfield Area Arts Council has hired Andrew Schneider as program director, bringing together his experience as an entrepreneur, creative practitioner, community arts leader and statewide policy advocate. As SAAC’s program director, Schneider will take a leading role in the production and long-term development of the Levitt AMP Springfield Music Series, a nationally recognized program of the Springfield Area Arts Council. He will also support other programs ranging from First Night Springfield to grants for artists, schools and community organizations.
“Andrew brings a unique combination of hands-on programming, organizational leadership and statewide perspective, but what stood out most was his commitment to this community,” said SAAC executive director Bella Szabo. “He understands that the Arts Council is a connector —bringing together artists, audiences, schools, businesses, community organizations and supporters. We are excited to have someone who can help strengthen those connections across Sangamon and Menard counties.”
Schneider most recently served as senior director of government affairs at Arts Alliance Illinois, where he helped launch the bipartisan Illinois Creative Caucus, led statewide advocacy campaigns and convened national researchers to help design Illinois’ creative future.
His career has also remained close to the stage, studio and small business. Schneider maintains his own creative practice and co-founded Create Places, a Northern Colorado nonprofit connecting creativity with economic and workforce development. He later managed Downtown Artery, a 14,000-square-foot arts hub, and served as executive director of the Wyoming Arts Alliance.
Schneider was named to BizWest’s 2016 class of 40 Under Forty, and selected for Colorado Creative Industries’ Change Leader Institute. During the COVID-19 response, he was detailed to the Colorado Governor’s Council on Economic Stabilization and Growth.
“My career moves back and forth between making things and building the conditions that allow other people to make things and make a living,” Schneider said. “Running an arts space, producing a public event, developing a creative business and shaping public policy may look like different work. To me, it is all about opportunity.”
Schneider joins SAAC as Springfield makes consequential choices about its future, from rail consolidation and the Third Street corridor to downtown redevelopment and the Route 66 centennial. He sees arts and culture as connective tissue between those investments and the people they are meant to serve.
“We can build new spaces, improve transportation and attract visitors, but what makes those investments matter? People do,” said Schneider. “The musician who brings an audience downtown; the artist who transforms a blank wall; the restaurant that stays open after a concert; the young person who encounters something here and begins to imagine a future within the community. Joining SAAC is an opportunity to support economic and community development while giving back to the place I now call home.”