8/31/2006
	Mike Nourse is the New Manager of Studio Programs at Marwen
	In 2001, along with Nat Soti, Mike Nourse started Zero One Projects, a video and design company specializing in production work for non-profit organizations. Over the years they worked on dozens of projects for organizations such as The National Jazz Museum, The Chicago Historical Society, and The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Since graduating in 2002 with his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nourse has also been teaching media arts to undergrads and graduate students at both DePaul University and SAIC. In 2003, along with Nat Soti and Nathan Peck (both also college arts instructors), Nourse founded the Chicago Art Department, an experimental intermedia arts school. In 2004, the school moved its operations to Halsted street, where it has since been a part of The Chicago Arts District. With his experience as a college instructor and the development of Chicago Art Department over the years, Nourse has gotten much exposure and experience in the area of arts education. When an opportunity to run a well established studio program for a well respected and attractive organization like Marwen came up, he took it seriously and threw his name into the mix. Marwen is a non-profit arts organization that provides free visual art classes, along with college & career counseling for under served high school students in Chicago. They have been around for 20 years and are a very solid example of progressive arts education, serving a total of about 2000 students and offering roughly 85 classes per year, in a top of the line facility located right downtown in their own building (with parking!). After a few months of interviewing, answering lots of questions, and asking many of his own, Nourse decided to leave teaching at SAIC (where he was teaching in both the Film/Video, New Media department and the department of Visual Communication). Nourse also decided to move on from Zero One Projects, and take the position of Manager of Studio Programs at Marwen. He made the choice feeling that this was the best direction for him to continue to pursue his goals as an artist, while at the same time developing his passion for arts education in a focused and significant way. While Nat Soti will continue to run Zero One Projects, The Chicago Art Department is taking the summer off. Nourse and Soti will be re-grouping for the fall, when they plan to be offering some new and exciting programs. Nourse will continue to work as an intermedia artist, working in digital video and imaging, canvas transfers/paints, sound/music creation and performance, as well as sculptural/installation arts. Currently he focusing on Marwen’s fall term and CAD’s fall program, while working on new shows (including 2nd Fridays!).