Karlene Anderson has been working with various types of organizations. Throughout her undergraduate years at Northern Illinois University (NIU) she worked in various part-time jobs while earning her Bachelor of General Studies degree in 1995 with a Visual & Performing Arts Contract in Arts Administration and a minor in Business Administration.

During that time she was a member of the NIU Wind Symphony and NIU Graduation Band and NIU Steel Band. She held leadership positions with NIU Campus Activities Board (CAB ) NIU University Programming & Activities, NIU Music Floor Council, and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). She earned a Presidential Academic Fitness Award, a Certificate of Award for Contributions as Vice President of the NIU Fine Arts Committee, and a Certificate of Achievement in Illinois Arts Alliance Campaign from the NIU Contact Communications, a committee of the PRSSA chapter at NIU.  She also directed special projects with CAB to increase awareness and public advocacy for The National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum Services.

Throughout her college years, she interned summers with non-profit organizations, such as the McHenry County Youth Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, NIU SummerN.I.T.E. (Northern Illinois Theatre Ensemble) and the NIU School of Theatre and Dance serving in capacities such as administration, sponsorship, assistant producer, house manager, public relations and marketing.  She was chosen by her peers to represent NIU at the 1993 & 1994 Arts Midwest Conferences and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference in 1995.  She earned a Volunteer Appreciation Award as a volunteer at the International Association of Business Communicators conference in 1993 in Chicago and was an Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference volunteer in 1994 in New York City.

In 1995, Karlene moved to Los Angeles where she held part-time positions as a Hollywood writer’s creative assistant, a jazz festival producer at the University of Southern California and as an Amanson Theatre priority services representative telemarketing single tickets to Ahmanson Theatre at the Center Theatre Group (CTG). At CTG she was promoted to full-time graphic design coordinator until budget cuts led her to work temporarily with CTG’s Mark Taper Forum - New Work Festival as their reservationist and house manager.  She then found part-time work as CTG’s Audience Services Representative and Subscriptions Representative and as the City of Los Angeles’ Office of Festivals and Gallery Theatre programming assistant.  In her spare time, Karlene independently co-produced four one-act plays and two short films by African-American writers.  Karlene moved on to L. A. Theatre Works as the box office manager for a unique live radio theatre production and literature archive that still airs today on National Public Radio.  In that same year she worked with the City of Los Angeles as assistance staff for the Folk & Traditional Arts department’s “Living Roots,” a national folk arts conference held within the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

In 1998, Karlene returned to Chicago when offered the marketing and promotions coordinator position with Guild Complex.  There she directed marketing & public relations campaigns with graphic designers and web designers for 150+ annual literary and music events, cultivated a 200+ media relations database, supervised interns, motivated volunteers, and used communications tools to interact with local and nationally renown artists such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni and Dorothy Allison.  Karlene began a masters degree at Roosevelt University, attended Arts Bridge Training Events, and participated in a series of arts marketing workshops held by the Arts & Business Council of Chicago’s Arts Marketing Center.

She later transferred to Columbia College Chicago where she graduated in 2001 with an M.A. in Performing Arts Management from the Arts, Entertainment and Media Management graduate program.  She was the winner of the Albert P. Weisman Memorial Scholarship Fund in year 2000 for a matching grant for the completion of a Columbia College Chicago student independent communication project to cultivate donors for the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  A representational display of this project was included in Albert P. Weisman Scholars’ Exhibit & Reception – work by 40 outstanding students in art, photography, film/video, sound, print at Columbia College Chicago’s Hokin Gallery; and ARTwalk 2001: 1 Night, 8 Galleries, 1 Museum. Both Albert P Weisman Scholars’ Exhibit and ARTwalk were part of the Columbia College Chicago: Five days of arts events.

Since then, Karlene has worked with the NIU Foundation as a donor relations coordinator and Ravinia Festival Association as a group sales assistant. She was an administrative consultant to Rembrandt Chamber Players; a long-term business planning advisor and a marketing consultant to vocalists Modern Voices: A Renaissance of Song for recital of professional art songs at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago.  As an Illinois booking and marketing agent to Milwaukee-based jazz quintet Annie & the Jazz Orphans, she was able to edit a press release, create a press kit, book them a show in Illinois, and put their CD on consignment at Chicago’s Tower Records.  As manager to vocalist Claudia Pérez their business relationship culminated in updating her image and website, claudiaperez.com, marketing a CD release “In This Love” and booking a concert at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  As a booking and marketing consultant to guitarist Fareed Haque she suggested he create his own website, helped to research and direct with Fareed, other musicians, photographer, and graphic designer, the “The Poet” CD and companion poetry book project as well as negotiate a CD release party and concert at the Hot House in Chicago.  She also served as a one-time event manager/contract negotiator/CD consigner for New York-based Ray Spiegel, a Japanese-American percussionist and professional tabla player when she booked the Ray Spiegel Ensemble in concert at Columbia College in Chicago.

Karlene was an independent capital campaign research assistant to the Elgin Symphony Orchestra where she later became their part-time development assistant working extensively with their Arts Manager database, sent out donor acknowledgement letters, their annual gala benefit concert and dinner as well as other special events. 

She has also done independent work with Ally Entertainment, XQ Learning, LLC, Grand Prix Car Wash, AlphaBet Soup Productions and RN Johnson.  In 2005, while she was serving a three-year term as a trustee on the McHenry County Music Center board of directors and as one of the board’s Finance & Budget Committee members, Karlene acted as the interim managing director during the transition of the founding executive director’s retirement, the board’s search for a new executive director while fundraising for a European tour with their youth orchestra and a major move to larger permanent facilities.  For many years, she has also worked as the Information Technology & Administrative Office Manager for a local financial planning small business.

Today she is honored to be a network affiliate with Shoestring Creative Group seriously pursing consulting engagements as their Project Director & Marketing/PR Consultant for Illinois.  She is capable of communicating with various sizes of nonprofit organizations.  She can work with executives, board members, creative staff members, and artists because she has an understanding of policy, project direction, administration, development, public relations and marketing communications. Karlene knows how to act as an project director/art director because of her working knowledge of various computer software programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Quark, Aldus Fetch, PageMaker, Microsoft Office (MS Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word), Word Perfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Quatro Pro, and Quicken. Other skills, such as web content writing and editing, grant writing, news release writing, radio and television spot writing and editing.  She can also help with the marketing communication processes of photography, photo stat process, design, layout and paste-up of advertising, posters, fliers, bussigns, programs, and banners.

Contact Karlene by email  |  Or call toll-free: 1-888-835-6236