Ashley Feagin, associate professor and chair of art and art history, has been awarded an Emerging Arts Administration Fellowship by the National Council of Arts Administrators (NCAArts) for the 2024-2025 academic year. The prestigious award seeks to provide resources and mentorship opportunities for budding arts administrators.

Feagin joined the faculty at Albion in 2013, after earning her MFA in photography at Louisiana Tech University. At Albion, she has taught classes in photography, digital imaging, video, computer art, and the cultural significance of pop music. Her artwork explores queer identity, queer family through photographs, installations, performances, and collaborations.

Feagin is dedicated to fostering an atmosphere of belonging in her lab and studio by creating accessible and inclusive for all through the physical space and the curriculum. In addition to her role as department chair, she also serves as chair of the Faculty Committee on Diversity, charged with working on issues of equity and inclusion that impact both students and faculty alike.

“I am looking forward to attending the NCAA conference in North Michigan and joining a network of arts administrators through this fellowship, who will empower me to navigate curricular changes effectively and advance our department’s goals,” said Feagin. “One of my goals as chair is to find the thread that links creative research to other academic disciplines of inquiry while centering equity and access. Additionally, I aim to establish more experiential learning opportunities for students at the undergraduate level that propels them into a life of art advocacy and patronage.”

And her ambitions do not stop at the College. Feagin also seeks to enhance access to the arts throughout Calhoun County, Michigan.

Through the fellowship, Feagin will receive a one-year council membership, free admission to NCAArt’s 52nd annual conference at Interlochen Center for the Arts, September 25-28, 2025, and be paired with a distinguished arts administrator who will serve as mentor for the year.

The National Council of Arts Administrators is an organization whose primary purpose is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, the identification of problems, and the generation of shared solutions to the multitude of issues that confront arts administrators in higher education today. Only a handful of professionals are awarded the NCAArts fellowships each year, with many hailing from large universities and international arts organizations.