Art and Design Research Guide

Professional associations are organizations that promote an occupation or industry by providing networking opportunities, workshops, and other support for current and aspiring workers. In the Art and Design world, they often hold conferences where members present the latest innovations or products, provide opportunities to learn, discuss industry trends, and demonstrate their skills or sell their works. Some offer discounted student memberships, and conference presentations can help newcomers build experience in their field.

There are many professional associations for Art and Design, and we’ve gathered links to a selection of these below. 

Fine Arts:

• Mass Cultural Council - the Mass Cultural Council works in Massachusetts to partner with artists, communities, educators, and organizations to unleash the power of culture across Massachusetts. Opportunities for artists include individual grants for projects, as well as community projects, school-based projects, resources for artist spaces, links to creative job opportunities and more

• Artists Thrive! From their website: Artists Thrive aims to identify the things that help artists pursue their vision and to enable communities to benefit from the arts in all aspects of life. Resources and tools within Artists Thrive help artists, arts organizations, and other groups that work with artists collaborate and craft meaningful stories about why art-making matters. 

Animation and Interactive:

• ACMSIGGRAPH - From their website: The ACM SIGGRAPH community is a global nonprofit organization serving the evolution of computer graphics and interactive techniques. With thousands of members across the world, the researchers, artists, developers, filmmakers, scientists, and business professionals of ACM SIGGRAPH are building the future of digital art and interactive design.

Architecture:

• American Institute of Architecture (AIA) - from their website: Based in Washington, D.C., AIA has been the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners since 1857. The AIA sponsors hundreds of continuing education experiences to help architects maintain their licensure, sets the industry standard in contract documents with more than 100 forms and contracts used in the design and construction industry, provides countless web-based resources, conducts market research and provides analysis of the economic factors that affect the business of architecture. 

Art History:

• College Art Association of America (CAA) -  from their website: CAA supports those who study, teach, write about, advocate for and/or create art and design. The Association honors human diversity and acknowledges the extraordinary range of backgrounds, cultures, perspectives, work styles, education, rank, skills, and experiences that make the advancement of art and design integral to culture.

Graphic Design:

• American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) - from their website: Founded in 1914, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design. AIGA now represents more than 20,000 design professionals, educators and students through national activities and local programs developed by 65 chapters and 200 student groups.

Photography:

• American Photographic Artists National - from their website:  APA is dedicated to the needs of photographers working in both still and motion. Our members include photographers and others in the photo community. APA advocates for the rights of US image-makers as we seek to help our members achieve their professional and artistic goals. Our community offers valuable connections for sharing and collaborating with your peers and with those who hire photographers