Jared Giles

Born and raised in Louisville, KY, Jared graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Information Science and minor in Entrepreneurship. Art was not a potential profession on Jared’s radar until he started dancing during his senior year of high school. Soon after Jared began working with a nonprofit dance organization in North Carolina where he found his passion: building communities through shared artistic interest.

Throughout college Jared continued to work with the organization and observed art’s ability to unite individuals and build community and self-confidence. At the same time, Jared was completing his degree in Information Science and coursework in Arts Entrepreneurship. The combination of these skills landed Jared in the exciting intersection between technology and art, and after graduating from college he decided to work with a technology startup in Louisville, KY to advance his technical expertise. While in Louisville Jared continued teaching dance, began performing in musicals and plays, and started working with an organization that builds artists as creative agents of change to heal communities.

Jared is most interested in how to utilize art to relieve the economic and educational disparities in underserved communities. Jared believes that, by using art as a catalyst for community building, all people of a community can reach their full potential.

What drew you to the MA in Arts Politics?

I’ve had my eye on the Arts Politics program since 2014. While I was in college, even though I knew I loved to dance and was passionate about the extracurricular work I was involved in, I did not know how to pursue my interests academically. The Arts Politics program will allow me to challenge the assumptions I have about art and its impact on community, economic, and educational development. It will also provide a space for me to learn and gain the tools necessary to do the work post-graduation.

I’m most excited to join the APP network and learn from individuals with vastly different experiences. Something as simple as hearing someone’s story from a perspective I had never considered can teach volumes.