Tomoko Kawanaka

 

 

 

Tomoko Kawanaka

Assistant Director of Operations

Tomoko Kawanaka is the Assistant Director of Operations, and she provides leadership in HR, finance, contracting, process management, and administrative support. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting with a minor in printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Fine Arts from Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.  Previously, she worked for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs for 9 years in various capacities, including running Gallery 37’s Downtown Program, the flagship award-winning jobs training program for Chicago teens formerly held on Block 37.  Tomoko started working at UIC in 2009 as the School of Theatre & Music’s Assistant Director and moved to the Innovation Center in 2019.  Her 30 years of experience working with non-profit institutions provides stability and organization for creatives and innovators to do what they do best.