Cultural commissioner criticized for leaving ‘void,' faces bullying allegations

Chicago Tribune

06-02-2025

After canceling a quarterly meeting with some of Chicago's top cultural minds for a second time, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Clinée Hedspeth is facing criticism from appointees of past administrations who say she is leaving a 'void' in the struggling arts industry.
Hedspeth postponed until late February the Cultural Advisory Council's meeting just days before it was set to occur last week. The decision 'continues a pattern' of noncommunication with arts leaders left in the dark about her vision for Chicago culture, advisory council member Amina Dickerson said.
'I think a city is defined by its cultural vibrancy,' said Dickerson, an arts activist long involved in leading local cultural institutions. 'That needs support, that needs counsel, that needs careful tending for that to be maintained. And I'm just not sure that is a priority.'
Hedspeth also faces bullying allegations from several staffers, records obtained by the Tribune show. Around a quarter of the department's staff has resigned or been fired since Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Hedspeth in March.
The commissioner testified Tuesday at the City Council, where a majority of aldermen signed a letter condemning a 'protest puppet' on public display at the Chicago Cultural Center. Some aldermen called for the puppet — a bloodied caricature of Uncle Sam and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended to criticize Israeli military action in Gaza and the U.S. support of it — to be taken down.
Throughout the chaotic meeting, several City Council members aggressively questioned Hedspeth, who defended her department's decision to so far leave up the installment.
The Cultural Advisory Council currently includes only members first appointed by other mayors, according to city records. Johnson is set to add some of his own members at the group's next meeting. Hedspeth — who served as Johnson's legislative director for over two years when he was a Cook County commissioner — said the meeting was postponed to include them and make the gathering 'more substantive.'
But some on the council argue the cancellations are both a cause and a sign of the 'void' Hedspeth's tenure has left in the city's struggling arts industry.
As the city's theaters, museums and venues struggle through a painful post-pandemic recovery, the people tasked with advising City Hall on how to support the arts 'don't understand or know what Hedspeth is thinking, what plans are being made,' said Dickerson, an appointee of Mayor Lori Lightfoot who previously served as its chair.
As a result, Dickerson said, arts organizations are increasingly looking elsewhere for guidance.
'Aside from getting a grant, there's not a sense of vision, there's not a sense of leadership that helps us understand how to navigate what is a very difficult terrain,' she said. 'What I'm distressed about is: Will we be able to build back and what it will take to restore some of the faith of the arts community?'
The advisory council is a key link for department leaders to publicly hear from powerful civic philanthropist groups, theaters, artists, museums, festivals, arts funders and more. DCASE's many functions include working with the high-dollar film and TV industries, sharing grants with artists and arts organizations, organizing public art and permitting special events like Lollapalooza or the NASCAR Chicago Street Race.
The advisory council's chair, Coya Paz, said she believes the group is 'underutilized.' But she added that Hedspeth came into a difficult situation where many industry leaders had close relationships with former Commissioner Erin Harkey, whom Johnson fired. Harkey told the Tribune on Wednesday she was recently hired as CEO of the D.C. nonprofit Americans for the Arts.
'I think there is a vision,' said Paz, strategic director at the Free Street Theater. 'I think all of us are very curious about how we can learn more about it and support that moving forward.'
Paz said she doesn't think the department's priorities have changed under Hedspeth and that she believes the new commissioner's focus has been landing funding — an effort in which Paz believes Hedspeth has been 'quite successful.'
Hedspeth helped secure a $1 million increase in the amount of money the city will spend on grants to artists this year, despite Johnson and the City Council's struggles to pass a 2025 budget. The city will spend $7 million on the grants, an increase compared with the $6 million in Johnson's 2024 budget, but a decrease from the $10 million in Lightfoot's 2023 budget, which received more federal support.
Hedspeth told ABC-7 in December that her vision for the department was 'data-driven,' including 'more activations in communities, more support for artists.'
Asked shortly after her March appointment what her goals were, Hedspeth had little to say to the Tribune.
'I think it would be foolish to share some of those,' she said. 'I have them and I plan on sharing them soon.'
Hedspeth said in a statement that she is welcomes more dialogue with council members.
'I've worked collaboratively with those members of the CAC that have expressed interest in having regular dialogue with me and will continue to partner with them for the betterment of the arts community,' she wrote.
But advisory council member Tonika Johnson Lewis, another Lightfoot appointee, echoed Dickerson's concerns over Hedspeth's noncommunication with the group.
Johnson Lewis, a social justice artist, praised the DCASE grant programs that have enabled some of her own public art projects. But she said there has been 'absolutely no effort' to engage the council and an 'absolute lack of effort to really learn.'
Staff complaints alleging mistreatment
Hedspeth has faced at least four formal complaints primarily alleging staff mistreatment since Johnson appointed her in March.
The staff departures are 'due to the leadership of Hedspeth,' reported one complainant, who alleged Hedspeth shouted at them across the office and cursed them out in front of strangers.
In each complaint obtained by the Tribune, the Human Resources staff determined investigations should not move forward, though in one case they decided the allegations warranted escalation to Johnson's chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas.
Asked about the complaints and the department's high turnover, Hedspeth said in a statement that the city does not comment on 'personnel matters,' but said staffing changes are 'common and expected.' The department is filing vacancies and has 'successfully brought in new talent as positions are posted,' she added.
The department's full-time head count stood at 61 employees on Dec. 31, a drop from the 71 employees Harkey oversaw before Johnson fired her, according to a September report by WBEZ calling attention to the department's high turnover. Johnson ordered a hiring freeze in September to help balance the city's budget, though the department hired several employees in the fall.
Between Hedspeth's March appointment and August, at least 18 employees have left the department, according to records obtained by the Tribune.
As they handled the four complaints made to the city's Inspector General and Department of Human Resources, City Hall's Equal Employment Opportunity office cited a lack of cooperation from complainants, 'speculative' allegations and the absence of violations in 'protected categories' as they determined investigations should not move forward.
The complaint that sparked the warning to Pacione-Zayas included an allegation that Hedspeth cursed at an employee in front of a couple attending a DCASE event after the employee took too long to give the duo a business card at Hedspeth's request.
'What the f—,' Hedspeth told the employee, according to the records. 'Get your f—— s— together.'
The couple was 'taken aback' and never reached out afterward, the complainant told investigators. Hedspeth also allegedly screamed at children making noise to be quiet at a subsequent event, 'one of the worst things' the complainant 'had ever seen.'
The complaint sent to Pacione-Zayas also alleged Hedspeth threatened employees, telling one staffer 'you're on thin ice' and 'watch your back' as office tensions escalated.
A complaint accused Hedspeth of almost never meeting with high-level department staffers. Hedspeth is 'particularly fixated on tickets to events,' controlling tickets while blocking senior staffers from attending events typically in their purview, the complainant said. Hedspeth's leadership made the complainant 'concerned about the public stakeholders DCASE serves,' they told investigators.
In another complaint made in May, a staffer alleges Hedspeth tried to wage a 'witchhunt' against a group partnering with the city after the group's leader made comments critical of the mayor. Hedspeth directed four department staff members to 'look into' the partner group after the comments, according to the complaint.
A staffer alleged in another complaint that Hedspeth ordered them to carry her purse, phone and jacket at an event. The complainant recalled feeling 'embarrassed and demoralized' after being 'treated like a personal assistant' by the then-new commissioner. Days later, the employee was given a new assignment before they were told they would need to resign or be fired, the complaint says. The complainant also alleged Hedspeth treated Black employees better than others.