Drawing of Droege by Eriko Hattori.
Check out some of these moments when people took note of their work:
That time their sold Small Mall and talked with Amanda Waltz at City Paper.
That time their suit was in Art News and the artwork too.
That time Architexx interviewed them.
A couple moments when they got lists of luminaries, essentials, and under 40’s.
When people outside of Pittsburgh took note in the New York Times, Artsy, Hyperallergic, and the way back days of print with Punk Planet.
Casey Droege (she/they) is slightly organized tornado, an artist, and a cultural producer with a practice that’s hard to pin down. It floats between organizing and object making, while incorporating entrepreneurialism (because it’s useless if you can’t eat). Their work has been written about in the New York Times, Temporary Art Review, ARTSY, and most Pittsburgh publications.
Raised by a two artists and mime, Droege drank the art koolaid before they could speak. Their love of art is equally matched by the desire to make a living. They’re not interested in surviving, but actually thriving and figuring out ways for other artists and arts workers to do the same.
Droege’s first business was started in high school, designing and making pants for all those 90’s teens in their hometown of Pittsburgh. After landing some incredible scholarships, they made their way to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and started working for a number of arts orgs in Chicago, including the Chicago Artists Coalition. (Like most artists, they also worked restaurant jobs at the same time and managed to wait on Michael Jordan and Scottie “No tippin” Pippen.)
After a few years of teaching art to teens back in Pittsburgh and running a business designing and selling cycling gear, Droege went back to get their MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art. They then followed the well worn pathway of teaching in higher ed, only to find that it wasn’t quite the right fit. The call to entrepreneurialism was strong, along with the call to create some new models for smaller arts markets. So in 2016, Droege transitioned from teaching to start up Casey Droege Cultural Productions (CDCP)—a social profit organization aimed at building art economy.
Since starting CDCP, it has grown from scrappy artist-run project to full-fledged business with employees. Droege has built and sold the concept store Small Mall, incubated many programs and platforms for artists, curated numerous exhibitions, created community collaborations, and continued to advocate for artists and arts workers alike. And in 2022, CDCP’s growing art consulting and project management services crystallized with the establishment of The Art Supply Co.
These days Droege is balancing parenting the business and a small child. While the energy has been redistributed, the focus on sustainability and a desire to create something better is stronger than ever.
The CDCP program archive includes examples from the platform arm of Casey’s proactice. Look through below to see selected works from “in the studio” along side talks and interviews:
Get your cry on with Tracks of my Tears.
Casey gets into the knitty gritty at Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Get into the Futures Series, a never ending quest for answers from intuitive advisors around the country.
Find some structure in Support Group.
Casey focuses on changing patterns in a TEDx talk.
Video essay by Tianlan Jiang that captures Casey’s spirit (and color).
Explore Wish you were here and A Brief History of Loneliness.