A close ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson suddenly resigned her position Tuesday as the leader of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Commissioner Clinée Hedspeth’s resignation was announced during a Cultural Advisory Council meeting, members of the council said.
Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza confirmed the resignation Tuesday afternoon.
“Mayor Johnson has immediately begun the search for a new commissioner who will work to protect Chicago from the Trump administration’s cuts to cultural grants and institutions,” Mendoza wrote. He did not say when Hedspeth’s last day would be.
A source close to Hedspeth said the departing commissioner is taking a job in the private sector.
It’s not clear who will run the department while Johnson seeks a replacement.
Hedspeth, a longtime Johnson friend who previously worked as an art appraiser and museum curator, sought to increase grants to artists, spread public art to more communities and ramp up the city’s film office.
But in the almost 20 months she led the department, she also faced sharp criticism from some in the arts community who alleged she mistreated staff and failed to communicate with the city’s cultural leaders.
The pushback, unusual for the typically uncontentious department, included members of the Advisory Council appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot arguing earlier this year that Hedspeth had failed to create “a sense of vision” for Chicago’s cultural sector. She also oversaw high levels of staff turnover in her first months, and records obtained by the Tribune in February showed several staffers accused her of bullying.
The criticism of Hedspeth resurfaced in April when the self-dubbed “Artists for Chicago” coalition shared a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson expressing “deep concern” over her leadership. Over 100 arts and culture industry workers signed the letter first reported by the Tribune.
But Hedspeth touted her work and defended her leadership in an exclusive May interview. She argued that she walked into a “hostile situation” when Johnson appointed her after firing former Commissioner Erin Harkey.
In that interview, Hedspeth zeroed in on increasing the department’s funding as her top priority, no small task as the city faces daunting budget challenges. She declined to address the bullying allegations and said most of the criticism against her was unfounded.
“I reflect on, ‘Oh, is there something there?’” she said. “I would say, almost 85% of it, I’m like, ‘No.’”
One of the anonymous formal staff complaints that city investigators determined should not be further inspected alleged Hedsepth had sought a “witch hunt” against mayoral critics.
“I do wear a lot of black, but I am not a witch,” Hedspeth told the Tribune in May.
Most recently, Hedspeth broke news by telling aldermen during a September hearing that Taste of Chicago will return to Grant Park in its former July slot next year as the Chicago NASCAR Street Race stops.
She did not appear at the Tuesday afternoon Advisory Council meeting where her resignation was announced.
Instead, Richard Logan, the council’s co-chair, announced Hedspeth was stepping down at the start of the meeting and praised her work, according to council member and EXPO Chicago President Tony Karman.
The Advisory Council’s co-chair, Coya Paz, was surprised to hear of Hedspeth’s resignation.
“Oh my goodness,” she said when contacted by the Tribune. “I didn’t know at all.”
Paz declined to say what she thought of the resignation.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor, a progressive Johnson ally, lamented Hedspeth’s resignation Tuesday. She praised the departing commissioner for “opening the city’s culture, citywide, up to the Black community.”
She singled out the pushback Hedspeth faced earlier this year when an art exhibition on puppets organized by her department included a large protest puppet depicting a bloodied caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A majority of aldermen signed a letter condemning the display as antisemitic, but Hedspeth defended the long-planned exhibition as free speech that sparked conversation.
“It’s really sad that she’s leaving, but this is what happens when you don’t protect Black women in spaces. They’re targeted, they’re lied on and they’re mistreated, and we just go along with it,” Taylor said.
Taylor described Hedspeth as quick to pick up her calls and help her. Asked if she knew why Hedspeth had resigned, Taylor referred the question to Johnson.