Arts & Culture Programming

I have developed programming while at City Tech, Gowanus Studio Space, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. In every case, I worked to create inclusive programming that could keep growing long after my contribution. I strike up the conversations and build the relationships that create trust and collaboration. Without this foundation, no event could create a bond between participants.

Exhibitions and Programming Subcommittee

South Orange Arts Advisory Council

I chaired this subcommittee as we played a crucial role in mapping out arts programming for the township during the Baird Center/Pierro Gallery building renovations. We had be a special emphasis on public art and community-driven arts initiatives and partnerships.

• I built a simple website, instituted communication systems, and began gathering data for a SOMA-wide map of arts and culture programming.
• We were able to institute a poetry series, dance programming, art shows, dispense funds, and apply for grants and more in the year we worked together.

The City Tech GenEdge was the result of years of college-wide curriculum development and effort by the General Education Committee of the New York City College of Technology. We took the Gen Ed requirements, the students’ needs, and the expectations of society to put together a meaningful approach to skills and attitudes we all can use.

I led the subcommittee that developed two years of Gen Edge programs, events, shows, and panels. We were a part of the college-wide General Education Committee. I developed the branding, built the communications, and led all GenEdge meetings in order to facilitate all action taken. I worked closely with my team and was able to find several new venues for events and partners for new projects. My department was finally seen as equal to other more traditional disciplines because I and my peers drew the schools closer together.

VACNJ Teaching Institute

I developed a weekly vlog in order to reach all of the teachers at the VACNJ. I coupled this with meetings, handouts, and emails to increase contact with our hard-working artists. I held regular meetings with faculty in order to help them with course development so they could offer new and more attractive options as the tastes of some students shifted.

We worked hard to revive a program that had faded from the Center’s culture in the most welcoming way we could. We had to repair relationships that had gotten damaged by previous leadership. By the time I left, trust had been restored and practitioners were coming more readily to the Ceramics Department as a whole.

VACNJ RakuFest

I collaborated with the Ceramics faculty in order to revive Raku firing at the VACNJ. We were able to build our own kiln and create a yearly public festival and fundraiser!

I formed this club to help bring traditional printmaking techniques back into the general awareness of our members in order to ground them more fully in the philosophy and heritage of graphic arts design and production. We worked to offer informative lectures, presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations, and field trips for our students to explore all forms of printmaking, including but not limited to screenprint, relief, lithography, and intaglio.

I started the Printmaking Club because my department had developed a schism between the Print Management and Communication Design majors. I sought to unite these two lobes through the sheer joy of printing by hand. I was able to find a small band of students who helped me grow the club, find a co-advisor, and build a fleet of presses and equipment out of things tagged for disposal.