A farewell message
After eight years on the board of the DC Collaborative, the last three as chair of the Board, it’s time for me to pass the baton to a new generation of leaders. But that doesn’t mean the Collaborative won’t continue to be an important part of my life. As a former museum professional turned arts educator and artist, the work of the Collaborative is so foundational to my work that I just can’t leave!?
I first learned about the Collaborative when I began attending member meetings as a representative of the National Museum of Natural History, where I headed the Community Programs branch. Through its? Arts and Humanities for Every Student program, the Collaborative helped the museum and other cultural organizations around the city offer educational experiences for students from schools without the means to fund field trips on their own. This helped the museum work toward greater equity and inclusion, a core part of its education mission.
A few years later, I had the opportunity to join the Collaborative’s board, just as the Collaborative received a grant to measure and assess the importance of arts education and cultural experiences across the city. This collective impact project allowed the Collaborative to build out its District Data Initiative, which provides important context for organizations, practitioners, and donors. Again, I saw first-hand how this much-needed data helped provide context and build a community of practice among arts and humanities professionals and educators around the city.
When schools and cultural organizations shut down during the pandemic, I became president of the Board and saw firsthand how the Collaborative team responded to community needs by offering online forums for arts educators and virtual programs for students.
During this period the team and the Board also did some soul searching to see how the organization could best embody its mission and goals for equity. This led to hiring our current executive director, Alorie Clark, developing more rigorous criteria for programs, instituting a more robust HR process, and expanding and reinvigorating the Board. It was a challenging period, but it was nothing that other arts organizations weren’t struggling with as well during the pandemic. I’m proud that the Collaborative not only made it through but that it is even more dynamic and mission-focused than ever!
Recently, since I became a full-time ceramicist and began thinking about how I could have impact in the community, I’ve been able to engage with the Collaborative in a new way: as a teaching artist. With the help of Collaborative staff, I developed a lesson plan for a field trip that used one of my ceramic pieces as a springboard for conversation and learning about symbols, identity, and representation in Washington, D.C. And it’s been an absolute joy to see 3rd and 4th graders from DC’s public schools so engaged with my art and the ideas it puts forth.
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It has been an honor to be involved in the work of the Collaborative in so many ways: from representative of a member organization to board member to president of the board to ambassador to teaching artist. And I plan to continue to be involved. I believe deeply in the Collaborative’s mission to create a community of practice dedicated to equitable access to the arts, and I look forward to many years of continued involvement with the Collaborative and the arts education community it supports.
Thank you, DC Collaborative, for the wonderful years!
You can impact the future of Arts and Humanities education in DC public schools. From students to teaching artists like Barbara, we offer essential support to protect and enhance access to arts education. You can help us make a lasting impact.?Learn more about Barbara's work here.