Tuesday, May 21, 2024
9:00 - 11:00 AM
The NonProfit Center
89 South Street, Boston, MA 02111
ARCK's pivotal new event, Creative Catalysts at Work, aims to unite the community and re-imagine equitable education rooted in creativity and holistic well-being. Based on 12 years of successful Building Bridges Initiatives, this event will feature a student art and innovation showcase and a Creative Catalysts award ceremony and panel with influential local leaders. Buffet breakfast will be served
Pre-registration is required by May 14, 2024
Can’t attend? Consider a donation; all proceeds directly support ARCK programming.
CREATIVE CATALYSTS
Rhondella Richardson, Emmy award-winning journalist, is co-anchor of NewsCenter 5’s weekend morning newscasts. Rhondella has been part of WCVB’s award-winning news team for more than two decades having joined the station in 1996 as a general assignment reporter.
Over the course of her distinguished career, she has covered a number of prominent events and stories including coverage of both Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama during their Martha’s Vineyard vacations, the Boston Marathon bombings, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and more.
Rhondella’s career has landed her at all #1 network affiliates. Prior to WCVB, she worked at KING-TV, the NBC affiliate in Seattle, WA; WJAR-TV, the NBC station in Providence, RI; and WMUR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Manchester, NH.
In an effort to continuously serve the community on and off camera, Rhondella has emceed a number of local events, parades, galas, and more. Rhondella is on the board of UNICEF and a passionate supporter of The Home For Little Wanderers, Catholic Charities, The Ellie Fund and her local Elementary, Middle & High Schools. Rhondella calls herself a mentor in motion and loves how her job constantly introduces her to new people.
Ché Anderson is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for City and Community Relations at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where he serves as a human bridge between the institution and external stakeholders. In his former role as Deputy Cultural Development Officer for the City of Worcester, he focused on public art, special events, and cultural equity. An avid lover of street art, Ché has led efforts to increase Worcester’s public art, most notably serving as co-founding Director of POW! WOW! Worcester, an annual placemaking festival that brings internationally acclaimed muralists, illustrators, and installation artists to Central Massachusetts in an effort to activate vacant and underused spaces, promote diversity and stimulate dialogue in the City of Worcester. His recent endeavors include serving on the Rose Kennedy Greenway Public Art Advisory Group and Food and Convo, a storytelling platform that explores the intersectionality of culture and cuisine through the lens of diversity with a focus on creatives, makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
Lee Pelton is the CEO & President of The Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s leading philanthropic organizations with $1.8 billion in assets. He joined the Foundation in June 2021, after serving as President of Emerson College (2011-2021) and Willamette University (1998-2011). In May 2023, he ranked #3 on Boston Magazine’s annual list of the most influential people in Boston, following Maura Healey, the newly elected governor of the Commonwealth and Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
Pelton has positioned The Boston Foundation, one of the nation's first and most influential community foundations, as an agent for social change by centering equity in its programs, grantmaking and civic leadership., Under his leadership, the Foundation’s defining ambition is to achieve equity, which first involves acknowledging and then seeking to eliminate the structural and underlying causes of outcome disparities for historically marginalized communities.
A signature Boston Foundation program is its Racial Wealth Partnership, established in late 2022, as part of the Boston Foundation’s commitment to close racial wealth gaps in Greater Boston
and the region by expanding homeownership by people of color. The Partnership is a broad-based group of more than 40 members representing sectors including banking and finance, housing, issue advocacy, government, healthcare, life sciences and education.
As a college president for 23 years, he led with a core belief that higher education must serve to deepen students’ appreciation of humanities. He believes that the nation still looks to colleges and universities to solve its most pressing problems and, as such, college and university presidents have an obligation – in addition to broad mission driven duties on their campuses – to engage in the larger society. To Pelton, nurturing the humanistic spirit also goes hand in hand with confronting and trying to solve the urgent moral and social problems of the moment.
Pelton has combined authentic leadership, civic engagement, and a deep commitment to social justice with his skill and vision for growing institutional capacity and effectiveness. The result has been a legacy of stronger, more diverse institutions that have expanded opportunities for students. Along the way, Pelton often has been recognized as a civic and education leader, both regionally and nationally.
While a college president, Pelton emerged as a powerful national voice on social issues and the value of liberal arts education. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook mass shooting, he gathered over 250 college and university presidents to sign a letter asking President Obama to assist in establishing common-sense gun legislation. He has been active nationally and written widely in support of affirmative action, beginning with the 2003 Michigan University and Law School Supreme Court cases. Pelton has advocated for college in prison initiatives, seeing firsthand at Emerson College’s prisoner education programs that policy inadequacies hamper their effectiveness.
Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, Pelton’s essay America is on Fire, reflects powerfully on the significance of Floyd’s death with a frank and honest reference to his own experiences in America. His essay quickly and widely spread, having reached an audience of more than 6 million people around the globe. Forbes Magazine placed it the top of its list of the five most noteworthy writings that appeared after the George Floyd incident.
Pelton began his academic career at Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in English literature with an academic focus on 19th-century British prose and poetry. He taught English and American literature at Harvard and served as senior tutor at Winthrop House. He later served on the Harvard Board of Overseers and as a vice-chair of its executive committee. After Harvard, Pelton served as dean of the college at Colgate University and Dartmouth College. He graduated from Wichita State University, located in his hometown. He has been awarded three honorary degrees and he enjoys a very long list of awards and recognitions for educational excellence and social justice, including, among many:
• A Living Legend by the Boston Museum of African American History in 2021
• Inducted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce into its Academy of Distinguished Bostonians in 2020.
• Governor’s Award from Mass Humanities (2020)
• Appearances on the “Most Influential” and “Most Powerful” rankings at the Boston Magazine and the Boston Business Journal for multiple years.
David Friedman joined the Red Sox in 2010. He handles a variety of legal matters, including regulatory compliance issues and oversight of litigation, and assists with the club's interactions with Major League Baseball and other teams on legal-related issues. He is responsible for government and neighborhood relations and serves as Red Sox Foundation counsel, handling a wide range of Foundation legal and governance matters.
Friedman previously served as First Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts, where he advised A.G. Martha Coakley and managed an office of 490 staff. Before that, he served as Counsel and Chief Policy Advisor to Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini, where he worked on the state's landmark health care law, economic development, and a broad range of other issues. Friedman worked for several years at the law firm of Hill & Barlow, and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and federal appeals court Judge Michael Boudin.
Friedman is a 1993 graduate of Harvard College, where he won the World Universities Debating Championship, as well as a 1996 graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was President of the Harvard Law Review. He has taught courses at Harvard Law on government, management and leadership issues.
Michael J. Bobbitt is a theater director, choreographer, and playwright who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. He joined Mass Cultural Council as Executive Director in February 2021, and is the highest-ranking cultural official in Massachusetts state government. Upon joining the Agency, he was invited to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ (NASAA). As Executive Director Michael has led Mass Cultural Council through the development of its first-ever Racial Equity Plan; worked with staff, Council Members, and cultural sector advocates to secure and distribute a historic $60.1M in state pandemic relief funding; and overseen the drafting and adoption of the Agency’s FY24-FY26 strategic plan.
He previously served as Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, MA; immediately prior to this he held the same position at the Adventure Theatre-MTC in Maryland for 12 years. While in Maryland Michael led the organization to be a respected regional theatre training company, and a nationally influential professional Theatre for Young Audiences.
Michael’s arts management training includes participation in Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, The National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and Cornell University’s Diversity and Inclusion Certification Program. In July 2022 he completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and in November 2023 he completed YW Boston’s signature leadership program, LeadBoston. He has served as an Associate Professor of Theatre at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Howard University and served on the New England Foundation for the Arts Board of Directors from 2021 to 2023. In February 2023 Michael received the prestigious Kennedy Center Gold Medallion in recognition of his commitment to the arts and educational theatre and was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey to serve on her Advisory Council on Black Empowerment. In April 2023 he was recognized by Get Konnected! as one of Boston’s Most Influential Men of Color and invested into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre – one of the highest honors bestowed on American theater professionals. He is also the recipient of MassOpera’s Action Bearing Award and OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center’s Sojourner Truth Award. He was recognized by Speak Out for his efforts to build a more inclusive cultural sector and as one of the Boston Business Journal’s 2023 Power 50 Movement Makers.
Michael has directed/choreographed at Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Center Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and the Washington National Opera. His national and international credits include the NY Musical Theatre Festival, Mel Tillis 2001, La Jolla Playhouse, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Jefferson Performing Arts Center, and the Olympics. As a writer his work was chosen for the NYC International Fringe Festival and The New York and Musical Theatre Festival. He has plays published by Concord Theatricals/Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals, and Plays for Young Audiences. Michael has received the Excel Leadership Award (Center for Nonprofit Advancement), the Emerging Leader Award (County Executive’s Excellence in the Arts and Humanities), and Person of the Year Award (Maryland Theatre Guide).
The Josiah Quincy Elementary School (JQES) was founded in 1847 and is consistently ranked among the top public schools in Massachusetts. JQES draws upon the energy of its surrounding neighborhoods and the diversity of its students to create a vibrant center for learning. It offers a rigorous academic program that also provides a window into the world. We believe the best way to teach children is to engage their love of learning by making them partners in their own education.
JQES provides a challenging academic program that gives our students the means to meet high standards and excel to the best of their abilities. We foster sound habits and a healthy mind and body and instill in them such virtues as integrity, respect, and self-discipline. We provide a nurturing environment and effective teaching methods that promote independent learning.
Sara Mraish Demeter is an artist, educator, mother of three, and founder and executive director of Art Resource Collaborative for Kids, a nonprofit delivering creative programs with social justice themes in Boston Public Schools since 2012. As an immigrant herself who has lived the experience of being a new arrival, she works to promote cross-cultural inclusion and understanding among Boston’s children. She is passionate about using art as a vehicle to reimagine education and unlock each child’s full potential. With ARCK, she has forged many partnerships with schools, businesses, institutions, and artists to bring youth voices to the wider community through projects such as “I Am, We Are,” a collaborative public art mural, and “Walls that Speak,” a showcase of immigrant students’ stories. Internationally, during the summers of 2013-14, she led art workshops for Syrian refugee children in Jordan. Sara was named a 2016 EXTRAOrdinary Woman of Boston by Mayor Walsh’s Office of Women’s Advancement and selected for the Power Launch inaugural Social Change Fellows cohort. She is an active member of the Beacon Hill Circle for Charity, which supports Boston children and women, and a former board member at the Center for Arabic Culture. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in French and completed the Nonprofit Management and Leadership program at Boston University.
Jamaal Eversley is an eccentric abstract artist intertwining business with the arts in order to serve the community. Jamaal holds Literary Visual Arts degree from Babson College. His art has been exhibited twice in the Massachusetts General Hospital Illuminations program and shows throughout the South Shore and Boston area. He has received several public grants to bring his colorful patterns to the community and has been featured in the Boston Globe.
Linda Nathan, EdD is a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Cambridge College, Puerto Rico where she teaches courses on school design, school observation and organizational change. As an experienced leader in education, Dr. Nathan actively mentors teachers and principals, and consults nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics, such as: leadership, creativity, pedagogy, differentiated instruction, curriculum design, family engagement, developing mission, vision and values, board development and fundraising, as well as strategic planning with an equity focus, and how to develop and evaluate a new or existing schools or nonprofits. Her international consulting includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, South Africa.
Dr Nathan was the co-founder and co-director of the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership (PSi), a year-long graduate certificate program that develops innovative leaders who integrate education, artistic, and community-based resources to transform the lives of youth and families.
Dr. Nathan’s widely praised book, The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test, about teaching and leadership in urban schools, was published in 2009 in both English and Spanish. Her second book, When Grit Isn’t Enough, was released by Beacon Press in October of 2017. She blogs at www.lindanathan.com.
Dr. Nathan previously served as Faculty Director of the Creative Educational Leadership Institute at Boston University School of Education. Her prior positions also include Special Advisor to the Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Arts in Education. Dr. Nathan was also the Founding Headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s first public high school for the visual and performing arts, and the Co- Director of Fenway High School, one of the first pilot schools in the Boston Public Schools. Dr. Nathan also founded three nonprofit organizations: El Pueblo Nuevo, which focused on arts and youth development, the Center for Collaborative Education, which works on issues of school reform, and the Center for Artistry and Scholarship, which develops and supports innovative and tenacious leaders in education to build more equitable, collaborative and creative communities. She began her teaching career in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then came to Boston to work as a bilingual middle school teacher.
Dr. Nathan holds a Doctor of Education degree from Harvard University, Master’s degrees from Emerson College and Antioch University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Cynthia Soo Hoo was born and raised in Boston, where she grew up across the street from the Josiah Quincy Elementary School. Cynthia attended the Josiah Quincy as a student and later began her career there as an educator. She continued through the Boston Public Schools and graduated from the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. After high school, Cynthia completed a 5-year dual degree program in Elementary Education at Lesley College. After serving as a classroom teacher for a decade, she questioned how she could support more students than just those in her classroom - this led her to become an aspiring principal, where she completed her administrative certification through the Center of Collaborative Education’s Principal
Cynthia was honored as one of Boston’s Educators of the Year and was the recipient of the Anne Dow award for Excellence and Creativity in 2013. Across her education career, her work has always focused on the whole child, building strong relationships among all stakeholders, and promoting the best practices in education. During her years at the Josiah Quincy elementary school, she has served in many roles including the math and data facilitator; Instructional Math Coach; New Teacher Developer; Family and Community Outreach Liaison; Professional Development Coordinator; Academic Achievement Framework Coordinator; Interventionist; English as a Second Language Support; Inclusion Specialist; Lead Teacher; and currently the proud principal at her alma mater.
STUDENT SHOWCASE
Featuring art and innovation projects from K-8th grade students at our Boston Public Partner Schools:
Josiah Quincy Elementary School, Gardner Pilot Academy, Blackstone Elementary School, Mario Umana Academy, and The Hurley School
Pre-registration is required by May 14, 2024.
Can’t attend? Consider a donation; all proceeds directly support ARCK programming.
SPONSORS
MEDIA SPONSORS
IN KIND SPONSORS
For sponsorship opportunities, contact Jenny Lecoq at development@arckboston.org.
