Something you might not know about Createquity is that a lot of behind-the-scenes editorial work goes into bringing you the quality commentary and analysis you’ve come to expect from us. It’s not uncommon, in fact quite typical, for longer articles to go through three, four, or even five drafts before they finally appear on the site – whether they’re written by current Writing Fellows, alums of that program, or our occasional guest posters. Thus far, the vast majority of this editorial guidance has been provided by me, which explains the marked decline in longer, more substantive essays with my byline over the past year or so. As rewarding as it’s been for me to expand the number and diversity of voices represented here while maintaining the standards I try to set for myself, Createquity’s rapid growth has outpaced the amount of attention I can devote to it on my own.
But that’s all about to change in a big way. Starting today, we’re adding two members to the Createquity editorial “staff”: Talia Gibas and Daniel Reid. I’ve been working with Talia since she came up through the ranks as a Createquity Writing Fellow in fall 2012. This past spring, she’s been honing her craft by working on several guest posts (she served as lead editor for Anne Gadwa Nicodemus’s Artists and Gentrification: Sticky Myths, Slippery Realities, a/k/a the most-read post of 2013 so far, and Katherine Gressel’s Smart Public Art: Interactive Technology and Public Art Evaluation). I’m proud to announce that Talia is the first Associate Editor of Createquity. Daniel’s history with me goes back much farther, to the salad days of 2009 when we were both students in a class on philanthropic foundations during my time in business school. Daniel subsequently graduated from Yale Law School and went on to become a McKinsey consultant and an academic executive, but never lost his interest in arts policy and philanthropy. He and I were collaborators on an article on guided crowdsourcing that was published in the GIA Reader and the 20UNDER40 anthology, and his is one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. Daniel will be serving as an editorial consultant for the time being. Together, Talia and Daniel will be assisting me with the Createquity Writing Fellowship as well as helping me imagine and put into practice a more professional, sustainable vision of what Createquity can be. I am so excited to welcome them to the team!
More information about Talia and Daniel below:
Talia Gibas, Associate Editor, is Arts for All Manager at the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Arts for All works to restore and sustain high quality arts education throughout Los Angeles County. Working closely with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, Talia is responsible for arts education professional development programming for school district leaders. She also manages grant programs that support those leaders and connect school districts with teaching artists and arts organizations throughout the County. Prior to joining the Arts Commission in February 2009 she was Program Assistant at the Getty Foundation. Talia earned her A.B. in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, and Ed.M in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She currently serves on Americans for the Arts’ Arts Education Council and completed the Createquity Writing Fellowship in January 2013. Talia originally hails from Philadelphia. In her non-arts life, she is a distance runner and triathlete aiming to complete her first Half-Ironman distance race in mid-July 2013.
Daniel Reid, Editorial Consultant, is the Chief of Staff at the Hunter College School of Education and the CUNY Institute for Education Policy at Roosevelt House. Over the course of his career, he has worked as a book editor at two New York publishing houses, written book reviews for several publications, and published articles on federal, state, and local arts policy issues. Most recently, he is the co-author, with Ian David Moss, of “Audiences at the Gates: Reinventing Arts Philanthropy through Guided Crowdsourcing,” which appeared in the Summer 2012 edition of the Grantmakers in the Arts Reader. Daniel has provided strategic guidance to a wide range of public and private institutions, including arts and culture organizations such as UNESCO and the Illinois Humanities Council, as a former McKinsey Engagement Manager and pro bono consultant. A graduate of the Yale Law School, he serves on the Board of Directors of Sideshow Theatre Company and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.