Almost exactly a year ago, Createquity received a planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study potential operational models and growth strategies for the next several years. Since that planning process concluded earlier this year, we’ve made a number of changes both large and small to the structure of the team and the way we operate. Today, we’re excited to share some of the fruits of those efforts with you.
One of the clearest recommendations from the planning process was to put together a dream team of movers and shakers to guide our work forward. Accordingly, we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce the inaugural members of Createquity’s Advisory Council: Norman Bradburn, Harris Cooper, Marian Godfrey, Maria Rosario Jackson, and Angelique Power. We’ve already been benefiting from the wisdom of this amazing cohort of leaders over the past few months, and they (along with others yet to be announced) will guide our team as we position ourselves for some of the most ambitious work we’ve undertaken yet.
Secondly, we are pleased to introduce you to Ruth Mercado-Zizzo, the organization’s first-ever Operations Director. Since joining us in July, Ruth has brought new energies and logistical strategies to the team, and we are excited to be working with her moving forward.
Say hello to the Createquity Advisory Council:
NORMAN BRADBURN is a Senior Fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago. He also serves as the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the faculties of the University of Chicago’s Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, Department of Psychology, Booth School of Business and the College. He is a former provost of the University (1984-1989), chairman of the Department of Behavioral Sciences (1973-1979), and associate dean of the Division of the Social Sciences (1971-1973). From 2000-2004 he was the assistant director for social, behavioral, and economic sciences at the National Science Foundation. Associated with NORC since 1961, he has been its Director and President of its Board of Trustees. Bradburn has been at the forefront in developing theory and practice in the field of sample survey research in the cultural sector. He co-directs the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators project and was Principal Investigator of the Cultural Infrastructure in the United States project.
HARRIS COOPER received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1975. From 1977 to 2003, he was on the faculty at the University of Missouri. In 2003, he moved to Duke University where he is Hugo L. Blomquist professor in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience. Dr. Cooper has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, the University of Oregon, and the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City. Dr. Cooper’s research interests follow two paths. The first concerns research synthesis and research methodology. His book, Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis: A Step-by-Step Approach (2016) is in its 5th edition. He is the co-editor of the Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis (2nd ed., 2009). In 2007, Dr. Cooper was the recipient of the Frederick Mosteller Award for Contributions to Research Synthesis Methodology given by the International Campbell Collaboration. In 2008, he received the Ingram Olkin Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Research Synthesis from the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology. Dr. Cooper is also Editor-in-Chief of the American Psychological Association Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology (2012) and served on the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Use of Social Science Knowledge in Public Policy (2007-2012).
MARIAN A. GODFREY currently serves as Cultural Advisor to the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation in Sheffield, MA. She retired from the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2011. Prior to arriving at Pew in 1989, Ms. Godfrey had an extensive background in nonprofit arts management, handling production, administration, fund raising, and strategic planning for organizations including Mabou Mines, Dance Theater Workshop, and La Jolla Playhouse. She produced film and video projects, including a feature-length film for Mabou Mines that aired on public television nationwide. Additionally, she has worked as a consultant both for performing arts organizations and for foundation and corporate programs including AT&T: OnStage. She has contributed numerous articles to Grantmakers in the Arts’ Reader and other publications. Ms. Godfrey has served on advisory panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, on the Presidential Transition Committee in 1992, and the boards of Theatre Communications Group, Grantmakers in the Arts, the Maine College of Art, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and the Curtis Institute Board of Overseers. She is the founding chair of the National Arts Policy Roundtable convened by Americans for the Arts and the Sundance Institute; is a member of the board of directors of the League of American Orchestras, the Poetry Foundation, and TDC; and serves on the Editorial Board for the Yale School of Drama’s on-line Knowledge Base. Ms. Godfrey is a graduate of Radcliffe College and Yale University School of Drama. In 2003, she received the John Cotton Dana Award for Leadership for contributions to museum education from the American Association of Museums. She is married to Thomas J. Gardner and divides her time between Richmond, Massachusetts and Vinalhaven, Maine.
Dr. MARIA ROSARIO JACKSON’s expertise is in comprehensive community revitalization, systems change, the dynamics of race and ethnicity and the roles of and arts and culture in communities. She is Senior Advisor to the Kresge Foundation and consults with national and regional foundations and government agencies on strategic planning and research. In 2013, with U.S. Senate confirmation, President Obama appointed Dr. Jackson to the National Council on the Arts. She is on the advisory boards of the Lambent Foundation and L.A. Commons and on the boards of directors of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and The Music Center of Los Angeles County. Previously she was on the boards of the Association for Performing Arts Presenters, the National Performance Network, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Cultural Alliance for Greater Washington, Fund for Folk Culture and the Dunbar Economic Development Corporation. She also advises a number of national and regional projects focusing on arts leadership, arts organizations and changing demographics, arts and community development and arts and health. In the 2014-2015 academic year, Dr. Jackson was the James Irvine Foundation Fellow in Residence at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles. Currently she is a visiting professor at the Herberger Institute of Art and Design at Arizona State University. Previously, for almost 20 years, Dr. Jackson was based at the Urban Institute, a public policy research organization based in Washington, D.C. There she was founding director of UI’s Culture, Creativity and Communities Program. Dr. Jackson earned a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California.
As President of the Field Foundation of Illinois, ANGELIQUE POWER oversees the charitable distribution of $2.5 million annually from assets nearing $60 million for the foundation, which is known for its strategic support of innovative programs and organizations with a primary emphasis on reaching marginalized communities and populations. Angelique brings with her 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and philanthropy. Prior to Field, Angelique served as Program Director for the Joyce Foundation’s culture program; Director of Communications and Community Engagement at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and developed philanthropic efforts as a senior manager in community relations for Target Corporation. Angelique serves on the boards of 6018North and Grantmakers in the Arts, where she’ll become the Chair in 2017. She is also a founding co-chair of Enrich Chicago, a nonprofit-led movement in Chicago’s art sector that focuses on racial equity. Angelique holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan and a masters of fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Angelique became a Fellow with Leadership Greater Chicago in 2015, a year long intensive program that brings leaders across sectors together to study Chicago’s most pressing issues.
And a warm welcome to Createquity’s Operations Director:
RUTH MERCADO-ZIZZO is the Arts Expansion Director at EdVestors, a Boston education non-profit, and is responsible for managing BPS Arts Expansion, a multi-year effort to expand quality arts education in schools across Boston Public Schools through a public-private partnership. She previously worked at Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, where, as Director of Education, she oversaw the long-term planning and evaluation of all education programs and managed partnerships with cultural institutions and community organizations across the city. Ruth also worked for People’s Light and Theatre in Malvern, PA in both education and administration. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Arizona State University, where she was honored with the Herberger College of Fine Arts Research and Creative Activity Award, and is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a past recipient of an Ann Shaw Fellowship, a program to fund career development opportunities for theatre artists and administrators committed to Theatre for Young Audiences and has served as Treasurer and board member of TYA/USA. Previously, Ruth served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and is an alum of the National Guild’s Community Arts Education Leadership Institute.
Featured image: Fireworks by Flickr user Håkon Johansen.