About Me
Barbara Schaffer Bacon currently co-directs the Animating Democracy Initiative, a program of Americans for the Arts, Institute for Community Development and the Arts, funded by the Ford Foundation. Launched in fall 1999, Animating Democracy's purpose is to foster artistic activity that encourages civic dialogue on important contemporary issues. Barbara has worked as a consultant since 1990 and prior to that served as executive director of the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts. Her work, with partner Pam Korza, includes program design and evaluation for state and local arts agencies and private foundations nationally. Projects include the New York State Council on the Arts most recent long-range plan, a twenty-year review of the North Carolina Arts Council's Grassroots Arts Program, and cultural plans for Northampton, Massachusetts and Rapid City, South Dakota. Barbara has written, edited, and contributed to several publications including the revised edition of Fundamentals of Local Arts Management and The Cultural Planning Work Kit, published by the Arts Extension Service. She is an arts management educator, serving as a primary instructor for the Fundamentals and Advanced Management seminars, guest lecturer for the New York University Graduate Program in Arts Management, and as a senior faculty member for the Empire State Partnerships Summer Institute in arts education. A 1977 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Barbara has served as a panelist and adviser for many state and national arts agencies. She is president of the Arts Extension Institute, Inc., a board member of the Fund for Women Artists, and chairs her local school committee.
This group was formed to help NCDDers from the Mid-Atlantic states to network and share region-specific information. The Mid-Atlantic region includes Washington D.C. and parts of its surrounding states (DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV).
We wanted to create one group that every NCDD member is a part of, so we can provide a space where all members can take part in discussions here in the members network.
