The Center for Craft is a 501c3 nonprofit organization governed by a dynamic Board of Directors from across the country.  We are honored to announce three new board members who have committed to advance the mission of the Center for Craft.

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Welcome:

Jennifer Calvert-Hall

Executive Director of the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA)

Chair: Resource Committee

Jennifer serves as executive director of the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA), a non-profit scholarship provider in Washington DC that increases access to education abroad opportunities for American first-generation and minority college students. Additionally, she is principal at Calvert Associates, a consultancy helping nonprofits spearhead campaigns and strategic fundraising plans. Previously, Jennifer worked as a major gifts officer for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery and as a director of development at Ford’s Theatre. Jennifer received her BA from F.I.T., the State University of New York, and an MA in History of Decorative Arts from The New School, Parsons School of Design in residence at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City.

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Lisbeth (Libba) Evans

Chief Executive Officer and majority shareholder at West Third Street Inc. and Clark Evans and Tate

Libba is the Chief Executive Officer and majority shareholder of two real estate holding companies, West Third Street Inc. and Clark Evans and Tate. She is also the owner of iActive Learning, a company that provides digital solutions for early childhood educators. Libba formerly served as Board Chair for the Winston-Salem Arts Council, Penland School of Craft, American Crafts Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and is a founding board member of Golden L.E.A.F. Inc. (Long Term Economic Advancement Foundation). Additionally, she formerly served as North Carolina State Secretary of arts and cultural resources (2001 - 2008), overseeing the operations of state museums, cultural programs, archives, libraries, and historic sites.

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Diana N'Diaye

Cultural Specialist and Curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife
& Cultural Center

Diana is the Cultural Specialist and Curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage. She has developed and leads The Will to Adorn: African American Dress and the Aesthetics of Identity, a pan institutional multi-sited research project that included a program in the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Diana’s training in anthropology, folklore, and visual studies, along with her experience as a studio craft artist support over thirty years of fieldwork, exhibitions, programs, and publications focusing on expressive culture in Africa, the Caribbean, and their diasporas in the United States; children’s play and performance; and dress traditions and fashion in Oman, Mali, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Japan.

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We at the Center for Craft are excited for the leadership that they will bring to the Center. As of July 1, the Center's Board of Directors are as follows:

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President

Edward A. (Ed) Bresler

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President-Elect

Doug Beckstett

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Treasurer

David Worley

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Secretary

Sara McDonnell

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Immediate Past- President

Barbara Benisch

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Members

Peter Alberice, Diane Charnov, Cristina Córdova, Libba Evans, Jennifer Calvert-Hall, Bernard Herman, Stoney Lamar, Marthe Le Van, Stephanie Mercer, Diana N’Diaye, Rob Pulleyn, Cindi Strauss, Emily Zilber

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Program Advisory Council

Elissa Auther, Helen Kearney, Libby O'Bryan, Cindi Strauss, Jenni Sorkin, Namita Gupta Wiggers

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