Community Conversations
Join the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan on Thursday, August 15 at 1 p.m. for our next Community Conversation about Inclusion in the Arts. During this conversation we will be hearing from some of southeast Michigan’s arts and culture leaders who have been implementing efforts to embed inclusion into their programming.
This series of conversations will seek to inform the grantmaking strategy for the Inclusive Arts Fund and drive the narrative around the importance of funding art and artist throughout southeast Michigan. By bringing people together and learning alongside partners in the field, we are building capacity for adaptable and inclusive arts organizations.
Guest Panelists
Adam DesJardins
Adam DesJardins is a Program Officer for the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, working with current and prospective arts and jazz education grantees to support a culturally vibrant Metro Detroit. He believes the arts are essential to creating transformational change, whether it be personal or structural.
Adam brings over a decade of experience in arts administration and production, having worked at local and national arts nonprofits like UMS (University Musical Society), Detroit Puppet Company, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to working at the Foundation, Adam served as director of programs for CultureSource, overseeing 10 grantmaking programs.
Adam earned a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Michigan with minors in French and Francophone Studies and Performing Arts Management. He runs This Month, a monthly newsletter of arts happenings in and around Detroit, and enjoys going to the library and hanging out with his grandparents.
Andrew Morton
Andrew Morton is an award-winning playwright and theatre maker. He lives in Detroit, where he works as a teaching artist with various arts and social service organizations and is the founding producing artistic collaborator at Every Soul Arts, a collective of artists and young people who believe every person deserves access to safe and affordable housing and opportunities to explore and celebrate their own creativity. Their signature artistic program, Sofa Stories, uses live theatre and digital media to amplify the stories of young people who have experienced housing insecurity and help us all imagine a world without youth homelessness. An accomplished theatre artist and educator, in 2020, Morton was recognized by Kresge Arts in Detroit as a Kresge Artist Fellow, and in 2021, he received a Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for services to theatre education. Morton’s plays have been produced across the US and internationally in the UK, Canada, and Australia. His play Bloom, inspired by urban gardeners in Flint, Michigan, is available through Dramatic Publishing, Inc.
Shannon Karol
Shannon Karol is the Executive Director of the Northville Art House. She has over 18 years of museum experience, designing engaging tours and public programs that encourage visitors of all ages to discover personal connections with art. Prior to joining the Art House, she served as the Director of Museum Education and Community Engagement at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. She has also held education positions at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Shannon has a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History and English from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s Degree in Art History from the University of Iowa.
Rachelle Vartanian
Rachelle Vartanian is the Founder and President of the Living and Learning Enrichment Center. To do this, she altered her life entirely, including quitting a successful 20-year career as a special education teacher with two Master’s degrees in Educational Psychology and Autism Spectrum Disorder. As a mother of a child on the spectrum, she is passionate about and committed to helping people with disabilities. She has always refused to accept the status quo and has made a career of continually advocating for, and improving the quality of life for people with disabilities. She brings this culture to Living & Learning, all its employees, and to everyone associated with it. Her mission is for Living & Learning to be the nation’s model for providing quality services and improving the quality of life for people with disabilities. It is this drive that has caused Living & Learning to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the state of Michigan.
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