The Leeway Foundation Appoints Denise M. Brown Executive Director
Philadelphia, PA - The Board of Directors of the Leeway Foundation is very pleased to announce that Denise M. Brown has been appointed Leeway's Executive Director.
"Over the past five years at Leeway, I have had the good fortune to work closely with Denise," said Leeway's founder, Linda Lee Alter. "I've experienced first hand her commitment to art as a force for social change, her ability to work with people of many different backgrounds and perspectives, and her receptiveness to ideas that differ from her own. Denise's integrity, vision, passion and humor, and the relationships she has built and leadership she has shown at Leeway, all contribute to my great happiness that she is assuming the Director's role at this key moment in Leeway's evolution."
Ms. Brown, Associate Director of the Bread and Roses Community Fund from 1998 to 2005, was a part of Leeway's program redesign process in 2001 and has been a part of the Leeway community since then. In addition to consulting with the Foundation on a number of projects, she has served as a member of Leeway's Advisory Council and interim Board of Directors, officially joining the staff in July. She has served on the board of the Funding Exchange and the Women's Community Revitalization Project and is currently on the board of the Scribe Video Center. A graduate of Brown University, Ms. Brown was a film programmer for the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, from its debut to 1998. She has also served as a panelist for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.
"I am honored to be a part of Leeway at this moment in its history," Ms. Brown said. "I am committed to Leeway's on-going efforts to support women and transgendered artists whose artistic vision is steeped in a belief that I share: that art can both create change and must be an essential part of our efforts to sustain and transform our communities. I look forward to helping us steer Leeway to achieve its goals as we honor that belief."
Under the leadership of Board President Sara Becker and former Executive Director Barbara Silzle, Leeway evolved from a family-controlled foundation to one that is consciously engaging artists and the communities they represent in its work and decision-making. Ms. Brown will work with board and staff to continue and expand on the work they began. "In the past years, my deepest aspiration for Leeway has come to flower: at every level, Leeway will be shaped by and support the creative energy of artists working for freedom and social justice," Ms. Becker said. "Denise's stepping into the role of Executive Director assures me that Leeway is solid, fills me with hope, and brings me tremendous joy."
Founded in 1993, the Leeway Foundation built a strong reputation for enriching the Philadelphia community by supporting and highlighting the work of women artists. In 2005, Leeway introduced new programs designed to provide support for individual women and transgendered artists in the greater Philadelphia area who create art for social change. The Foundation seeks to serve women and trans artists of all backgrounds, traditions, art forms and stages of development. For more information, visit our website leeway.org or call 215.545.4078.
