THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART (MICA) announced new board leadership. Stuart Clarke has served on MICA’s board of trustees since 2015, most recently as vice chair. On Oct. 16, he was unanimously elected chair and immediately assumed leadership of the Baltimore institution‘s governing body.
“Our times and MICA’s specific context and opportunities call for transformational work at the College. I cannot imagine a better board leader than Stuart to help usher in the College’s bold future,” MICA President Samuel Hoi said in a statement.
Clarke’s professional background spans grantmaking, fundraising, and academia with particular expertise in the environment.
Since 2019, he has served as vice president for strategic initiatives at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). He was previously executive director of the Town Creek Foundation for 16 years. The Easton, Md., foundation focuses on environmental grantmaking.
In Atlanta, Clarke was development director of the Southern Partners Fund, which supports social justice organizing in the South; a program officer with the Turner Foundation; and director of the Atlanta Outward Bound Center.
In other roles, he was on the faculty of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., and also served as director of the Environmental Grantmakers Association.
“Our times and MICA’s specific context and opportunities call for transformational work at the College. I cannot imagine a better board leader than Stuart to help usher in the College’s bold future.”
— MICA President Samuel Hoi
Clarke earned an undergraduate degree in government and law at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and has a graduate degree in political science from Yale University.
He has been affiliated with a number of boards over the years. In addition to MICA’s board, he currently serves on the boards of Earthjustice, Greenpeace, Maryland League of Conservation Voters, and Blue Mountain Center, a retreat for artists, writers, and activist in the Adirondack Mountains.
At MICA, Clarke succeeds Gwen Davidson, who served as chair for five years. “It is with great pleasure that I pass the torch of leading the board to my colleague and friend Stuart. I have deeply enjoyed my time as chair of MICA’s Board of Trustees, and look forward to continued work as a member of the board,” Davidson said. “I know Stuart will bring a caring, thoughtful and visionary approach to the position, and will lead MICA into a bright future.”
MICA is a storied institution. Established in 1826, its the nation’s oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design. Leslie King Hammond has served on the faculty for nearly 45 years, first as dean of graduate studies and currently as founding director of the Center for Race and Culture. Artist Maren Hassinger was director of MICA’s Rinehart School of Sculpture for 20 years. MICA alumni include artists Joyce J. Scott, Marilyn Nance, Shinique Smith, Amy Sherald, Jacolby Satterwhite, and Jarrell Gibbs, along with Deana Haggag, president and CEO of United States Artists.
Clarke said he was grateful for the opportunity to lead the institution’s board. “I am humbled to have been entrusted with this responsibility by my fellow trustees, especially at this time when MICA is confronting a unique confluence of challenges,” Clarke said.
“I am honored to be able to support Sammy, the Board, and the entire MICA community as we work to emerge from these challenges as a more cohesive, resilient, and impactful institution.” CT
IMAGE: MICA Board Chair Start Clark. | Courtesy MICA
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BOOKSHELF
Several volumes have been published to document the work of artists associated with the Maryland Institute College of Art. Jacolby Sattwhite is among the artists featured in “Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art.” Other publications include “Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths,” “Amy Sherald,” and “Shinique Smith: Wonder and Rainbows.” Leslie King Hammond has authored and contributed to numerous volumes such as “Hughie Lee-Smith (The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art),” “Joyce J. Scott Kickin’ It With the Old Masters,” “Ritual and Myth: A Survey of African American Art,” “Symphonic Poem: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson,” “Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons, And the Blues,” “Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence,” and “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” which was recently published. Also consider “Maren Hassinger, 1972-1991” and “Maren Hassinger: …dreaming”
