Clark Art Institute Names New Chief Advancement Officer

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Photo courtesy President and Fellows of Harvard College

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute has named Thomas H. Woodward to serve as chief advancement officer, leading the Clark's philanthropy and membership programs.

Woodward comes to the Clark from the Harvard Art Museums, where he currently serves as director of institutional advancement. He assumes his new role on March 1.

"We are so pleased to have Tom join our staff in a key leadership position at this exciting moment in the Clark’s life," said Olivier Meslay, the Felda and Dena Hardymon director of the Clark. "He brings tremendous energy and experience to the work, but more importantly, he shares our passion for the vital role the arts can play in educating, enlightening, and enriching the lives of individuals and the life of its communities. We look forward to imagining the next chapter of the Clark's future with him as we work to further the Institute's mission regionally, nationally, and internationally."

Woodward is a seasoned fundraising professional, bringing more than 20 years of experience in strategic planning and advancement for museums, higher education and the federal government to his new role at the Clark.


"I am thrilled and honored at the prospect of joining the Clark Art Institute at this moment," Woodward said. "The Clark has been brilliantly reconceived to better serve visitors, scholars and students alike. I look forward to working with the trustees, the institute's leadership and talented staff, and its many partners in the arts community to help sustain this dynamic institution and its exciting exhibition, education, and research programs."

Woodward joined the Harvard Art Museums in August 2011, serving as the director of institutional support for three years before assuming his current position in 2014. In leading institutional advancement activities, Woodward played a central role in strategic planning and leadership toward a comprehensive fundraising program for the museum. Prior to joining the Harvard Art Museums, Woodward was the director of development for the Harvard Divinity School, where he worked closely with senior administrators and faculty to plan and execute all development operations and shape its external relations programs.

Early in his career, Woodward joined the National Park Service, where he gained experience in cultural and natural resource management for historic sites and parks that included the Olmsted, Longfellow and Kennedy National Historic Sites in Boston, the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation in Brookline, Mass., and the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park in Woodstock, Vt.

Woodward's affinity for the landscape and garden history community and the National Park Service is central to his personal interests, most notably through his involvement with the Friends of Fairsted, a group that advances the mission of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline. He currently serves as the president of the board for the Friends and provides leadership for their various educational and outreach programs.

 


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Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust Hears Objections to Summer Street Proposal

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Neighbors concerned about a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week raised the specter of a lawsuit against the town and/or Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity.
 
"If I'm not mistaken, I think this is kind of a new thing for Williamstown, an affordable housing subdivision of this size that's plunked down in the middle, or the midst of houses in a mature neighborhood," Summer Street resident Christopher Bolton told the Affordable Housing Trust board, reading from a prepared statement, last Wednesday. "I think all of us, the Trust, Habitat, the community, have a vested interest in giving this project the best chance of success that it can have. We all remember subdivisions that have been blocked by neighbors who have become frustrated with the developers and resorted to adversarial legal processes.
 
"But most of us in the neighborhood would welcome this at the right scale if the Trust and Northern Berkshire Habitat would communicate with us and compromise with us and try to address some of our concerns."
 
Bolton and other residents of the neighborhood were invited to speak to the board of the trust, which in 2015 purchased the Summer Street lot along with a parcel at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street with the intent of developing new affordable housing on the vacant lots.
 
Currently, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, which built two homes at the Cole/Maple property, is developing plans to build up to five single-family homes on the 1.75-acre Summer Street lot. Earlier this month, many of the same would-be neighbors raised objections to the scale of the proposed subdivision and its impact on the neighborhood in front of the Planning Board.
 
The Affordable Housing Trust board heard many of the same arguments at its meeting. It also heard from some voices not heard at the Planning Board session.
 
And the trustees agreed that the developer needs to engage in a three-way conversation with the abutters and the trust, which still owns the land, to develop a plan that is more acceptable to all parties.
 
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