Interviewing Elizabeth Alexander, President of Mellon Foundation, Jenna Abdou asks how her experience as an artist shapes her approach to leadership.
When I asked Elizabeth Alexander about her early artistic memories, she remembered “being filled with music” in her kindergarten ballet class. “You know the Degas dancers?” she asked me, lighting up as she reflected on the sculptures. “I’d go to The Hirshhorn Museum after school and visit the one with the tulle skirt that I loved so much. The museum was free. So, I thought of art as a friend; something I could go and visit.”
Art went on to be a vessel for Alexander. As a Pulitzer Prize finalist, she delivered the poem at President Obama’s inauguration, “Praise Song for the Day.” Through her teaching, most recently as the chair of African American Studies at Yale, literature is an invitation into our shared humanity.
Today, as president of the Mellon Foundation, the largest funder of the arts and humanities, creativity is an agent for change, following her boldly shifting their mission to center on social justice.
As both an artist and a champion of others, she shares how individuals and teams can harness art to better understand and contribute to our shared history...Keep reading on Fast Company.
When I asked Elizabeth Alexander about her early artistic memories, she remembered “being filled with music” in her kindergarten ballet class. “You know the Degas dancers?” she asked me, lighting up as she reflected on the sculptures. “I’d go to The Hirshhorn Museum after school and visit the one with the tulle skirt that I loved so much. The museum was free. So, I thought of art as a friend; something I could go and visit.”
Art went on to be a vessel for Alexander. As a Pulitzer Prize finalist, she delivered the poem at President Obama’s inauguration, “Praise Song for the Day.” Through her teaching, most recently as the chair of African American Studies at Yale, literature is an invitation into our shared humanity.
Today, as president of the Mellon Foundation, the largest funder of the arts and humanities, creativity is an agent for change, following her boldly shifting their mission to center on social justice.
As both an artist and a champion of others, she shares how individuals and teams can harness art to better understand and contribute to our shared history...Keep reading on Fast Company.