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National Alliance
Presentation
Given at AAAM
About Carolyn Adams
A high-level executive manager with 20 years of experience in program development and community outreach to mainstream and multicultural constituencies, Carolyn Adams excels in building collaborations between museums and their communities. Adept at optimizing the resources and leadership of institutions, Adams specializes in staff development and inter-divisional relations; new audience recruitment and retention; donor cultivation and fundraising; and creating meaningful opportunities for museum staff, stakeholders, and the general public.
As both an employee and consultant, Carolyn Adams has worked for an array of arts and cultural organizations, for profit and not-for-profit businesses, and civic associations. In 2002, Adams formed Adams & Associates, a consulting firm using proven systems and methodologies to build partnerships, enhance customer service, and attract members and stakeholders for emerging and existing museums. As Community Affairs Director for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from 1994 to 2002, Adams established a plan of action by which the museum’s programs, exhibitions and audiences became more inclusive. Adams and a senior administrative team worked with five divisions and 200 staff to plan and successfully implement a privately funded initiative to bolster the participation of African Americans in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. During her tenure, she was directly responsible for diversifying the museum’s attendance, membership and philanthropic donations as the museum’s chief liaison officer to more than 150 groups representing a cross-section of the region’s under-represented and immigrant communities, including Asians, African Americans, West Indians, Hispanics, and Native Americans.
Prior to joining the museum, Carolyn Adams was the Executive Assistant to the Director of the City of Richmond’s Department of Recreation and Parks, where she was responsible for a reorganization of the department’s 500 positions and for designing cultural programming for families and children. From 1991 to 1993, Adams was Director for Development and Public Relations for Arts on the Square Gallery and Studios in Richmond, VA. Carolyn Adams’ career also includes positions as a municipal arts administrator, commercial gallery owner, and radio and television producer.
An enthusiastic patron of and advocate for the arts, Adams is the founder of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Friends of African & African-American Art, the largest arts support group of its kind in the United States. She serves on The James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art executive committee at Howard University in Washington, DC; the Prince George’s Arts Council of Maryland; and is a member of the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce. She has served on the national board of the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), as lead director for the National Alliance of African & African American Art Support Group, the Alliance of Friends of African & African American Art Support Groups, and is a member of the American Association of Museums. While a resident of Richmond, Adams was an active member of the Multicultural Advisory Council of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Arts Council, Museums on the Boulevard, and the Black History Museum and Cultural Center. Her civic posts have included Leadership Metro Richmond, the Mayor’s Commission on the Concerns of Women, One Percent for the Arts Commission, YWCA, Virginia Regional Minority Supplier Development Council, the NAACP, the presidency of the Richmond Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and the chair of the Coalition’s Program and Arts and Culture Committee.
Carolyn Adams is an alumna of the Virginia Executive Institute. She holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Contact Carolyn Adams at carolyn@cadamsassociates.com
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