The MacDowell Colony Board of Directors has elected six new members to its ranks, adding diverse talent and experience to an all-volunteer board that is focused on guiding one of the nation’s leading contemporary arts organizations into the future. Its new members cover a broad range of interests and expertise. The Board of Directors Chairman is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon.The board voted unanimously to elect real-estate executive Darrell Harvey; WQXR radio personality and pianist Terrance McKnight; award-winning essayist and editor Paul Reyes; The New Yorker staff writer Amy Davidson Sorkin; MacDowell Fellow, architect, and author Mabel O. Wilson (MF 10, 17); and investment banking executive Peter Wirth.
“These extraordinary people will be excellent additions to our hardworking Board of Directors,” said Executive Director Cheryl Young. “Their skills and creative interests will help MacDowell grow and thrive. Residency programs are not your run-of-the-mill nonprofit, and a multidisciplinary one like MacDowell requires a polyphony of talent to advise, raise funds, and do the hands-on work of running a national organization. I can’t say enough about our board, which has helped guide and develop The Colony in countless ways. So many artists have been helped as a result of their service.”
The MacDowell Colony Board of Directors is composed of 57 volunteer members with varying professional and artistic backgrounds. Its members, half of whom are artists, are engaged in the wider Colony community in Peterborough and nationally, collaborating with board colleagues, staff, and volunteers to secure and sustain the Colony’s mission through active participation in board meetings and committees, serving as advocates for the Colony’s residency program that awards fellowships to 300 artists each year through a competitive application process.
Darrell Harvey is Co-Chief Executive Officer of The Ashforth Company of Stamford, CT, and worked as an attorney in Boston and Brooklyn, NY.
Terrance McKnight, who spoke as an introductory speaker during the Colony’s Medal Day ceremony honoring composer Gunther Schuller in 2015, is a producer and evening weekday host at WQXR radio in New York and accomplished pianist.
Paul Reyes is the editor of Virginia Quarterly Review, a former editor of The Oxford American, and is an award-winning essayist.
Amy Davidson Sorkin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a staff writer at The New Yorker as well as former newyorker.com site editor. MacDowell Fellow in architecture.
Mabel O. Wilson (10, 17) is an architectural designer, artist and cultural historian. She has authored Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016) and Negro Building: African Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums (2012).
Peter Wirth is head of investment banking at KBW, an investment banking firm headquartered in New York.