MASSCreative’s Artivist Town Hall is a monthly webinar that connects artists and creatives with resources, training, and expert insights to support them in their creative practices and activism.
Each month, we will welcome different guests to share their subject matter expertise, provide updates on advocacy opportunities, and engage in an open town hall-style conversation where participants can ask questions, share their organizing challenges, and receive support from the community.
This month, we are welcoming organizers from the Berkshire/Columbia Counties Pay Equity Coalition to discuss their work to bridge wage disparities for entry—and mid-level employees at cultural organizations in Berkshire and Columbia Counties.
Please register in advance if you plan to attend.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
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Aron Goldman is a nonprofit leader with a deep commitment to equity and social justice, and a track record of helping organizations, movements, and leaders make meaningful change. In addition to independent consulting, he is a Trainer/Advisor for ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities. Trust-based relationships drive his work with grassroots organizations and larger systems, funders and grant seekers, senior professionals, lay leaders, and community stakeholders. Focused on root causes, structural change, and long-term sustainability, Aron employs creative approaches to strategic planning, board development and governance, participatory evaluation, collaboration and partnerships, data/policy/systems change, RFP and grant program design, and program and proposal development. Aron is an experienced OD consultant, nonprofit manager, board leader, facilitator, trainer, writer/editor, educator, and activist. Aron is also a dad, a runner, a mediocre guitarist, a podcast host, and a falafel aficionado.
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Gwendolyn VanSant is an experienced organizational change consultant and coach who works at the intersection of diversity leadership, equity and inclusion, and strategic planning. She serves as a non-profit leader as the CEO and Founding Executive Director of BRIDGE and the principal & owner of consulting firm, Equity in Practice, LLC.
A skilled community organizer, Gwendolyn is also a well-recognized thought leader on racial justice, reparations, gender equity and anti-poverty work. She is a pioneer in integrating research-based positive psychology practices into her equity and inclusion systems approach with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), Philanthropy, Culture & Arts Institutions & public health.
Gwendolyn currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Town of Great Barrington W. E. B. Du Bois Legacy Committee, Du Bois Sculpture Committee and has served on the Host Committee for the Elizabeth Freeman Monument and the Elizabeth Freeman Way. She is on the Advisory Board of Greylock Federal Credit Union’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) program, incorporator for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Gwendolyn is a board member of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Trauma Research Foundation and recent board member of Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire, BerkShares, Trauma Research Foundation and Shakespeare & Company. Gwendolyn also served as a commissioner on the Berkshire County Commission on the Status of Women 2012-2016, United States Attorney Office Civil Rights Task Force, on the Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 Communication Advisory Panel in 2021 and the Climate Advisory Committee for the Commonwealth in 2021-2022.
A longtime activist, Gwendolyn has founded several initiatives based on the principles of equity and justice, the inherent dignity and worth of individuals, and our interconnected web of humanity. One of her most recent accomplishments in 2020 is leading the community effort to rename the middle school, W. E. B. Du Bois Middle School over the finish line in the last 3 years. In September 2021, Gwendolyn received national recognition as the Drum Major for Justice by the National Community Action Council Council for her leadership in BRIDGE’s anti-poverty mutual aid response for community members response to the negative impact of COVID on the most vulnerable communities and also the design of the New Pathways program to provide education in equity and justice across all sectors in the forms of labs, talks, conferences and learning modules including speakers like Angela Davis and Dr. Beverly Tatum. In 2021, Gwendolyn also published a chapter for her IDEA approach in the textbook, Diversity matters: The Color, Shape and Tone of 21st Century Diversity. -
Kristen is a leader, director, producer, educator, artist, change-maker and social entrepreneur who works at the intersection of arts and activism. A dual Canadian/American citizen, Kristen is based in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, on the lands of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe of the Mohican Nation, where she regularly enjoys the many outdoor and cultural wonders. In addition to her consulting, Kristen is Executive Director of Project SAGE in Lakeville, CT, whose mission is to create social change to end interpersonal, relationship violence by challenging attitudes and beliefs about power, control, and gender norms, and by advocating for victims and survivors. Kristen was the co-founder of WAM Theatre and was Producing Artistic Director from 2010-2023. WAM creates theatre for gender equity, focusing on folks who identify as women and girls, and has a vision of theatre as philanthropy. During Kristen’s tenure, WAM donated $100,000 to 25 local and global organizations taking action for gender equity in areas such as girls education, teen pregnancy prevention, gender based violence, sexual trafficking awareness, midwife training, and more. She is the co-project lead for the Berkshires/Columbia County Pay Equity Project, a growing coalition of arts and culture employers who are working together to improve pay equity in their organizations. An artist, feminist and highly sensitive person, she values healthy practices like meditation and hiking, time affluence and social connection.
https://www.kristenvanginhoven.com/