Ann McQueen Leaves Boston Foundation

(9-13-10) Grantmakers in the Arts Board member Ann McQueen recently announced her departure from the Boston Foundation to explore new options in the philanthropic sector.

As a senior program officer for Massachusetts’ largest community foundation, Ann led a number of significant funding and policy initiatives. She coordinated and edited the first study of financial support for Boston’s cultural sector, which compared Boston to nine other metro areas and brought resource disparities between small nonprofits and major cultural institutions into sharp relief. In response to concerns raised by this 2003 research, she led a multi-stakeholder Cultural Task Force that developed the rationale for the state’s Cultural Facilities Fund, which has made more than $34 million in capital investments since 2006.

Turning her attention to individual artists, McQueen designed and in 2009 launched the Foundation’s Brother Thomas Fellowship program funded in part by a bequest from a ceramic artist. Ann is currently involved in a statewide effort to develop MassCreative, a grassroots arts/culture advocacy organization representing nonprofits, artists, creative entrepreneurs and industries, and their audiences and supporters.