Carol Donnelly, Interim Director, Worcester Center for Crafts
Carol Donnelly was recently named interim director of the Worcester Center for Crafts, which was saved from extinction by Worcester State College. Donnelly, a longtime board member for the center, most recently served as a professor of education at Worcester State. Here, she talks about her priorities for running the center, as well as how a high school aptitude test predicted her current position.
Vital Stats
Residence: Worcester
Family: Husband James, attorney at Mirick O'Connell; son James and daughter Sarah
Education: Bachelor's in English, Wellesley College; Master's in English, University of Miami; Med., Harvard University; Doctorate in early childhood education, Boston University
Previous job: Professor of Education, Worcester State College
Start date: Sept. 2, 2009
Q. How are you settling in at your new office?
I've served on the board of the Worcester Center for Crafts for a dozen years and on the faculty at Worcester State College for equally as long, so there are many elements of the new job that are familiar. I'm working hard to juggle wrapping up my college teaching and supervision responsibilities, while dealing with the most pressing Worcester Craft Center issues, and am looking forward to Sept. 2, when I will be full time at the center.
Q. What's the biggest surprise you've had in starting the job?
I'm am touched by the extent to which the directors and education directors of other Worcester nonprofit agencies have reached out with good wishes and offers to help. The support offered by the existing friends of the Worcester Center for Crafts, is truly heartwarming.
Q. What challenges do you see in your new position?
Our strategic priorities for the next several months will be to put the Worcester Center for Crafts on a fiscally sound footing, to rebuild the community that has been so vital to the center, and to expand and diversify the constituency which uses and supports the center. All three priorities will take careful planning, collaboration among a variety of folks, and hard team work.
Q. How different is this job from your previous position?
There are many elements that are the same in serving as director of the Worcester Center for Crafts and in teaching at the college level. Both include program development and curriculum, collaboration, and creative and synergistic use of resources, careful budgeting and grant writing. In both situations, we deal with people with a variety of perspectives, skills, demands, and needs. There are also many elements that are new to me. Managing a building, especially one which houses studios in glass, clay, metals, and refinishing will be an exciting challenge. Understanding the needs of students and teachers in each of those studios will also be a new challenge. I expect the learning curve to be steep, but I am looking forward to all the opportunities we have.
Q. How close is this to what you imagined in high school you'd end up doing?
My high school had a limited art program, and I was steered away from art into English, history, math and science. However, when I took the "preference test" that guidance counselors give all high school sophomores, they told me that I scored highest in "arts administration." It made no sense then, but clearly something about this role has always had a place in my heart!
Q. Where's the best place to get lunch near your new location?
My house. I have less than a ½ mile commute.
Q. What do you hope to be doing 10 years from now?
Regardless of what job I'm holding in 10 years, I hope to be reading about (and taking!) a wide range of courses and workshops hosted by the Worcester Center for Crafts; attending openings and seminars that show and celebrate craft; buying fine quality glass, clay, wood, metals, and fiber from a world-class Craft Center shop, wandering through a Festival of Crafts at least once a year, enjoying the artists and those who appreciate their work, and regularly writing a check to support Worcester's vital, independent, community-based arts organization.
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