Mary McCullough-Hudson
Cincinnati, Ohio
Mary McCullough-Hudson is President & CEO of ArtsWave, a position she has held since 1994 following ten years as the director of the organization’s annual community arts campaign. During her 32-year tenure, the campaign has grown from $2.5 million to $11 million in 2011 (the largest such campaign in the country), becoming a substantial source of operating and project support for over 100 area arts organizations. Other notable organizational achievements during her tenure include the creation of the Arts Services office, providing arts organizations with capacity building programs focused on marketing, board development, fundraising and other administrative issues such as Business Volunteers for the Arts ®, BOARDway Bound ® and the Virtual Arts Incubator. Most recently, she led the 85-year-old organization’s transformation by commissioning groundbreaking communications research on the public value of the arts and the development of a new grantmaking model based on measurable community impact.
Mary has been a frequent consultant and presenter on united arts fundraising and community-focused communication and grantmaking strategies throughout the country. A native Cincinnatian, McCullough-Hudson received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in opera performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Honors include the YWCA Career Women of Achievement award, the CCM Distinguished Alumna award, Michael Newton Award from Americans for the Arts, Cincy Magazine Power 100 and 2011 Women of Over-The-Rhine award. Mary serves on the national Board of Directors of Americans for the Arts.
Presentation(s):
Moving Beyond the Tip Jar: Arts Funding and Collective Impact
Day 2 / Apr, 13 @ 2:45 pm
Lower Level : Room A
As the “smart giving” movement continues to grow, grantmakers are striving to create—and demonstrate—greater impact for their communities. Funders across the social sector are discovering that research and evaluation take on more meaning when grounded in a common vision for success that brings together diverse stakeholders around a shared, evidence-based agenda. Learn how ArtsWave in Cincinnati, the nation’s largest united arts fund, has transformed its grantmaking strategies as part of a community-wide push toward positioning the arts as integral to the region’s future.
