Arts-Based Community Development Convening
Transforming Post-Industrial Cities through Art and Innovation
April 12 through 14, 2012 - St. Louis

Reena Hajat Carroll

St. Louis, Missouri

Reena Bio Picture

Reena Hajat Carroll is the Executive Director of the Diversity Awareness Partnership (DAP), a non-profit organization that promotes diversity in the region around issues of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. The DAP’s mission is accomplished through diversity training, youth programs, summits and forums, diversity publications, and community collaborations. The organization reaches over 3,000 people annually in the St. Louis region through their various efforts.

Prior to working with the Diversity Awareness Partnership, Reena was the Interim Executive Director of the Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls. She started as the outreach coordinator and successfully built relationships with over 10 faith communities in the region, worked with more than 60 clergy members, and secured grants in the amount of $300,000.

Reena holds a masters degree in social work from Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work with an emphasis on social and economic development. Currently, she serves on several boards in the St. Louis community, including Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work Alumni Board, Children’s Hospital Community Advisory Board, the Young Non-Profit Professional’s Advisory Board, and the Living Insights Center. In addition to her formal board involvement, she serves on a host of task forces and awards committees.

Reena is also the recipient of the St. Louis Business Journal’s Inclusive Leader Award, Bank of America’s Local Hero Award, and the Brown School of Social Work’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Additionally, she is a graduate of the CORO Women in Leadership Program and currently enrolled in the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiatives Fellows Program.

 

Presentation(s):

Changing the Complexion: Diversity and Inclusion in Arts Administration

Day 2 / Apr, 13 @ 10:30 am
Lower Level : Room B

In Donna Walker-Kuhne’s book titled, “Invitation to the party,” she explains how people of color experience institutional exclusion in the Arts, which has created a highly polarized community.   In our session, we plan to highlight this theme by engaging participants in a dialogue about the impact of exclusion and how to affect change.  Key concepts covered will focus on how diversity yields innovation and creativity, builds stronger communities, and reaches a larger audience pool.  We will go in depth about the importance of mentoring in the arts with a particular emphasis on questions such as: How do people get in the interview “pipeline” who are not being interviewed?  How do we provide access…how does access happen? How does someone break into the field? Are we willing to power share?  The session will be split between didactic training of these concepts and interactive activities and questions.  Our goal for the session is to insight more awareness about diversity and inclusion along with a tactical solution of how to implement change.