Roseann Weiss has over 30 years of experience in arts leadership with nonprofit institutions, galleries, museums, and community organizations.

Director | ART +

Roseann Weiss is a creative advisor and strategist about the intersections of art and community. She has over 35 years of experience in arts leadership in nonprofit arts institutions, community organizations, museums, and galleries.

Her expertise centers in arts-based community development, community and public arts, artists' professional development, and grant-making.

For 14 years, Roseann was the Director of artist and community-based initiatives at the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. In this position, she guided the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute - an innovative, cross-sector program designed around art as a powerful agent for social change.

Now, working independently, one of her recent projects was Lead Educator for Arts as Civic Engagement, a pilot program with the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University that embeds students into the staffs of St. Louis arts and community organizations with community engagement in their missions.

In addition, Roseann was Lead Advisor for an Americans for the Arts project called “Artists at the Community Development Table” that is a multi-year initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation. This project includes writing guidebooks, recording webinars, and facilitating day-long workshops around the country.

Professional History

Director of the Artist and Community Initiatives Department
Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RAC) through 2017

In this position newly created at RAC in 2013, Roseann continued to guide, as she had since 2003, the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute. CAT is an innovative, cross-sector program, centered on the belief that art can amplify the voices of communities, act as a key factor in regenerating neighborhoods and is an agent for positive social change.

She also designed and led RAC’s artists’ support programs, fellowships, and creative community initiatives. She directed artists’ development workshops and in 2014 organized the day-long seminar Mind the Gap: Stepping into Arts-Based Community Action. In building this department, she hired a co-director for the CAT Institute to help expand its scope, piloted the new RAC Artists Support Grants and RAC Artists Fellowships programs, and identified resources for new projects.

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the CAT Institute added three Neighborhood-Based trainings in 2014 and 2015. Other seminars included the two-part Off the Charts: Data and the Arts organized by the department with community organizations as partners.

In November 2016, with Roseann’s leadership, RAC partnered with the “people-powered” U.S. Department of Arts and Culture to organize a sold-out national conference on the intersections of art, community, and activism, with two hundred twenty-five participants, called Culture/SHIFT: A National Convening on Community Arts, Cultural Policy & Social Justice.

Director of Community Art Programs & Public Art Initiatives
including Director of the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute, Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis 2003 - 2017

The Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute is an innovative program centered on the belief that art can be an agent for positive social change. The CAT Institute is a national model. It provides professional level, comprehensive cross-training for: artists of all disciplines, social service providers, community activists, educators, and policy makers to develop partnerships for successful arts-based programs that impact our communities, particularly under-resourced communities. The program provides skills and explores creative techniques for successful collaboration and community work.

The CAT Institute was recognized in 2008 by the East West Gateway Council of Governments with an achievement award and in 2018 by the Americans for the Arts with the Robert E. Gard Award.

As Director, Roseann expanded the scope of the CAT Institute including a pilot graduate program and a neighborhood-based model for community arts training. These initiatives were underwritten by a two-year grant from the Kresge Foundation.

In March 2010, the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute presented At the Crossroads: A Community Arts & Development Convening. This national conference in St. Louis, underwritten in part by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, attracted a broad cross-section of leaders in arts-based community development.

With funding from the Kresge Foundation, a second Crossroads convening was held in April 2012 in collaboration with Cleveland’s Community Partnerships for Arts & Culture (CPAC). The Rust Belt to Artist Belt/At the Crossroads brought 300 attendees to St. Louis from as far away as Dublin and Singapore.

Program & Education Director - Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis
1993 - 2003

As a collaborator with the museum's curators, Roseann created an open atmosphere for dialogue across sectors about contemporary art. In her ten year post at the Museum, Roseann instituted community collaborations and nationally recognized programs: New Art in the Neighborhood for teens, the critics and curators’ studio visit and lecture series, and the Peer2Peer docent program designed to connect high school students with contemporary art.

Leadership | Community Roles

Roseann has curated contemporary art exhibitions, served on public art committees, arts panels, juries, and boards as well as lectured and led workshops about contemporary art and community in national settings. She collaborated with Ivor David Balding, founder of Circus Flora, as the Assistant Artistic Director on the initial First Night Celebrations in Grand Center. She was a founding member and former board chair of The AIDS Foundation of St. Louis (now part of Doorways) and of Critical Mass for the Visual Arts. She has been invited by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Kentucky State Arts Council, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to review grants and assist with grant-making.

Additional Experience

Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) Support for Individual Artists Committee 2015 – 2017 | Roseann was an invited member of this thought leaders forum for a national organization for funders in the arts.

 U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (Not a Government Agency) 2014 – present | In 2014, Roseann was appointed as one of seventeen inaugural “Cultural Agents” around the country who are a part of this “people powered” arts advocacy and activism project.

 St. Louis Lambert International Airport Public Art Committee 2011 – 2013/ Reappointed for additional terms in 2014 to present | Roseann was appointed by the Mayor of the City of St. Louis to this volunteer commission that created and implemented the Airport Public Art Program and its policies and procedures.

Presentations (Selected Examples)

Presenter/ Kranzberg Arts Foundation @ High Low High Noon Series, St. Louis / March 2023 Presented "Stepping into the Principles of Uncertainty: Art and Hope in a Time of Despair”

Presenter/ Americans for the Arts, Virtual National Conference / June 2020 Co-presented session about “Artists at the Community Recovery Table,” a discussion about supporting the roles of artists in community in a time of upheaval.

 Workshop Facilitator/ Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Department, Laguna Beach, CA / April 2018 Co-designed and led an Artists Professional Development Workshop “Beyond Marketing : Making Community” for 35 visual artists.

Presenter and Keynote/ Young Collectors Contemporary Conference, Memphis, TN / March 2018 Presented on two panels and spoke about arts and community. “Roseann Weiss: Coming Together Through the Arts”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PP4WX6huXo

Panelist/ Americans for the Arts National Conference, San Francisco, CA / June 2017 Discussion on the role of artists in activism and community.

 Presenter and Consultant/ ArtsMemphis, Memphis, TN / February 2015 Worked closely over three days with ArtsMemphis’s Artists Advisory Council regarding artists’ support initiatives. Also presented a public lecture at Crosstown Arts regarding artists in community.

 Advisory Participant/ Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kansas City, MO / October 2014 Invited to a two-day convening of 12 national artists and arts administrators regarding artists’ support through training and professional development.

 Panelist/ Saint Louis Art Museum / April 2014 Eight Possible Beginnings or: The Creation of African-America, a Moving Picture by Kara E. Walker – along with Olubukola Gbadegesin, Assistant Professor of Art History, Saint Louis University and Jeffrey McCune, Jr., Associate Professor, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Performing Arts Department, Washington University and moderated by Adrienne Davis, Vice Provost and William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law, Washington University.

 Panelist/ Museum of Contemporary Religious Art / February 2014 The Economy of Gift in Socially Engaged Art Practices / co-presenters: David Walsh, Professor of Political Science at Catholic University of America; Alison Ferring, Artist and Curator; Juan William Chavez, Artist and Activist and moderated by Ed Carroll and Vita Geluniene, Artists-in-Residence at Craft Alliance. https://www.slu.edu/mocra/voices-podcast/the-economy-of-gift.php

 Workshop Organizer and Presenter/ Mayor’s Sustainability Conference / Nov 2013 Inventing, Creating, Engaging New Art in Your Neighborhood OR Candy Chang is Awesome, a mini-workshop with Mallory Nezam of St. Louis Improv Anywhere.

Presenter/ Grantmakers in the Arts Conference, Philadelphia, PA / October 2013 The Arts Next Door / Neighborhood/Place-Based Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute pilot in Pagedale.

Panel Organizer/ Moderator, Trailnet. Livable St. Louis Conference / 2012 The Public Arts and Livability with Michael Allen, Preservationist; Juan William Chavez, Artist and Activist; and Regina Martinez, Facilitating Artist at The Pink House.

Presenter/ Americans for the Arts national conferences / 2008 and 2010 The St. Louis Community Arts Training Institute with William Cleveland, Director of the Center for the Study of Arts and Culture; Elizabeth Goebl-Parker, Professor of Art Therapy, SIU-E; and Con Christeson, Community Artist.

Panelist and Respondent/ Altering the Face & the Heart of America: The Gard Symposium. Madison, WI / September 2010 What makes a healthy community? What is the future of community arts? Co-presenters: Mitch Menchaca, Americans for the Arts; Ra Joy, Chicago-based Artist; Tom Borrup, Creative Community Consultant; and Naj Wikoff, President of the Creative Healing Connections .

 Panel Presenter/ The Water Has No Edges Conference / 2009 National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Ireland. Arts-based community development with Orla Moloney, of The Irish Arts Council and Helen O’Donoghue, Curator, Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Selected Interviews/Media

5 Questions: A Critical Mass for the Visual Arts Podcast with Roseann Weiss: 5 Questions is a program by Critical Mass for the Visual Arts – a nonprofit, self-formed visual arts collaborative dedicated to promoting, enhancing and initiating contemporary visual art in the St. Louis region. https://criticalmassart.org/2021/12/02/5-questions-roseann-weiss/

Change the Story /Change the World Podcasts by William Cleveland from the Center for the Study of Art & Community: 2 Part Interviews with Roseann Weiss, Pacia Elaine Anderson, and Con Christeson. Change the Story/ Change the World is a chronicle of art and community transformation across the globe. In each episode, Bill will introduce listeners to creative change agents working to re-imagine and recreate the social, political, and cultural narratives that define their communities. See the two part Interviews with Roseann Weiss, Pacia Elaine Anderson, and Con Christeson: Part 1 https://www.creativeplacemaker.net/podcast and Part 2 https://www.creativeplacemaker.net/podcast

The Art Next Door / Stefene Russell / St. Louis Magazine / August 2013 | https://www.stlmag.com/The-Art-Next-Door/

 Bad at Sports: Contemporary Art Talk Pod Cast / July 2013 | http://badatsports.com/2013/episode-411-roseann-weiss-and-the-st-louis-regional-arts-commission/

 Art 21: Community Arts Training Institute: A Conversation with Roseann Weiss Francesca Wilmott / August 2011 | http://magazine.art21.org/2011/08/01/community-arts-training-institute-a-conversation-with-roseann-weiss/#.W0-KZNhKijQ

Selected Publications

“Artists at the Community Development Table Resource Guide” Americans for the Arts / February 2019 | Written in collaboration with artists Pacia Elaine Anderson and Con Christeson, this guide provides usable information on how to deepen the capacity for arts-based community development. It outlines ideas about how to bring creativity and new thought to the conversations artists of all disciplines, local arts agencies, organizations, and their communities are having about how to collaborate across sectors, borders, and boundaries. While there are complexities and many layers to working in this way, this guide aims to connect threads and make those complexities visible. https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/networks-and-councils/local-arts-network/professional-development/artists-at-the-community-development-table

"Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the United States” ArtsEngaged / June 2012 | Written and Edited by Doug Borwick, BUILDING COMMUNITIES, NOT AUDIENCES includes contributions from a number of experts in the field of arts and community development such as Bill Cleveland, Ben Cameron, Tom Borrup, Diane Ragsdale, and Roseann Weiss [Chapter 23]. Borwick posits that the survival of established arts organizations hinges on their ability to engage more effectively with broader populations: "It is from community that the arts developed, and it is in serving communities that the arts will thrive . . ." http://www.artsjournal.com/engage/building-communities-not-audiences/

Current Board Service

Bread and Roses Missouri http://www.breadandrosesmo.org/

Missouri Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board http://www.mojwj.org/

St. Louis Lambert International Airport Art Advisory Committee https://www.flystl.com/about-us/art-culture-program

Saint Louis Visionary Awards https://www.vizawards.org/

Education

University of Missouri-Columbia, B.A. English Literature and Art History 1977

FOCUS Leadership St. Louis 2007

Honors

2009 Saint Louis Visionary Award as Outstanding Arts Professional