Lynne McCormack

Lynne McCormack (She/Her/Hers) has worked at the intersection of arts, culture, racial equity, and community development for over 25 years. She joined Rhode Island State Council on the Arts as the executive director in July 2022 where she leads an incredible team of program staff, in the process of re-imagining the roles and responsibilities of a state arts agency. Prior to this appointment she worked at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) as national program director of creative placemaking, leading the integration of arts and culture into community development. At LISC, Ms. McCormack worked across the LISC network to bring technical assistance, financial resources, and program support to local offices in order to build capacity to build inclusive arts and culture opportunities in LISC neighborhoods. During her tenure, over 30 million dollars in LISC real estate lending resources were leveraged toward cultural resource development including cultural facilities, artist housing, and neighborhood infrastructure. She also spearheaded the Creative Placemaking Technical Assistance Program, a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), that provided learning resources, direct technical assistance, and peer learning opportunities to Our Town Grant recipients. Prior to joining LISC she was director of art, culture + tourism in the city of Providence. Serving five mayors, she completed a comprehensive cultural plan in 2009, and forged partnerships that resulted in a summer youth workforce development program, zoning changes, numerous creative placemaking grants, destination arts & music festivals, and increased funding for artists, designers, and organizations through Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), transit, and economic development funds. She worked closely with Americans for the Arts and The U.S. Conference of Mayor’s on arts advocacy. Her work has been recognized by arts, tourism, and social justice organizations. A trained video artist, Ms. McCormack earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and continues to employ creative practice and design-based thinking in her work.

Photo credit: William Smyth

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