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Introducing Melissa Moody, Arts Build Communities Coordinator

Melissa Moody. Photo by Bradley Hanson.

From Shannon Ford, Director of Community Arts Development

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Melissa Moody has been hired as the new Arts Build Communities Coordinator. Melissa will join me in managing the Arts Build Communities grant program, which annually funds arts and cultural projects across the state in partnership with 13 designated agencies. She will also contribute to the Commission’s efforts to support and develop local arts agencies as well as foster creative placemaking initiatives in Tennessee communities. On staff since August 12, Melissa brings considerable knowledge and experience to the position.

Melissa hails from the Greater Rochester, New York area, and most recently served as the Grant Coordinator for the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts. She administered the Genesee Valley Arts Grant Program, a Decentralization Regrant funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, providing support for innovative and cultural projects in New York’s Monroe and Livingston Counties. She also helped coordinate the Council’s public programming and curated four gallery spaces. Melissa has prior experience as an Art Gallery Guide at the Genesee Country Village and Museum and as a Preparator at the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, NY.

An artist in her own right, Melissa received a Master’s of Fine Arts in Ceramics and Ceramic Sculpture from the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s of Science in Studio Art from Roberts Wesleyan College. She served as an Artist in Residence at the University of Montevallo from 2012 to 2015.