CCAC hires Dickey as first executive director

The Clifton Cultural Arts Center (CCAC) has announced the hiring of Ruth E. Dickey as its founding executive director.

Dickey, an award-winning poet, brings 14 years of non-profit experience, most recently as the executive director of New Futures in Burien, Washington.

As the CCAC's first paid employee, Dickey will concentrate on fundraising and marketing initiatives, and will work to develop the center's program offerings by reaching out to program partners, arts organizations, volunteers and community leaders.

The CCAC Board of Directors unanimously approved of her hiring.

“We are delighted to have Ruth Dickey join the Clifton Cultural Arts Center as its first paid staff member," says CCAC Board President Cindy Herrick.  "Her extensive background in nonprofit leadership and her arts and education focus made her an ideal fit for the culture and mission of the organization."

Dickey will start her new job on May 13.

The CCAC is a non-profit endeavor founded in 2004 to renovate two historic buildings into a regional arts and learning campus on the site of the former Clifton School.

The schematic design for both the former Clifton School and the adjacent Carriage House was recently completed, and design development for the Carriage House will be authorized next month.

Herrick says that renovation of the Carriage House space will begin later this year after fundraising is completed.

"If all goes well, the Carriage House will open in March 2009," she says.

Limited programming is scheduled to begin in fall 2008 in the Clifton School.

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Sources: Barbara Flick, account manager, Strata-G Communications; Tim Quinlivan, associate creative director, Strata-G Communications; Media release

Photography by Scott Beseler