MacDowell Colony's Executive Director to Retire

Cheryl A. Young (photo: Joanna Eldredge Morrissey)

Cheryl A. Young will retire as executive director of the MacDowell Colony, one of the nation's leading contemporary arts organizations, though she plans to remain in the position she has held for more than two decades until a successor is in place in early 2019. Young joined MacDowell in 1988 as its director of development, became deputy director in 1993 and assumed her current role in 1997. MacDowell's board of directors has launched a search for a new executive director.

"Not only has MacDowell been a home to me, it has been a great joy to be around such passionate people... the staff, board, volunteers, and donors. Everyone is devoted to helping artists make new work," said Young. "MacDowell has been an exceptional organization since its pioneering beginning, and each generation has a role to play in safeguarding it.... My intentions were shared internally with our board a few years ago and we have been working toward an orderly succession plan since that time.... Making the program available to a diverse population, removing financial barriers, adding new art disciplines, and providing the best residency experience possible have been my goals throughout my 30 years."

At MacDowell's annual benefit in New York City in May, chairman of the board and author Michael Chabon said Young is "a woman who has served the MacDowell Colony and the cause of the arts with faithfulness and devotion and brilliance and inspired thinking, and radiance."