The Boston Foundation announced that Catherine T. Morris, the founder and executive director of Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Fest, has been hired as the next Director, Arts and Culture for the foundation. Morris will begin her new role on September 7.
Over the last 20 years, Morris has spent her career supporting BIPOC artists by producing shows, creating platforms as well as mobilizing and engaging local audiences to experience the arts from a Black perspective. In her new role, she will oversee the foundation’s multifaceted arts and culture portfolio, which includes Live Arts Boston, the Brother Thomas Fellowships, Next Steps for Boston Dance and the Free For All Endowment Fund, among others. In addition, the foundation will continue its research, convenings and advocacy work to empower and uplift the voices of artists and arts organizations as community and civic leaders.
As the founder and executive director of BAMS Fest, Morris has shaped the event as a cultural movement that breaks down racial and social barriers to arts, music and culture for communities and artists of color across Greater Boston and beyond. BAMS Fest has employed, supported and presented more than 400 local artists, provided more than 350 jobs to creative entrepreneurs, activated dozens of public spaces and has attracted over 12,000 attendees to their programs.
Morris is the former director of public programs at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where she diversified programming, led teams, and increased access and visibility for local and national BIPOC artists, collaborators, entertainers and audiences including Jill Scott, Phonte Coleman, Oompa, NWA Soul, Paloma Valenzuela, OJ Slaughter and Mumu Fresh.
She is an alumna of Temple University School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management in Philadelphia, and received her Master of Science from Simmons University in Boston.
