The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has selected Anita Morson-Matra as its first senior advisor for cultural partnerships and parks equity. In this new role, she will oversee partnerships for the upcoming Summer Fest series and parks equity projects for the Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the seven green spaces in Boston, including Franklin Park, created by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
Morson-Matra has extensive experience consulting with nonprofit organizations and municipalities on leadership development and management, specifically in the areas of racial equity, public health, stakeholder engagement and retention, and strategic planning and growth. She has spent the last six years working at the intersection of arts and culture and urban
planning.
Along with recognition through her appointment to the Boston Foundation’s Place Leadership Network, Morson-Matra is admired as a cultural luminary. As the creator, founder and curator of Nubian Nights: the Sights & Sounds of Jazz in Roxbury and Baldwin in the Park, she has been recognized by WBUR as one of 15 artists and creatives changing the cultural landscape in greater Boston. She was a finalist for the National Public Housing Museum’s Artist as Instigator Residency.
“Since 2018, Anita had worked on a number of projects within and beyond the Conservancy, but notably with the award-winning Olmsted Now Committee of Neighborhoods, where Anita was an active member,” said Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. “Anita brings an exceptional range of skills to her work, from notable cultural productions to visionary leadership expertise, all grounded in inclusive values and informed by extensive and current experience with the City of Boston.”
Morson-Matra’s experience and acumen will inform the Conservancy’s strategic planning and ongoing commitment to cultural partnerships and parks equity. Her position was created to help take to the next level and make lasting the organization’s efforts to improve the Emerald Necklace for all.
The Olmsted parks serve more than one million residents and tourists each year and have provided a safe and socially distanced destination for recreation and reconnection since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
