Katherine Gressel, Programs Manager, joined Smack Mellon in April 2010. She received her BA in art from Yale University and MA in Arts Administration from Teachers College/Columbia University, and brings an interdisciplinary background in arts education and arts administration.  

At Smack Mellon, Katherine manages the Artist Studio Program, as well as our two arts education programs, Art Ready and the Summer Arts Intensive. In her work with the Studio Program, she organizes review panels, Open Studios events, and private visits with curators and critics. For the education programs, Katherine conducts outreach in schools, serves as a liaison between teaching artists, students, parents and teache rs, and organizes trips. She also produces web and print materials for all three programs and other events.

Prior to Smack Mellon, Katherine worked as Program Manager for the arts education nonprofit Arts to Grow, planning and implementing arts education programs in community sites throughout NYC and northern NJ. She also served as  Director of Partnerships and Development at the Urban Assembly School of Music and Art (UAMA), where she oversaw special programs/events, fundraising, and community outreach with partners in the arts and business communities--including Smack Mellon's Art Ready program in its first year.  As a practicing artist , Katherine has exhibited work at such venues as the Brooklyn Arts Council gallery, Brooklyn Public Library, City Without Walls in Newark, and Windows Brooklyn, and was a 2008 Abbey Mural Fellow at the National Academy of Fine Arts. She has done community art and teaching residencies with the Brooklyn Museum, CityKids Foundation, Community-Word Project,  Hester Street Collaborative, and Groundswell Community Mural Project,  among other organizations.  She was also awarded a CEC Artslink grant to lead collaborative public art projects in Krasnoyarsk and St. Petersburg, Russia.   In  Fall 2009, she founded Brooklyn Utopias?, an original exhibition and programming series inviting artists, youth, and community groups to respond to local environmental and social issues.  Katherine's work can be viewed at www.katherinegressel.com.