Scott Stoner
Advisory Member
USA
Scott Stoner believes that healthy and vibrant communities can be achieved through shared values, resources, and ongoing communications that leverage arts, cultural, and education assets. As an art educator, art therapist, and arts administrator, Stoner has envisioned and managed the development of programs and resources for leading arts organizations and institutions at national, regional, and state levels.
Stoner’s interest in environmental stewardship evolved from a multi-year residence in northern New Mexico, during which he worked on a statewide infrastructure project, and with GLOBE New Mexico as an environmental curriculum consultant. He later served as lead consultant for development and evaluation of the Western Arts Alliance’s national Advancing Indigenous Performance initiative, which provides direct support for Native American performing artists to build capacity and increase opportunities to compete in the mainstream presenting market.
Over the course of his career, Stoner gained experience and expertise in arts and education management, strategic planning, technological innovation, and fundraising through administrative and consultant positions that included Arthur D. Little, Council of Chief State School Officers, VSA (Very Special Arts), American Art Therapy Association (the organization’s first executive director), and The Kennedy Center, where he founded the award-winning ArtsEdge online network for teachers (one of the first educational websites established on the World Wide Web).
During his tenures with VSA and The Kennedy Center, Stoner led exemplary projects to integrate the arts for young people and adults in collaboration with culturally diverse artists from all disciplines. He served as director of The Kennedy Center’s Alliance for Arts Education national network, managed and evaluated the education department’s nationwide IMAGINATION CELEBRATION programs, and developed online educational resources for the Center’s international festival programs. Following this, he co-founded a public charter school with an arts-based curriculum, Academy for Learning Through the Arts, in Washington, DC.
As vice-president for programs and resources at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), Stoner was instrumental in launching and administering major foundation-funded grant program; The Creative Campus, aimed at integrating the arts on college campuses and surrounding communities nationally; and, Building Bridges, focused on building knowledge and changing perceptions about Muslim societies through their arts and culture. He also produced the professional program for APAP|NYC, the largest national performing arts marketplace (held annually in New York City).
Based upon training and experience as an art therapist/art educator, Stoner developed artist-in-residence programs for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at cancer centers serving Washington, DC; a program for wounded warriors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD; and, the Inova Schar Cancer Institutes across Northern Virginia. He recruited, trained, and supervised multi-disciplinary teams of artists for the above programs, in addition to developing arts-based professional development opportunities for clinicians, staff and caregivers. He also guided program evaluation and research, including a studies in partnership with Georgetown University Hospital and with Claremont Graduate University.
He worked part-time over the years as a production consultant in theater productions as well as live and pre-corded special events (e.g. Kennedy Center Honors, presidential inaugural galas, and tributes) in Washington, DC, New York, and Sydney.
Stoner’s education degrees include: B.S. Art Education (Indiana University of Pennsylvania); M.S. Mental Health Sciences (Psychiatric Art Therapy), Hahnemann Medical University; (ABD for) D.ED. Art Education (minor in psychology and special education), Pennsylvania State University. In 2018, he received the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Chosen Profession from the Mechanicsburg Area High School Alumni Association. He continues to tap creative instincts as a mixed media artist.
