Supporting Work at the Intersection of Arts, Education,
Healing and Social Justice
ABOUT
The Bartol Foundation
To support small- to mid-sized cultural organizations that provide deep and authentic arts experiences to under-resourced and/or under-served communities in Philadelphia
To support and advocate for the essential role of teaching artists in providing high-quality, far-reaching arts education opportunities.
To advocate for and facilitate partnerships that include arts as an asset for positive youth development and vibrant communities.
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At the Bartol Foundation, we love Philadelphia and we love the arts, and we work hard to support and celebrate the arts in our local communities. Our work includes offering many grants each year to small arts organizations who are making a big impact, and presenting regular professional training events to help teaching artists better share their gifts and support their careers. We are artists ourselves, so we know very personally how challenging and rewarding a life in art can be.
- We work at the intersection of arts, education, community and philanthropy, grounded in our belief that deeply meaningful arts experiences strengthen people and communities.
- We advocate for and facilitate partnerships in which cultural organizations, teaching artists, community partners, and funders work toward the common goal of providing high-caliber, equitable arts learning to the most under-resourced and/or under-served people in Philadelphia.
- We utilize our knowledge, networks, and resources to generate even more resources and opportunities for all.
Click below to download a high resolution version of our logo:
History
The Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation was founded in 1984 by George Bartol, a lover of the arts and Philadelphia. Mr. Bartol was the Chairman and CEO of Hunt Manufacturing in Philadelphia, maker of Xacto knives, Boston Staplers and Speedball inks among other office supplies and art materials.
He believed that Philadelphia’s cultural assets differentiated it from other cities, making it more attractive to businesses and individuals as a place to live and work. His children tell us he was especially committed to arts education, much to their chagrin as small children being toted off to museums every weekend.
The Foundation is named after his brother, Stockton Rush, who was killed as a bombardier in World War II. Mr. Bartol died in 1989 and his family now supports the George Bartol Arts Education Award in his name.
"As an entrepreneur, I have always attempted to be willing to undertake risk in order to progress. I hope the Foundation will be willing to take chances too, and when failure sometimes comes, not to recriminate. Prudence and wisdom are honorable characteristics, but too often they are used to excuse inaction."
— George Bartol, Founder. 1984
Board of Directors
Our board is comprised of esteemed and dynamic people from all over the arts community of Philadelphia who are passionate about using art as a way for all to connect to joyful, creative lives.
Madhusmita Bora
Madhusmita Bora "Madhu" (she/her) is an award winning Assamese American dancer, teacher, writer, journalist, filmmaker and cultural producer. She co- founded Sattriya Dance Company in 2009 to raise awareness for the deeply layered 500-year-old spiritual movement and music tradition indigenous to the land of Kamarupa, now known as the Indian state of Assam. As an immigrant living in diaspora, Madhu's practice grounds her by actively connecting her to her roots and self. Her work has been supported by multiple grants from Leeway Foundation and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She is also a recipient of the Teaching Artist Micro-Grant from the Bartol Foundation and was awarded a project grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Madhu works as an adjunct professor at Lincoln University. She is also Managing Editor for Suburban News at WHYY.
Veronica Chapman-Smith
SECRETARY
Veronica Chapman-Smith (she/they) is Vice President of Community Initiatives at Opera Philadelphia. Their role focuses on the company’s educational and community-centric initiatives, as well as acts as senior management in equity and inclusion efforts. Prior to working at Opera Philadelphia, they worked as an artist in residence at Temple University, a soloist and chorister for 16 years including as a member of the Grammy-Award winning The Crossing. They are also an Associate Artist with The Bearded Ladies. They were selected for the Urban League’s Philadelphia African American Leadership Development Forum class of 2021 as well as artEquity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle 2021 cohort.
Amanda Newman Godfrey
Amanda Newman-Godfrey is an Associate Professor of Art Education at Moore College of Art and Design. She is an ABD Doctoral Candidate in Art and Art Education at Teachers College Columbia University. She has been an art educator in PreK-12 schools, state agencies, and in higher education for 27 years. She has presented at numerous conferences, was the recipient of the Doctoral Dissertation Grant for outstanding research, and was named a “Rising Star in Higher Education” by TC Today magazine. She is the co-author of a book chapter and several articles on art and disability, assessment and critique in higher education, and pedagogy.
Betsaleel (Bets) Charmelus
Bets is a facilitator, community advocate & an auditory story-teller. Whether in his work as the National Program Director for the creative learning non-profit ArtistYear, to his work as a trauma-informed facilitator with the Stockton Rush Bartol foundation (and Bartol board member), to his many contributions to the arts education non-profit Beyond the Bars, to aural story-telling in the acclaimed, all-black rock band ill Fated Natives, Bets is passionate about building supportive, inter-connected communities & exploring the difference between questioning oneself and asking oneself questions.
Wit Lopez
Chair
Wit López is a visual artist, performer, and arts administrator. They are the Artistic Director of Till Arts Project, an arts-services organization serving LGBTQI+ artists in the Greater Philly area. Wit believes that marginalized artists should have support for their practices and equal access to resources as artists from privileged backgrounds.
Sekou Campbell
Sekou Campbell has seen the power of artists and entrepreneurs to change the world, and he seeks to continue to represent intellectual creatives’ interests while developing their business aspirations. He represents a range of clients from Fortune 1000 companies to individual artists and startups. He also serves as co-chair of BlackStar Projects that produces the internationally acclaimed BlackStar Film Festival and Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.
José Ortiz-Pagán
José Ortiz-Pagán is a local artist, activist & cultural organizer who believes that art is one of the most social connectors. He deeply believes that art has the power to further grow the collective imagination as a tool of change.
Dr. Iquail Shaheed
Iquail is the executive artistic director of Dance Iquail, a Philadelphia-based dance company working at the intersection of dance and social justice. Dr. Shaheed has performed in the companies of Ronald K Brown/ Evidence, Fred Benjamin Dance Company, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and on Broadway in The Lion King among others. Dr. Shaheed serves on the faculty at Goucher College, The Ailey School, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and NAISDA Dance College in Sydney, Australia. He received a BFA from The University of the Arts, an MFA from Purchase College - SUNY, and in 2022 he became the first Black man to earn a Ph.D.in dance from Texas Woman's University.
Hannah Gillean, Hamilton Lane
Treasurer
Hannah is a finance enthusiast who is passionate about supporting Philadelphia and the arts outside of her day to day job as she believes arts and self expression is an integral part of a robust culture. Hannah hopes to bring her interest in investments and business acumen to support the Barton Foundation’s mission.
Veronica Ponce de Leon Plascencia
Veronica is a multi-disciplinary artist who teaches folk arts at FACTS Charter School. I am passionate about children’s arts education that helps them grow up in a loving and just world. I love making art with everyone out of whatever we have.
Erica Atwood
VICE-CHAIR
Erica Atwood, founder of First Degree Consulting and Senior Director, Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice & Public Safety at City of Philadelphia. Erica is a mentor, coach, people lover, problem solver and troublemaker who is fiercely committed to black people and believes in honesty from a place of love, being rooted in your purpose from a place of joy and naps.
Cat Ramirez
Cat Ramirez (they/he/she) is a Philly-based theatre director and performance producer. They love giant logistical puzzles, community meals, and bisexual lighting. Recent directing collaborations include Villanova University, Temple University, Philly Young Playwrights, PlayPenn, Lxs Primxs, Theatre Exile, Hedgerow Theatre Company, and Mel Hsu. They are the Creative Director for Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA), the Staff Producer for the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and a Worker-Owner for Obvious Agency. More at catramirez.com
We are thrilled to introduce Sam Tower as the new Executive Director of the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation! Sam’s background in the arts and nonprofit sector, combined with her dedication to inclusion and education, aligns perfectly with Bartol’s mission to support Philadelphia’s vibrant arts community.
For 15 years, Sam has dedicated her career to the arts in Philadelphia as a cultural producer, administrator, artist and educator. She is driven by the power of art to inspire change, build collective power, and awaken the imagination. Her love for the expressive human spirit has led her to study and create performances for very young children and their families, teens, young adults, and multi-generational ensembles, and to leverage her access to resources as a producer and fundraiser on behalf of these communities.
Her work as a cultural producer has focused on expanding arts access for families and young people, redistributing financial resources to artists and educators, and improving the living conditions of artists and the communities they serve. She is deeply committed to envisioning liberatory futures through her work in the arts and incorporating practices of collectivity and community care that center people who have been marginalized by oppressive social and political systems. In 2018, Sam co-founded Ninth Planet, where she continues to serve as Co-Artistic Director, creating and producing original performances with people of color, women, queer and trans people in Philadelphia, and offering free arts programming in libraries and community spaces across the city designed to support the social and emotional development of babies and healthy attachment in families.
As an administrator, Sam most recently served as Program Manager for Cannonball Festival, where she worked alongside a team of artist-producers to support the rapid growth of what has become a major presenting platform for independent artists in Philadelphia and beyond. From 2012-2021, Sam held an ever-evolving role on the staff of International Performing Arts for Youth, managing programs and engagement for a vibrant global network of performance makers, presenters, agents and students, and leading the Institute of Performing Arts for Youth’s CultureCrew youth selection workshops and panels.
Sam has created original works of performance with young people and community ensembles in the Philadelphia area with Ninth Planet, Applied Mechanics, Philly Thrive, New Paradise Laboratories, Shakespeare in Clark Park, high schools and universities. She has offered non-profit consulting to arts organizations and individual artists, developed and facilitated curriculums for Headlong Performance Institute, designed artistic cohort and mentorship models for Cannonball Festival, and offered workshops, professional development, editorial and archival articles nationally and internationally for Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, ASSITEJ (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) International, WeeFestival, and others. She holds a degree from University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
A Message from Beth Feldman Brandt, former Executive Director:
525,600 minutes.
Multiply that by more than 24 years and that adds up to my time at the Bartol Foundation, now coming to a close.
Measure in teaching artist workshops, site visits, performances, board meetings, trauma-informed practice training cohorts and too many Zoom meetings to count.
Measure in all the humans I have been honored to be connected to—teaching artists and administrators and colleagues and board members and kid musicians and teen poets and senior storytellers and everyone in between.
Measure in cups of coffee with so many of you — where I listened and learned.
Measure in the blessing of a life where my work and passion aligned.
Measure in my family—born and chosen and remembered — that grew in my time here.
Measure in love.
Onward. With great hope and so, so much gratitude.
Beth