Jean Mineo

I attribute my success to wanting to be part of a community and see the direct impact that I make, which is what lit the fire of joining the non-profit world. When I was working for a national agency, you never saw the impact of your work, but when I moved to a community-based arts program in Newton, I got to meet with the people taking classes or showing their art in the gallery. It was really exciting to see how people come alive when they're engaged with creative pursuits, and I've been hooked ever since. That connection to community and being able to witness the tangible difference we make is what drives me forward.

The best advice I live by is showing up for other people. That's been really helpful throughout my career. Building relationships has been super helpful, and in particular for my position, that means reaching out to state reps, state senators, and our elected officials in my town. The other piece of advice that guides everything we do now at Bellforge is really around building community through the arts. These principles have shaped how I approach my work and the impact we're able to make.

I would say determination gets you a long way, and being creative with solutions is essential. We've gotten an awful lot of no's, but we have to find ways around the no's in order to make the dream a reality. In my mind, it's so important to have creative outlets within your community that it just keeps driving me forward to get to the yeses. You have to stay determined and keep finding creative paths forward, even when you face obstacles, because the work is too important to give up on.

One of the biggest challenges right now is that more than 50% of our performers are BIPOC performers, which makes it challenging with the current administration. It's hard to be public about our strong value around diversity right now, but even if we're not public about it, it's still our value and something we hold dear across all of our teams. On the fundraising side, we've found that our capital campaign is funded mostly by individuals rather than big corporate sponsors or foundations. Foundations tend to like to support impact and programs versus building out facilities, so it takes time to establish relationships with individual donors and bring them through to get them excited about our vision. But I think there's huge potential in what we're doing, especially with our plans to expand beyond performing arts to include visual artists and culinary arts on this historic campus.

Diversity is a value we still hold dear in our organization, and more than 50% of our performers are BIPOC performers. That's a very strong value across all of our teams, and even though it's hard to be public about it right now with this administration, it's still our value and something we're committed to. Building community through the arts is central to everything we do. I also believe strongly in showing up for other people and building relationships, whether that's with the people taking classes and showing their art, or with our elected officials and community partners. Making sure that everyone is included and building and maintaining a great team are essential to me. And on a personal level, having creative outlets within the community is something I'm passionate about, which is why I work with organizations like Medfield Cares About Prevention to provide those opportunities for young people.