Dawn Bennett to bid adieu to UrbanGlass after 11 years as executive director

L to R: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, BRIC board chair Lizanne
Fontaine, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council member Letitia James, UrbanGlass executive director Dawn Bennett, and UrbanGlass board chair Carol Yorke at the October 2011 groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation of the building that will house the new UrbanGlass. .photo: alex ipiotis, island photo

Dawn Bennett, executive director of UrbanGlass since 2002, has announced she will be resigning from her position with the organization effective August 31, 2012. As Bennett noted, “The organization is now well-positioned to go forward and be a significant force in the cultural life of the city. In our strategic plan we recognized the critical role a state-of-the-art facility would play in our future. With the development of a new, environmentally friendly studio well underway, the progress of our capital campaign on target, and the completion of the City’s $33-million Strand Theater renovation scheduled for the fall of 2013, we will be able to provide current and future generations of artists and students a home to create art in for the next 30 years.”

Under her leadership, UrbanGlass and its programs attracted increasing numbers of emerging artists and students to New York’s largest open-access glass studio, developed a core base of professional working artists who use the studio to experiment and innovate, and provided a venue for artists and designers in other media to incorporate glass into their work. Additionally, GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly continues to be recognized nationally and internationally as the leading publication in the Studio Glass field.

The board of UrbanGlass is very grateful for all of Dawn’s efforts on behalf of UrbanGlass for the last 11 years and for her accomplishments in making UrbanGlass a world-class organization. The board will begin the search process for a new executive director immediately.