South Shore Conservatory Appoints Vice President of Institutional Advancement

South Shore Conservatory (SSC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kara Fagan of Chattanooga, TN as Vice President of Institutional Advancement for the expanding 45-year old community school for the arts.

Over the past several years SSC, with campuses in Hingham and Duxbury, has experienced major programmatic growth. In addition to its stellar classical, jazz, rock and pop music instruction programs, SSC provides extensive early childhood programs including Music Together® and an arts-integrated preschool, pre-k and kindergarten program, arts-based pre-reading programs in Hull and Brockton, and partnerships in 12 public schools. SSC also has a growing Creative Arts Therapies program that provides services for all ages and abilities. The growing demand has necessitated strengthening the organization with the addition of two new executive positions: VP of Institutional Advancement, the position filled by Fagan, and VP of Education, the position filled recently by Lorna Jane Norris.

In her new position, Fagan is charged with setting organizational strategy and direction. With the help of her newly-formed development, marketing and performance team, she will be the driving force behind all work related to increasing awareness of South Shore Conservatory and meeting aggressive contributed revenue targets that will allow the organization to expand its reach and impact.

A self-professed storyteller, Fagan is the founding director and former executive director for the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga. In addition to taking the organization from a component fund at the local community foundation, to an established and independent 501c3 nonprofit organization, with her storytelling skills, the Women’s Fund hotline awareness campaign resulted in an increase of calls of over 200% and the direct rescue of multiple victims and prosecution of criminals. She also drove a strategic focus on advocacy and created partnerships with women’s funds across Tennessee to lead the state’s only awareness and policy change campaign to fight human trafficking.

Hoping to move back to New England, Fagan started exploring arts-oriented job opportunities in the Boston area, and she was excited to find SSC’s opening for the VP of Institutional Advancement. She was drawn to SSC’s rich history of excellence and the wonderful community of Boston’s South Shore.

“I’m incredibly excited about where SSC is at this moment in time,” says Fagan. “The past five years for SSC have been quite remarkable. The addition of the growing outreach programs in the schools and the creative arts therapy programs have provided a unique and necessary service to the community. I can’t wait to help spread the message that SSC is so much more than an excellent music school; it’s an institution that provides access to the arts to all, regardless of circumstances.”

“The arts have always been central to my life,” she adds, explaining both parents were intentional in making the arts a part of their lives, which led Fagan to studies in theater and writing as an undergrad. Her mother wrote and her father was a school superintendent who made sure arts were available in the schools. “The arts inform my personal experience. Participation in the arts help me to better understand the world we live in.”

Fagan sees her first goal as leading her talented team through this transitional time for SSC, and creating clear objectives toward achieving the larger goal of increased visibility and sustainability. From there she will focus on raising the revenue necessary to take SSC to the next level of operations, while simultaneously telling its story to the community at large.

SSC President Kathy Czerny is thrilled to welcome Fagan to her administrative team. “This is an exciting step for SSC,” says Czerny. “It will allow us to further raise the visibility for the work we are doing in our communities and beyond. Kara’s skills and experience make her the right person to lead this new institutional advancement focus. Her personal warmth and passion for the arts promise a smooth transition and positive direction for the organization.”

“The arts have the potential to create real social change.” says Fagan. “The potential for SSC to serve more individuals outside its campus walls through programs such as Creative Arts Therapies and Community Partnerships is very appealing and resonates with my personal values that the arts need to be accessible to all populations.”

About South Shore Conservatory
South Shore Conservatory, recently recognized as a national model for arts education by the National Guild for Community Arts Education, is celebrating nearly 45 years of enriching the lives of South Shore residents through music and the arts. SSC was founded as a not-for-profit community music school in 1970 and now has two beautiful campuses in Hingham and Duxbury. Currently serving over 3500 students of all ages and abilities, SSC is the largest community school for the arts in Massachusetts. Students participate in more than 50 diverse programs in music, dance and drama. Through innovative partnerships with social service agencies, SSC’s Creative Arts Therapies department supports the mental, emotional, and physical health of some of our community’s more fragile members. SSC’s Hingham campus is located at One Conservatory Drive, Hingham, 781-749-7565. SSC’s Duxbury campus is located at the Ellison Center for the Arts, 64 St. George Street, Duxbury, 781-934-2731. South Shore Conservatory is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education. SSC programs are supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information call us, follow us on Facebook or visit www.sscmusic.org.

South Shore Conservatory admits students and families of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school.