Howard Amidon is Vice President for Philanthropy Greater Lowell Community Foundation. In that role he works with individuals, families, and businesses to help them achieve their philanthropic goals. He serves on the executive committee of Mosaic Lowell and is a former board chair of Refuge Arts School. He is involved with numerous organizations and celebrations including the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race, Khmer New Year Celebration, Southeast Asian Water Festival, Greater Lowell Pride, and many others. Howard has enjoyed a career in arts fundraising for organizations including Montserrat College of Art, Boston Ballet, and New England Conservatory of Music.

For the past 26 years, Jim Grace has been a leader in the movement to support artists and arts organizations. Jim serves as the Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston and previously served as the Executive Director of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts. Jim is the founder of the A&BC’s innovative Cultural Land Trust initiative which employs a systems approach to preserving safe, affordable, permanent and more equitable spaces where art is made, rehearsed and shared. Jim is a local and national speaker, leader and educator in working with artists and arts organizations in the areas of public art and social practice art projects, copyright, estate / legacy planning for artists, nonprofit incorporation and mergers, and nonprofit boards. Jim was an adjunct professor for Boston University’s Masters in Arts Administration Program focusing on legal and business issues in arts administration. Jim currently serves on the board of the AIR Institute, a national arts service organization. He was a founding board member of the Arts Services Coalition and the Fort Point Cultural Coalition (the developer of Midway Studios, 89 units of artist live/work space in downtown Boston). He previously served on the boards of Philanthropy Massachusetts, the Private Sector Council of Americans for the Arts, the Brookline Community Foundation and the Friends of The Record Co.

Hope Greene is the Executive Director of Western Avenue Community for the Arts in Lowell, MA where she maintains a five-building renovated textile mill complex as safe, permanently affordable space for almost 400 artists to make and display their work. Western Avenue Studios & Lofts is a key property in the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston’s Creative Land Trust. The struggle for reliable artist space has been a theme through Hope’s career and over the years she has worked to establish spaces and advocate for artists. She co-founded Second Saturdays Art Crawl in Dixon, IL, founded and directed the Artist in Residence Program at Christ Church Cathedral in Eau Claire, WI, and has been a contributing writer for the arts and culture magazine Volume One. Hope also works to support artists and cultural grounding as a member of the Executive Committee for Mosaic Lowell, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Copley Society of Art in Boston.

Jessica O’Hearn is a passionate and accomplished community arts leader with over 15 years of experience advancing creative expression and cultural engagement. She currently serves as Director of Mosaic Lowell, the City of Lowell’s arts, culture, and creative economy initiative, where she leads efforts to foster inclusive access to the arts and support local creatives. Before joining Mosaic Lowell, Jessica served as Executive Director of the Brookline Arts Center and as Artistic Director and Curator at the Juliet Art Museum in Charleston, West Virginia. Across all her roles, she has been a champion for equitable arts access, youth and community programming, and sustainable pathways for artists and cultural workers. Jessica lives in Lowell with her husband and two children, and is deeply committed to building vibrant, creative communities through collaboration and advocacy.

Laura Tavares serves as the Administrator for Mosaic Lowell, working to promote and strengthen the creative sector in Lowell. In addition to her role at Mosaic, she works with the Lowell Waterways Vitality Initiative, serves on the advisory board of DIY Lowell, and Points of Light Planning Committee. She has led programs, events, network engagement, marketing and outreach across a variety of nonprofit organizations in Lowell and the area beyond, including the Coalition for a Better Acre, UTEC, Interise, and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Laura is passionate about connecting people and ideas, and thrives at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and community development. She is proud “Lowellian,” with the Centralville neighborhood as her home.