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Ella Baff was the Senior Program Officer for Arts and Cultural Heritage at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York City until 2018.

Education

Baff was born in New York City and grew up there. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976. Following graduation she held multiple jobs including teaching in juvenile prisons and on an island in the Aleutian Islands.[1]

Career

Until 1997 Baff was the director of education and community programming at Cal Performances, an arts organization at the University of California, Berkeley.[2]

Starting in 1998, Baff was the executive and artistic director of Jacob's Pillow,[3] a 225-acre historic site that encompasses an international dance festival, professional school, archives, exhibits, artist residencies, public venues, and education and community programs. Under her leadership, the organization was designated a National Historic Landmark and was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama at the White House.[4]

In 2015 Baff joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as a senior program officer,[3][5][6] a position she held until 2018.[7]


Baff has been a moderator for the Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum. She has served on the board of directors of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) and MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art). She is a member of the Advisory Council of the American Friends of the Batsheva Cultural Center in Tel Aviv, designed by Sir David Adjaye, opening in 2023.[8]

Honors and awards

Baff received several awards in the cultural field including the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the Ministry of Culture of France and the Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. She has received Honorary Doctorates from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the College of the Holy Cross.[9]

References

  1. ^ Borak, Jeffrey (15 June 2007). "Q&A with Ella Baff". The Berkshire Eagle; Pittsfield, Mass. – via Proquest.
  2. ^ "New Executive Director For Jacob's Pillow". The New York Times. 1997-11-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  3. ^ a b Macaulay, Alastair (2015-08-25). "Dance This Week: Ella Baff, Misty Copeland and 'Pearl'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  4. ^ "The Rural We: Ella BaffA quick exit interview with Ella Baff as she takes her bow from Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Mass". Rural Intelligence. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  5. ^ "Ella Baff Joins The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as Senior Program Officer for the Arts and Cultural". 10 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Jacob's Pillow Chief Ella Baff Steps Down to Take Post with Mellon Foundation | The Rogovoy Report". 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  7. ^ "Ella Baff to Leave Foundation". 24 January 2018. Archived from the original on March 9, 2020.
  8. ^ "Ella Baff". Berkshire Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  9. ^ "After 17 Years of Devotion, Ella Baff Exits Jacob's Pillow". HuffPost. 2015-08-20. Retrieved 2024-07-12.


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