In this episode we’re talking to Hallie Hobson, who I first met at the Cave Canem summer poetry retreat in 2007, which was also the year I graduated from undergraduate school at UNC Chapel Hill. I knew I was moving to NYC and so meeting a Black woman who lived and worked there—and especially Harlem—was exciting, and I had NO IDEA at the time what development meant, but I was jealous Hallie got to work at a museum—then I think the Museum of Modern Art. When it became time for me to understand the idea of fundraising for culture, and doing that work as a Black woman, I turned to Hallie as a possibility model and way maker. I’m super honored to call her colleague today, and to think about what it means for us to be poets and creatives doing the work of institutional cultural storytelling in order to do the work of fundraising--what I define as moving people and resources towards a mission.
As the founder of HSH Consulting LLC, Hallie S. Hobson contributes to the vitality and health of philanthropic and nonprofit institutions by developing and implementing innovative planning, fundraising and patron engagement strategies including: philanthropic strategy development and implementation; capital campaign and strategic planning; individual giving program design; major gift pipeline development; department buildout and optimization-staffing and systems; CDO coaching; board development.
Current clients include Destination Crenshaw, The Ford Foundation, Junebug Productions, and The Laundromat Project. Prior to launching her consultancy, Hallie served as the Director of Institutional Advancement for the Studio Museum in Harlem and led that organization’s Capital Campaign. Prior to that she was at The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she served as Deputy Chief Development Officer for Individual Giving and the Senior Development Officer at The Museum of Modern Art. She has also held roles at a number of other cultural institutions including the New York Foundation for the Arts and The House Foundation for the Arts/Meredith Monk and has lectured about her profession at New York University, the Yale World Fellows Program, and Sotheby's Institute of Art.
In addition, Hallie is an accomplished poet and playwright. She holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from UCLA and a B.A. in African-American and Theater Studies from Yale University.
This episode was recorded on January 15, 2021.
Produced by Lauren Francis
Music by audionautix.com
Note: In the interview, Hobson refers to Kinshasha Holman Conwill and it sounds like "is the director of AAMHC...". Ms. Holman Conwill is the Deputy Director of AAMHC.
