Macon Arts Alliance has selected Jonathan Harwell-Dye to be its new director of creative placemaking beginning October 1. He is currently the organization’s director of communications. He will continue in his current position while a search is conducted for a new communications director.
Since joining the Alliance in 2011, Harwell-Dye has led the launch the Alliance’s first community calendar website, Ovations365.com, and the founding of the Macon-Bibb County Arts Advocacy Breakfast. He was the project director for Art Matters, a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Knight Foundation-funded arts journalism partnership with Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism. Harwell-Dye articulated Macon Arts Alliance’s mission on the local, state and national level leading Macon Arts Alliance to be named a Leading Organization cohort member by Minnesota-based Creative Exchange, a national platform for storytelling and resource-sharing around artists, creativity & community
On August 6, Jonathan was commissioned as a ‘Regional Leader’ through the Middle Georgia Regional Leadership Champions program. In 2014, he was named one of Macon Magazine’s “Five Under 40” Young Leaders and a GeorgiaFoward Young Gamechanger. A 2012 graduate of Leadership Macon, Jonathan serves on the One Macon Implementation Committee, the College Hill Corridor Commission, and the Macon-Bibb County Public Art Committee.
In his new position, Harwell-Dye will lead the creative placemaking efforts of Macon Arts Alliance and its partners in the development of the Mill Hill: East Macon Arts Village as project director of the Mill Hill Artist Residency Program and Neighborhood Cultural Planning Process. The Alliance recently announced a $134,370 NEA Our Town grant to support the project and is currently seeking additional funding from private foundations and corporate donors.
“I’ve been involved with Mill Hill since its inception less than a year ago. This project has found unprecedented support and collaboration,” said Harwell-Dye. “The momentum is building. There’s nothing I’d rather be involved in than seeing this project happen and lives changed for the better because of it.”
Mill Hill: East Macon Arts Village is a neighborhood revitalization effort that seeks to develop approximately four square blocks of the historic Fort Hawkins/Main Street Neighborhood in East Macon into an arts village in order to address blight and foster economic opportunity in one of Macon’s oldest neighborhood. The effort is a partnership between neighborhood residents, Macon Arts Alliance, Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority, and many community stakeholders.
“Jonathan has done a fantastic job as director of communications, and I know he will continue to do great work in his new position,” said Jan Beeland, executive director of Macon Arts Alliance. “He’s been involved with Mill Hill from the very beginning, and he has been key in developing the programming and in seeking grant support. His firsthand knowledge of the project and his experience working on NEA-funded projects make him the perfect choice to lead the artist residency and cultural planning program.”
Macon Arts Alliance has already begun a search for a new director of communications. More information is available at MaconArtsAlliance.org/jobs
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About Macon Arts Alliance
The mission of the Macon Arts Alliance is to foster and support the advancement of arts and culture in Central Georgia. We strive to be an innovative leader of a diverse and thriving arts community as well as a strategic partner in creating an open, inclusive, and vibrant place for artists, arts organizations, residents, businesses, and tourists. Macon Arts Alliance is the designated local arts agency of Macon-Bibb County.