WELCOME NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Kat DuFault Melissa Edmon Slotnick
Millay Arts is pleased to announce out two newest Board members,
both of whom were integral to the success of our
50th Anniversary Gala last September!
British-born Katharine Dufault is a New York Times-reviewed artist, curator, visual arts consultant and educator. She regularly exhibits her work and has been in numerous shows in New York City, Boston, Hudson, Westchester county, Berkshire county, Ohio, Connecticut, and Cambridge, England. Dufault’s work is included in many corporate and private collections. Dufault lives and works in the Berkshires, MA, USA.
“I am thrilled to join the Millay Board and excited to use my deep knowledge of the arts and arts community (local and NYC) for initiatives to further the mission of this wonderful residency.”
Melissa Edmon Slotnick is a San Francisco native with a lifelong passion for the arts. Melissa was classically trained as a dancer at the San Francisco Ballet and as a young woman found her passion in flamenco under the tutelage of Rosa Montoya in SF and Ricardo el Veneno in Madrid. Melissa pursued dance throughout her studies as a member of the Vassar College Repertory Dance Theater and at Bard College under Aileen Passloff and later graduated from Vassar with a BA in Latin American Studies. After Vassar, Melissa received a MA with distinction in International Law and Economics at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Melissa studied abroad in Spain, Mexico and Italy during her academic career and speaks Spanish fluently. Melissa’s Mexican-American heritage and formative years spent with family in rural Mexico instilled a deep commitment to fostering understanding between people and cultures that Melissa pursued for her professional life. She was a dedicated public servant serving in the federal government for 20 years in the fields of national security, immigration and international affairs. Melissa was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, and served as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). She was then tabbed to establish the first International Affairs Office of the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Former US Ambassador to Honduras Cresencio Arcos and supported Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Deputy Secretary Jim Loy in international affairs, where among other things Melissa worked to develop border accord agreements with Mexico and Canada. Melissa supported Secretary Ridge and DHS in G7 Summit Meetings. She finished her career in DC as the Deputy Director of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (the organization responsible for nonimmigrant students studying in the US and for the schools that host them). Melissa brings a wealth of organizational, leadership and diplomacy skills. She now is serving the communities in which she lives in Brooklyn and Austerlitz. Melissa is a long-time patron of the arts and is a fervid believer in the beauty, power and importance of community as we all navigate this changing world.
“I am so pleased and proud to join the Board of Millay Arts and look forward to helping to support the residency and its evolution into the next 50 years!”