ART FOR ALL: a celebration of community creativity featuring the 31st Founder's Award honoring Dr. Constance E. Clayton

Honorary Co-Chairs:
Gail Harrity
Nicole Allen White

Fleisher Art Memorial is proud to honor Dr. Constance E. Clayton with the 31st Founder’s Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made a significant commitment to providing access to the arts, promoting excellence in creative expression, and enriching Philadelphia’s cultural resources.

Dr. Clayton is a renowned educator, civic leader, and arts advocate with an unwavering commitment to helping children succeed. Among her many achievements, Dr. Clayton was the first African American and the first woman to lead the School District of Philadelphia. She served as superintendent for 11 years before she retired in 1993. Since her retirement, Dr. Clayton has made a remarkable impact on the arts. She served on the board of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and established the Constance E. Clayton Fellowship, which provides African American scholars with an opportunity to gain experience at the museum in preparation for a career as a curator or educator. In 2019, Dr. Clayton contributed more than 70 works to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, on view in the exhibition Awakened in You, accessible to thousands of Philadelphia schoolchildren and inspiring future artists, collectors, and museum audiences with work that speaks to the human experience.

We invite you to make a gift to Fleisher in honor of Dr. Clayton’s pioneering work and in celebration of the imaginations of Philadelphia’s young artists. Contributions will be acknowledged with the Constance E. Clayton Leadership Award, an annual paid internship at Fleisher for a Philadelphia teen artist to support professional experience in the creative workforce. Your gift will be a meaningful tribute to Dr. Clayton, and will further Fleisher’s work to help thousands of talented Philadelphia children achieve their full creative potential.

In honor of Dr. Clayton, Fleisher will present a vibrant exhibition of the work created by Philadelphia’s young artists at Cherry Street Pier on the Delaware River Waterfront in July 2021. We hope at that time it will be safe for our community to visit the exhibition and celebrate the creative achievements of hundreds of children from neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia. The health and well-being of Fleisher’s vibrant community of supporters and artists remain the top priority and will continue to inform decision-making around the young artists’ exhibition.

Questions? Contact Catherine Lee, Director of Development, at clee@fleisher.org.

Make a Donation Corporate Sponsorship

Event committee

  • Suzanne Sheehan Becker

  • Diane Burko

  • Marsha Moss

  • Rebecca O’Leary

  • Sharyn O’Mara

  • Anna Tas

Celebrate Fleisher! 31st Founder's Award Honoring Dr. Constance Clayton is generously supported by:

Experience

  • Jolley Bruce Christman

Sustain

  • James D. Crawford and Judith N. Dean

  • James and Keith B. Straw

  • Arnold Weiss

  • Jason Prunty and Monica Flory

Support

  • Dolan/Maxwell

  • Glenmede Trust

  • Liz Price & David Lamb

  • John & Susan Louchheim

  • Karen Melikian

  • The Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation

  • David and Louise Strawbridge

  • Judith Tannenbaum

  • Barbara Eberlein, Jerry Wind, and John Wind

  • Constance H. Williams

Believe

  • AMJ Foundation

  • Atkin Olshin Schade Architects

  • Diane Burko

  • Dennis W. Creedon

  • Helen Cunningham

  • Dani and Mike Geraci

  • Greta and Alan Greenberger

  • Gail Harrity

  • Victoria and Don Levinson

  • Marsha and Jim Moss

  • Ira Brand and Stacy Spector

Friend

  • Brooke Davis Anderson

  • William and Suzanne Sheehan Becker

  • Mark Burrows and Barbara Dove

  • Helen W. Drutt English

  • Herb and Karen Goodheart

  • Signe Wilkinson and Jon Landau

Past Recipients

  • Diane Burko, 2019

  • Dr. Carmen Febo San Miguel & Gayle Isa, 2018

  • Marsha Moss, 2017

  • Dr. Dennis W. Creedon, 2016

  • Louise Clement-Hoff, 2015

  • Helen Cunningham & Ted Newbold, 2014

  • Dina & Jerry Wind, 2013

  • Jill & Sheldon Bonovitz, 2012

  • Al West & Paige West, 2011

  • Carole Haas Gravagno, 2010

  • Louis Massiah, Pepón Osorio, & Lily Yeh, 2009

  • Peggy Amsterdam & Karen Davis, 2008

  • Anne d’Harnoncourt, 2007

  • James Nelson Kise, James Bennett Straw, & David A. Schultz, 2006

  • Frank & Betty Louchheim, 2005

  • Suzanne Fleisher Roberts, 2004

  • Dr. Luther W. Brady, Jr., 2003

  • Thora Jacobson, 2002

  • Happy Fernandez, 2001

  • Linda Lee Alter, 2000

  • Hon. Edward G. Rendell, 1999

  • Marian Locks, 1998

  • Joseph Rishel, 1997

  • Dorothy R. B. Manou & Melinda Whiting, 1996

  • Ella King Torrey, 1995

  • Helen W. Drutt English, 1994

  • Edna Andrade & William Parshall, 1993

  • Penny Balkin Bach & Jody Pinto, 1992

  • Judith Tannenbaum, 1991

  • Frank Gasparro, 1990