Tamarack Foundation for the Arts is proud to announce the hire of new Executive Director Renee Margocee. For the past 14 years, the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts has worked to build the creative economy of West Virginia by giving all visual, design and media artists the support they need to succeed. After dedicating her career to working in the arts across West Virginia, Margocee’s experience and expertise will continue to propel the Tamarack Foundation forward as it works to provide the resources and support artists need to grow their creative businesses in West Virginia.
Margocee comes to the Foundation after most recently serving as the Director of Arts for the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
“We are thrilled to have Renee join the team as our new Executive Director,” said Nikki Bowman, Board Chair of the Tamarack Foundation. “Renee’s established connections with artists across West Virginia, her expertise in arts advocacy and her deep understanding of our state’s creative economy will be an enormous asset to the Foundation moving forward.”
Margocee succeeds Alissa Novoselick who served for two years as executive director. Novoselick oversaw a comprehensive branding transition, as well as policy and outreach initiatives that were integral to the success of the foundation and the betterment of the creative economy in West Virginia as a whole. Novoselick will continue her career in arts administration as executive director of the Detroit-based nonprofit, Living Arts, in her home state of Michigan.
As an artist herself, Margocee understands firsthand what it’s like to work and live as a creative in the Mountain State. A graduate of Marshall University, Margocee studied English Literature and then later studied ceramics at West Virginia University. She received additional arts education at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft in Tennessee and the Haystack School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine. After completing her schooling, she established her first ceramics studio in Elkins, West Virginia and later established Clay Place in 1996, Charleston’s first open clay studio located at Taylor Books.
A native of the southern coalfields of West Virginia, Margocee’s diverse work background includes museum restoration, long-term engagements as a teaching artist in public schools and working in community pottery in Helvetia, West Virginia. She was among the first artisans to make work for Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia. Margocee has held multiple leadership positions in the arts industry including serving as a member of the Board of Directors at the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts, an ex-officio member of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, a member the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and as a State Arts Agency Representative for the National Endowment for the Arts.
“In my new role at the Tamarack Foundation, I am able to bring my experience working with artists and creative entrepreneurs across the state,” Margocee said. “And thankfully, my service on the Board of Directors at the foundation has given me the privilege of establishing strong working relationships with the foundation’s passionate staff, dedicated board, and expansive statewide network.”
Adding, “This is a key moment for the creative economy in West Virginia. Given the state’s current economic climate, I believe more than ever we must foster strength and provide resources to our artists and creative entrepreneurs, a vital part of our state’s economy and heritage.”
For more information, please visit tamarackfoundation.org.
