Organizational History
The Art Connection in the Capital Region (ACCR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization formed in 2004 to expand public access to visual art within underserved communities throughout the Greater Metropolitan Washington, DC area.
ACCR is modeled after the success of the former Art Connection, an organization founded in Boston in 1995 by the late Fay Chandler, a prolific artist who had been working there since the early 1970s. As Fay considered what would happen to her unsold inventory of work, a concern shared by many artists, she became convinced that donating the work to public, charitable, and educational groups in the community that lacked funds to purchase art would be the best result. Until its closing in early 2020, the Art Connection connected artists and collectors to nonprofit agencies and facilitated the donation of thousands of works of art. In addition, it encouraged the development of similar art donation and placement programs throughout the country through its expansion efforts.
To date, ACCR has partnered with over one hundred community service organizations throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Northern Virginia in the delivery of its mission, and made thousands of pieces of art available for placement. Through our efforts, we have inspired dialogue, creativity, healing, and learning by introducing artwork into nonprofit community environments. We have witnessed firsthand the transformative effects that artwork has on the lives of residents, clients, and staff, and are very proud of the individuals and communities we have empowered through our programming.
Board of Directors
![]() | Daniel P. KelliherPresidentDaniel Kelliher is the managing member of Kelliher & Salzer, LLC, a law firm with offices in Columbia, Maryland and New Orleans, Louisiana which focuses on commercial real estate transactions. Mr. Kelliher has been on the board of ACCR since 2004. In addition to being on the ACCR board, Mr. Kelliher also serves on the board of Community Homes Housing, Inc., a non-profit in Columbia, Maryland which owns affordable housing sites in Columbia. “I will always be thankful that my colleague, Cindy Stewart, offered me an opportunity to become involved with ACCR. I have learned so much from the non-profits where we have done placements, about the communities which they serve, and the great work that is being accomplished. I am consistently humbled by the talent, passion and great generosity of the artists who have agreed to donate their work to deserving non-profits. I am excited that ACCR continues to increase the number of placements it can accomplish and I am confidant that these placements will have a significant impact on the people served by our non-profit recipients.” |
![]() | Ashby D. AndersonVice President
Ashby has been an English teacher for nearly two decades, starting his teaching career in New England. He taught Middle and Upper School English at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, beginning in 2001. In addition, he served as the Head Coach for the school’s JV tennis team, coached ice hockey, and founded the school’s squash program.
Ashby has actively collected art for over thirty years, acquiring his first painting—a portrait by Connecticut artist William Sherman Potts—at the age of ten. Influenced by his seafaring hometown of Noank, Connecticut, and his family’s long connection to the ocean, Ashby began collecting Connecticut marine paintings and developed a broad knowledge of New England’s renowned artist colonies of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. His personal collection includes paintings by Reynolds Beal, Charles Harold Davis, Carl Lawless, Lars Thorsen, and George Albert Thompson.
Ashby has worked for several New England institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Mystic Seaport Museum, the Florence Griswold Museum, and the auction house Skinner, Inc. Ashby holds a M.A.L.S. from Dartmouth College and a BA from St. Lawrence University.
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![]() | Susan KimSecretary
Susan Kim is a freelance journalist who writes and edits for the World Council of Churches, Mennonite Disaster Service, and The Business Monthly newspaper. Ms. Kim has appeared in Baltimore's Stoop Storytelling Series three times, twice on Baltimore's Center Stage and once at the Columbia Festival of the Arts in Howard County, MD. She earned a Master's in Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Maryland.
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![]() | Matthew SonneTreasurerMatt Sonne is a Vice President in Jones Lang LaSalle’s Corporate Accounts team for the Mid-Atlantic region. Mr. Sonne currently acts as the account manager and lead transaction manager for the Lockheed Martin Account in representing their real estate requirements throughout the world. He is responsible for managing and overseeing the operations of the account team, client communications, and execution and negotiation of transactions. Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr. Sonne was a project manager and environmental scientist at Dames & Moore Group. Mr. Sonne executed and managed environmental due diligence projects, compliance audits, and remediation projects for real estate developers, lending institutions, and corporate clients. |
![]() | Monica Tucker-HarleyMonica Tucker-Harley is a museum professional turned Navy spouse and expert cross-country road trip planner who resides in Northern Virginia with her husband and two children. She holds a BA in Anthropology and MA in Museum Studies, both from San Francisco State University where she also taught as a guest lecturer. Though most of her professional career was spent as a Museum Collections Manager, she has also done work in the field as a Curator, Historical Interpreter, Development Manager, and Grant Writer. Monica proudly served on committees within the California Museum Association and American Association of Museums Registrar’s Committee, as well as Vice President of the community arts organization Works/San Jose. |
![]() | Cynthia RivardeFounding Member/Board MemberCynthia Rivarde serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Rockville Economic Development, Inc. She was a co-founder of the Art Connection in the Capital Region, and served as President from 2003-2007 and President Pro Tem from 2007-2009. In addition to a JD, she holds an MFA in Painting from Towson University and a BA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in Visual Art and Dramatic Art. To learn more about Cindy and to view her artwork, please visit: www.cindyrivarde.com
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![]() | Alpine Chandler BirdFounding Member/EmeritusAlpine Bird’s interest in arts and healthcare began in high school as a candy striper at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She earned her BA in Italian Literature at Brown University with a minor in Art. She taught a year at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA, graduated from their Teacher Training Program and earned her Massachusetts teaching credentials as an Art Specialist. She became a full time art teacher at the Maret School in Washington, DC (grades 2-12) for 4 years. She pursued ceramics at Montgomery College and later taught classes to neighborhood children in her home and as a volunteer in public and private schools. She has studied with Joan Kellogg at the Mandala Assessment and Research Institute, with Mona Brooks at the National Learning Center, has taken courses in Art Therapy at George Washington University. She is also certified as a yoga teacher and in Level 1 for both Reiki and Cranial Sacral work. As a teacher Alpine searched for ways to engage children who doubted their “artistic ability”, motivating them to trust their ability to learn to visually communicate their unique, ever-changing viewpoints and feelings. Alpine embraced a similar challenge working with diverse adults in a hospital setting through her position as a Smith Center Artist-in-Residence at Washington Hospital Center. During the seven years she volunteered in the cancer wards, she worked bedside, in the waiting rooms and in infusion chemotherapy labs with patients, family and friends to help them to express themselves visually and by using art materials. Alpine is a founding member of ACCR’s Board of Trustees and is the daughter of the late Fay Chandler, The Art Connection’s founder.
Why I became interested in ACCR, in the words of Alpine: "Over the years, I watched the Art Connection grow from an idea in my mother’s mind into an organized mission that provided lasting showcases and appreciative audiences for unsold original artwork while simultaneously enlivening the surroundings of the underserved. I witnessed attitudes and even behaviors change as non-profit staff became involved in the process, as clients discussed the work on their walls and as artists responded to the appreciation their work generated. As I watched, I became a believer in both the healing power of art and in the ability of people to help each other through its appreciation and, in doing so, to sometimes discover surprising new viewpoints, new energy and new interest in life. I was hooked."
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![]() | Shanti NorrisFounding Member/Emeritus
Shanti Norris is a Co-Founder and the former Executive Director of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC. She initiated the Smith Center hospital Artist-in-Residence program and the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery and the Art Advisory. She operated the Smith Center weeklong retreats for people with cancer, and oversaw new initiatives, including the Faith-based Community Navigation project at Smith Center and The Art Advisory. She established the Smith Center Wounded Warrior Arts Program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She created the citywide 9/11 Arts Project on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and helped create the first National Summit: Arts in Healing for Warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
She is a former board member of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare (now Global Alliance for Arts and Health) and Chaired their Annual Conference in 2004. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare. She is a founding board member of the Art Connection in the Capital Region and a founding member of the National Arts in Healthcare Advocates. She is a member of ArtTable, the mother of three adult children, and is a painter and sculptor. She has taught meditation, yoga philosophy and stress reduction for over 35 years and underwent a formal ten-year mentorship with a renowned yoga master. |
Staff
![]() | Julie Ann CavnorExecutive DirectorJulie Ann Cavnor has served as the Executive Director of the Art Connection in the Capital Region (ACCR) since her appointment in 2010. Before joining ACCR, Ms. Cavnor served for seven years as the Executive Director of Maryland Art Place (MAP)--a respected center for contemporary art in Baltimore City, established in 1981 to provide exhibition and educational opportunities to artists, curators, and arts writers at all stages of their careers. Prior to this position, she served as the Assistant Director of MAP for five years. Throughout her career, Ms. Cavnor has worked in various capacities in museums, alternative art spaces and commercial galleries on both the East and West coasts, and possesses extensive programmatic, curatorial, and arts management experience. She holds a Masters degree in Arts Administration and Public History from the American University, Washington, DC.
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Contact Us
For more information about The Art Connection in the Capital Region, please contact us through the following:
General Mail Inquiries:
Art Connection in the Capital Region
1632 U Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Mailing Address for Nonprofit Applications/Donor Paperwork:
The Art Connection in the Capital Region
P.O. Box 5609
Baltimore, MD 21210
Email: info@artconnection-cr.org
Phone: (202) 536-2607