KYC Board Member Cary Clarke
Just days after we announced welcoming Cameron Whitten to our board – we warmly welcome another new board member – Cary Clarke. Clarke – most recently the Arts & Culture Policy Coordinator for the City of Portland under Mayor Sam Adams – was also co-founder of PDX Pop Now!, an all ages music advocacy nonprofit, and has experience in the education field.
Cary has been a participant and moderator at previous KYC programs (including this fantastic interview with singer Calvin Johnson), and a great ambassador for KYC. Cary was nice enough to take the time to answer a few questions for our blog…
What speaks to you about Know Your City’s programs?
There are few things more important to the health of a city than a population that feels invested in that health. History and culture are critical avenues to involvement in one’s city, and Know Your City is producing entertaining, important programming that engages a broad swath of Portlanders in the story of their town. Since I moved to Portland in 2002, I have been drawn to projects that facilitate the connection between Portlanders and their local culture, and Know Your City is a gem in that tradition.
What do you hope to gain from being on the Know Your City board?
I have greatly enjoyed past nonprofit board service, and feel that since I last served on a board I have acquired additional experience that would be satisfying to bring to bear in a board context. I’d be looking forward to getting to know the organization – and Portland – even better.
Where do you see Know Your City in the next several years? How can we improve? What role do you see yourself playing in our growth?
I’ve been very impressed by what KYC has accomplished in a relatively short stretch of time. I think that there’s a great deal of potential for strengthening what’s already working as well as building upon it. Continuing to develop collaborative relationships with programming and grantmaking organizations is a natural course, and increasing KYC visibility to populations not yet familiar with it is an exciting opportunity ahead.
What is your favorite program that Know Your City has done and why?
With a background in and passion for local music, I’m naturally biased to KYC/DPC’s past programming around the history of Portland music. I am very interested in the KYC app, the continuing Oregon History Comics series, as well as several of the out-of-city tours I was unable to participate in. As a former middle school teacher, I’m also encouraged to hear of the growing
One idea I have for future Know Your City programming:
Here’s a few:
- Wapato Jail field trip/exploration of Oregon/Portland corrections/prison system
- Closed/defunct/destroyed cultural venues featuring site-specific arts programming done by their previous curators
- Getting to know 82nd Ave.
Thanks Cary, and welcome! For more on our board, visit “Who We Are“.
