Arts Build Communities team expanded to enhance creative placemaking

By Leonardo Vazquez

Arts Build Communities has added three new team members to provide more and better service to creative placemakers and the communities they serve.

Deborah Schulze has joined as Program Manager and Jane Wolterding as Program Associate.  Thanks to a partnership with Rutgers' Collaborative, A Center for Community-Based Learning, Service and Public Scholarship, its Principal Secretary, Stella Baldev, is providing some time to help with administrative matters.

Stella Baldevcame to Rutgers in 1988 after working more than ten years in the private sector. She was an Assistant Recorder at University College, before joining Rutgers College in 1992. In 2007, when the four undergraduate divisions merged, Stella joined Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships Program where she currently serves as Principal Secretary.  Both Arts Build Communities and The Collaborative are part of the office of Isabel Nazario, Associate Vice President for Academic and Public Partnerships in the Arts and Humanities.

Deborah Schulze has returned to Arts Build Communities, where she worked from 2009 to 2011.  She has worked in the fields of urban planning, public policy and adult education.  She has a master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and is pursuing a Master of Education degree at Montclair State University.

Jane Wolterding is a recent graduate Rutgers’ Edward J. Bloustein School, where she received a Master in City and Regional Planning. Originally from Albany, New York, she studied Geography and Art at Colgate University. Jane is passionate about the intersection of arts and planning, especially the role that the arts can play in the strengthening communities. Most recently, as Planning Intern at Looney Ricks Kiss, Inc., she aided in the creation of design guidelines and a redevelopment plan for a portion of Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey. She also managed the implementation of a pilot Vacant Lot Project initiative during her time at Grand Street Community Arts, which resulted in the reuse and transformation of two vacant lots into community arts and education spaces.  Jane is working with Arts Build Communities as a Program Associate for the summer.

Arts Build Communities provides expertise in connecting arts to economic and community development.  Learn more about Arts Build Communities