Bringing Conservation to Younger Audiences: Holly Maxson Conservation Grantees on Outreach

Joanna spent five years exploring the different specialties of conservation before specializing in paper conservation with a minor in photograph conservation in graduate school. She received an MS in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) and a BA in Art History from Boston University. She has since interned at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Weissman Preservation Center, and the American Philosophical Society. Joanna is currently working as an Associate Paper Conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts and as an Adjunct Instructor for WUDPAC.

As CCAHA's Education Program Manager, Greg Stuart (he/they) is responsible for connecting CCAHA's virtual and in-person audiences to engaging educational programs, tours, and written resources, bringing preservation awareness to cultural heritage professionals in the Mid-Atlantic region, nationwide, and internationally. Greg develops and plans preventive conservation training and teaches workshops on the care and handling of paper artifacts.

Prior to working at the CCAHA, Greg was the Coordinator of Adult Public Programs and Museum Educator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They have also worked in education and public programs roles at the Samek Art Museum, a program of Bucknell University, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Portland Art Museum. Greg has taught art history and museum studies courses at Portland State University, Concordia University, Portland, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He holds an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA in Art History and English from Loyola University, Chicago.  

Professionally, Nylah is the Assistant Conservator of Objects & Program Assistant at Balboa Art Conservation Center. She received her M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/ University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2022 and her B.A. with Honors in Archaeology from Stanford University in 2018. She is currently a Core Group member of the AIC Ethics Core Documents Revision Task Force and a founding member of the Black Art Conservators group. Her research interests include equity and inclusion in conservation, preserving ephemera, and fabrication of inorganic objects. Nylah is particularly passionate about public engagement and community connections within art conservation and cultural heritage institutions in the United States.

Leticia Gomez Franco (she/her/ella) is the Executive Director of the Balboa Art Conservation Center. Her work is rooted in the intersection of culture, representation and social justice, all values that play a role in her position at BACC where she is collaboratively leading the 50 year old organization, through a transformative shift into a radically inclusive art conservation nonprofit. She previously served as Senior Arts and Culture Funding Manager for the City of San Diego where she led the City’s arts and culture funding program, oversaw the development and implementation of professional development, technical assistance and capacity building for arts organizations. Before that, she was co-founder and Director of Casa Familiar’s The Front Arte & Cultura, where she oversaw development and program management for multiple border art spaces as well as headed a rigorous and culturally conscious exhibition calendar with a commitment to local arts, representation, and community empowerment.  Leticia is a first-generation college graduate born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from Tepatitlan Jalisco, Mexico and raised in Pico Union/South Central L.A. She holds a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in English and Chicana/o Studies and a M.A. in Curatorial Theory from San Diego State University’s Liberal Arts & Sciences Program. She is also a two-time fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture (NALAC). Leticia remains steadfast in her commitment to use her experience in arts administration and community activism to increase access to the arts for all.