Abigail Norman worked for 17 years as Executive Director of the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, Boston’s arts education organization inspiring lifelong learning in craft and creativity for all. There (with many others) she grew programs serving up to 7,000 people a year through partnerships with public schools and community centers, craft classes for all ages, creative youth development, an Artist in Residence program, summer concert series, and more, always with a quest for equity at the core.

Earlier, she coordinated participatory public art programs at Forest Hills Cemetery; wrote profiles for the Jamaica Plain Gazette; and served as Executive Director for Somerville Community Access TV (now Somerville Media Center).

Her early career, in New York City, included co-directing Women Make Movies, a pioneer in feminist filmmaking, teaching at Downtown Community Television Center, and co-producing video documentaries on anti-gay violence, poverty among the aging, and nuclear weapons in New York Harbor, among others.

She brings to Boston Art Commission a commitment to support public space that feels welcoming, celebratory, functional, safe, and inclusive, that increases the City’s livability and vibrancy; and to learn what Boston’s communities want for their public spaces: what kinds of representation and celebration make the City feel warm, lively, accepting, and representative of our broad cultures, intellects, creativity, and accomplishments.