Urban Unrest

26 November 2007 | Business | Ernesto Aguilar

From the release:

The Ford foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Jenny Toomey as its new Program Officer for Media and Cultural Policy in the Media, Arts and Culture Unit. After a six-month search which garnered 141 applicants and a rigorous review process headed by The Burgess Group, a New York-based search firm, five final candidates were individually interviewed by a select committee including Ford Foundation Regional Office Representatives, and New York Program based Directors and Program Officers. The Interview committee agreed on the recommendation of Ms. Jenny Toomey for the position and the recommendation was approved by the Vice President of the Knowledge, Creativity and Freedom Division, Alison Bernstein, and Ford Foundation President, Susan Beresford.

Jenny Toomey joins the Ford Foundation on January 14, 2008 after a distinguished career as the Executive Director and co-founder of the Future Music Coalition. The Future Music Coalition is dedicated to understanding the complex and shifting intersection of art, policy, media, technology and law in an effort to bring the diverse voices of artists and creators to the table of policy and legislative decisions affecting the ownership, distribution and uses of cultural products.

During Jenny’s seven years with FMC she has written numerous articles and op-eds, and helped build a valuable organization in the media and cultural policy field. Her writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The Village Voice, Alternative Press, Washington City Paper, Might, Ray Gun, the Boston Phoenix, Wired News, The Nation, Spin, and Grant makers in the Arts Reader—to name a few.

Colleagues in the field often spoke about Jenny’s unique and intuitive sense of the policy issues facing media and artists today. They emphasized her “willingness to collaboratively solve problems” as one of her strongest qualities. Repeatedly her “ability to build partnerships, speak to many different kinds of people and translate their concerns so that their voices could be heard” was expressed as one of her greatest strengths.

We look forward to Jenny’s future contribution to the long history of Ford Foundation work in the fields of Media and the Arts, and are excited about how her strength, collaborative skills, passion and intelligence will advance the important work of Ford Foundation in this critical field. We ask for your patience and help as she makes the transition.

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