Lu Zhang is a familiar, friendly face to many of us in the Baltimore art scene. Longtime BmoreArt subscribers might recognize Zhang as the artist on the cover of our first ever print issue back in 2015! Among many other feats as an artist, administrator, and organizer, Zhang helped nurture The Contemporary through its first hiatus comeback in her position as Deputy Director under the collaborative leadership of Deana Haggag.
For the past few years, Zhang has been serving as the Initiatives Director of United States Artists, the national nonprofit to which several of The Contemporary’s staff members followed Haggag when she served as President from 2017-2021.
Now, Zhang is bringing her years of arts administration and hands-on creative experience to a new organization as it enters a new chapter.
“I never aspired to be an Executive Director!” Zhang confessed in a recent phone call. “I work in the arts because I want to be in conversation with artists and build resources to support them. I don’t want to be further removed from working with artists on a day to day basis.”
She explains that, at A Blade of Grass, they have an all artist and art-worker board. “It’s a different model from most institutions,” she says. “I’m excited to not only be in conversation with artists and arts workers but to reestablish the organization through an artist lens.”
Importantly, she noted, those working artists and in-the-field culture workers on the Board of Directors actually receive an honorarium for their time and energy—bringing in the voices best positioned to guide the organization’s work. I pointed out that’s a far cry from the pay-to-play model that all-too-often defines nonprofit leadership, in which wealthy donors dominate much of the decision making.
Through the phone I could picture Zhang trying not to crack one of her characteristic grins as she diplomatically clarified, “I’d frame it as this model is more accessible to the people—the artists—who the organization aims to support.”
