Hilltop Artists’ Executive Director, Dr. Kimberly Keith, Receives Inaugural Sabbatical Leadership Award

Hilltop Artists is excited to announce that Executive Director Dr. Kimberly Keith is among the awardees of the BIPOC ED Coalition Washington State’s inaugural Sabbatical Leadership Award. Dr. Keith is among a cohort of 32 BIPOC leaders from across Washington state—all of whom have compassionately served their communities for decades—who are able to embark on the next phase of their leadership journeys to experience rest, renewal, and restoration.

“We believe that investing in these leaders is an investment in the futures of our communities,” offered Victoria Santos, co-founder and co-executive director of the BIPOC ED Coalition Washington State. “Our dream is that every nonprofit can be supported to include wellness sabbaticals as part of their organizational management strategy, that sabbaticals become the norm—not just in Washington, but across the country.”

When asked what she plans to do on her sabbatical having served the Hilltop community so tirelessly, Kimberly expressed her desire to use the time as an opportunity to explore her own creativity. “I spend most of my time figuring out how to help others follow their creative paths, yet no time doing that for myself. My vision for a sabbatical would be to follow creative pursuits, rest, and find rejuvenation as I travel in Mexico, Northern Europe, and Scandinavia.” 

Dr. Keith will take her sabbatical from the end of March 2023 through the beginning of July 2023. Deputy Director Katy Evans and Program Director Jessica Hogan will collaboratively lead the Hilltop Artists team in Dr. Keith’s absence.

Dr. Kimberly Keith has been the Executive Director of Hilltop Artists since 2017. In that time, she has brought considerate and innovative leadership to the organization. Through her guidance, Hilltop Artists was named the 2020 Washington State Organization of the Year. 

She led the Hilltop Artists team to quickly respond to the COVID-19 crisis, launching virtual instruction and enrichment, developing a new program to engage our alumni, and delivering  thousands of art kits. Throughout the pandemic, Dr. Keith kept the entire team employed and our students engaged. Dr. Keith often shares that her staff are the organization’s most important asset and she has demonstrated this commitment by improving benefits, increasing wages, and offering regular professional and artistic development opportunities to the team.

Dr. Keith has partnered to develop new programs and opportunities for students including learning experiences around the world through Crafting the Future, Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and others. 

Kimberly represents Hilltop Artists in Glass Impact, a national coalition of nonprofit, community-focused glass organizations that collaborates to create equity and expand access to the glass arts. She partners with Graduate Tacoma’s Out of School and Summer Learning Network (OSSLN) on improving the effectiveness of after school and summer arts programming in Tacoma. Kim serves on the Pilchuck Glass School DEI Committee and is a member of the Arts & Culture Coalition of Pierce County. She is a former trustee on the board for the London-based Black Cultural Archives and a current trustee for the Tacoma Community College Foundation.

For more information on the Sabbatical Leadership Award and the BIPOC ED Coalition Washington State, visit https://bipocedcoalitionwa.org/.

Photographs courtesy of Graduate Tacoma.