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Renee is  director of Community Art Works (formerly Art with a Mission Charlottesville), an organization dedicated to community, diversity and individual growth through creative expression, opening opportunities to children who have limited access to the arts. Creativity is the freest form of self expression, the techniques and materials are the vocabulary where, through the artistic process, we find our own voice. Through the creative process we learn about ourselves and others, celebrating the uniqueness and diversity while learning how to test ideas, take risks and develop critical thinking.

 

Renee has the unique combination of being an extremely talented creative artist and a highly organized, committed community organizer in the service of the creative arts. She derives great satisfaction and fulfillment from ensuring that all have access to art education as a means of evolving consciousness.

 

She has shown how the arts can be an effective means to make a difference locally, as well as in communitites as far reaching as Kigali, Rwanda. She has had outstanding success in arts fundraising and organizing on behalf of children and art education. Her respect for the innate creativity of all people provides the basis for her long-term success.