About Me

Kathryn Slocum has 25 years experience working for cultural and educational organizations in fundraising and development capacities. Currently, she is the Development Director for the Architectural League of New York, dedicated to advancing the art of architecture.

Previously, she was Director of External Affairs for the Salvadori Center (2001-2010). Highlights included instituting an annual appeal program, the awarding of a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and organizing three of the Center’s most successful benefits ever--each netting over $500,000.

Before that, Kathryn was an independent development consultant. Services included prospect research and analysis, design and implementation of fundraising plans, grant proposal preparation, and board development. Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, New York Hall of Science, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Parsons School of Design and the New Museum of Contemporary Art were among her many clients. From 1999–2002, Kathryn was the consulting Director of External Affairs for MASS MoCA, a cutting-edge arts center in North Adams, Massachusetts, where she secured a $5 million economic development grant/loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and initiated a $4 million individual giving campaign. From 2005–2008, she served as the project director of a national collaboration between the Institute of Classical Architecture and Habitat for Humanity, matching up architects with Habitat affiliates throughout the country in an effort to raise the design quality of affordable housing.

Before becoming a consultant, Kathryn was Director of Foundation and Government Relations at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers (1992-99). She secured extensive funding for Yonkers’ nationally recognized museum magnet schools, helped spearhead a capital campaign, and obtained several six-figure grants for the museum. During this time, Kathryn also completed freelance grant proposals for the Whitney Museum of American Art and Carnegie Hall.

Kathryn’s interest in cultural organizations was sparked by a summer internship at a living history museum then owned by Earlham College, where she received her B.A. in English in 1978. Upon graduation, this museum—Conner Prairie Pioneer Settlement—hired her to be its Manager of Community Relations. After that, she spent five years as Assistant Director of Public Relations at the Art Institute of Chicago, and subsequently, as Director of Community Relations at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca NY, and Assistant Director of Development at the Municipal Art Society, New York.

Active in community affairs, Kathryn is on the Executive Committee of the board of Greater Hudson Heritage Network of Historical Agencies & Museums. She also serves on the boards of Jazz Forum Arts. Previously, she was co-president of the Rivertowns Arts Council, and was a board member of the Dobbs Ferry Schools Foundation. In 2007 and 2008, she served as a panelist for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts’ Institutional & Financial Stabilization Grants.