AVA Gallery and Art Center Appoints Shari Boraz as Executive Director

Lebanon, NH (November 15, 2021)

Contact:         Alan DiStasio, Chair, AVA Board of Directors

[email protected]  603-359-1068

The Board of Directors of AVA Gallery and Art Center today announced the appointment of Shari Boraz as AVA’s new Executive Director.  AVA’s Board Chair, Alan DiStasio stated: “Shari brings a deep background in organizational management, communications and community engagement ranging from collaborating with local businesses, to fundraising and volunteer programming. She combines an artist’s spirit with a practical eye for leading AVA’s advancement as a creative hub for art and artists in the Upper Valley.”

Shari’s resume includes experience developing and overseeing volunteer and public relations programs for several nonprofit organizations where she excelled at community engagement.  In her many roles within the development programs of Dartmouth College and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Shari has had significant responsibility for maintaining effective internal and external relationships. She is well known in the community, having served for more than ten years on the Board of the Children’s Center of the Upper Valley.

As an artist and nonprofit management professional, Shari credits AVA with profoundly enhancing the overall quality of life in the Upper Valley. She describes the Executive Director role at AVA as her “dream job, in which she can apply her community-building and leadership skills to programming in the arts, from the galleries to the classrooms.”

Shari is an established fabric artist whose work has been exhibited in juried and invitational exhibitions across the country and abroad, including the League of NH Craftsmen in Meredith, NH, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. While her primary medium is hand embroidery, she also dyes and embroiders fabric. She is a member of the Surface Design Association, Women’s Caucus for Art /NH, the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, AVA Gallery and Art Center, and the New Hampshire Art Association. Shari has both taught and exhibited at AVA.

A Welcome Reception for Shari will take place on Thursday, December 2nd from 4 – 7 pm at AVA Gallery and Art Center, 11 Bank Street in Lebanon.  All are welcome!