What degree does a Director need?: Shane Prada
In the 17th episode of Perceived Value, host Sarah Rachel Brown travels to Baltimore, MD for the JV Collective's opening reception of Sirens taking place in the Baltimore Jewelry Center's Gallery. Much like Munich Jewellery Week, Sarah is set up in the gallery with her microphones and spends the evening interviewing staff members and artists with close ties to the BJC.
For her first interview, Sarah sits down with the Director of the Baltimore Jewelry Center, Shane Prada. The two women discuss what it's like to start a charter school, how Shane came to be involved with the BJC, and what a director of a nonprofit actually does.
Shane Prada is the Director of the Baltimore Jewelry Center. Prior to her work at the Baltimore Jewelry Center, Shane was an educator and school leader in Baltimore for 12 years. She came to Baltimore in 2004 as a Teach For America corps member. After receiving her Master of Arts in Teaching from JHU in 2006 and completing her TFA tenure, she helped start the Green School of Baltimore, one of the first charter schools in Baltimore city. In 2010, Shane began taking evening classes at MICA’s Jewelry Center, then a continuing studies program. She fell in love with art jewelry and metalsmithing and the community fostered by the Jewelry Center. In the fall of 2012, MICA announced that it would discontinue the 22-year old Jewelry Center program in 2014. In the spring of 2013, Shane took the lead of a group of core MICA faculty and students who sought to create a new organization that would continue the legacy of the MICA Jewelry Center. She has held the role of director of the Baltimore Jewelry Center since the organization opened in June 2014. In addition to making jewelry and small sculpture whenever she can, Shane is an avid equestrian and bibliophile.
Instagram: @shanejuliaprada
The Baltimore Jewelry Center
The Baltimore Jewelry Center is an educational nonprofit building a vibrant creative community for the study and practice of metalsmithing and art jewelry. We educate and inspire new and established artists, as well as promote metalsmithing and art jewelry to the general public through exhibitions, community and educational outreach.
baltimorejewelrycenter.org
Instagram: @baltimorejewelrycenter
