W E L C O M E.
You’ve found me.
If you haven’t yet signed up on the mailing list for updates, I hope you’ll do so now so that you don’t miss invitations.
I’m a Philadelphia-based non-profit and small business executive with a 25-year award-winning career working in social justice, arts, media, and environmental spheres. I am also a volunteer state co-coordinator with the political depolarization organization Braver Angels, and an Arts Fellow and Board Member with the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.
In response to a climate of self-censorship and degraded discourse in our broader culture, I founded the print journal Root Quarterly, which was named a Best New Magazine by Library Journal when it launched in 2019. RQ is also a community of curiosity who believes in the power of art and ideas to bring people together to celebrate our common humanity; it features artwork, cultural criticism, reviews, essays, artist profiles, and more. We are rooted in the Mid-Atlantic region, but reach beyond and are proud to have subscribers throughout the country.
RQ is a first-round grantee of the Mercatus Center's Pluralism and Civil Exchange Program, and we are currently putting together plans to train subscribers and other community members with techniques from the Constructive Dialogue Institute and will be launching more discussion-based events this year.
In other artistic endeavors, I’m an award-winning singer-songwriter who leads the folk-noir band Sweetbriar Rose, a cellist, an essayist, and a theater producer. Our next record, “Black-eyed Susan” is ready to be mastered and go out into the world in late 2024.
Through my company, Red Pen Arts, I’ve most recently served as the founding executive director for an amazing initiative called Jazz Philadelphia, which celebrates Philadelphia as a world-class jazz destination. If you're looking for help with small business planning, nonprofit strategy, or communications work please send me a message through the contact page.
Happy listening and exploring…
Cheers,
Heather
Live performance from Sweetbriar Rose at the Church of St. Albans in a featured performance for the Philadelphia Folk Song Society!
"This is How"