‘Phenomenal Women’

Council honors 6 for their devotion to art and culture

Unlike the word “great” or even “awesome,” the word “phenomenal” is saved for people and events we consider extraordinary.

But there’s also an experiential definition of phenomenal, too, having to do with what’s perceptible by the senses or through immediate experience. And both of those ideas fit the “Phenomenal Women” being honored by the the Arts Council of Greater New Haven on Friday at the New Haven Lawn Club.

So arts and civic leaders will gather at 11 a.m. for the annual Arts Council reception and luncheon Friday with the theme of “Phenomenal Women.” They will honor six people, chosen by a nine-person jury that includes arts leader Helen Kauder and local media personality Jocelyn Mamina.

“In spite of ongoing threats, women are rising as always,” said juror Jules Larson in an Arts Council release. “Across the cultural landscape, we’re seeing marginalized peoples take on power structures that have created inequitable social and economic standards for working class women, women of color, trans women, gay and queer women, neurodivergent women, young women and senior women. This

“In spite of ongoing threats, women are rising as always.”

Jules Larson, awards juror

December, we’ll pay homage to them.”

(In case you’re wondering, as we were, what “neurodivergent women” means, it is defined as women with neurological differences, such as those with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and on the autistic spectrum.) The honorees are:

1 U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, being given the C. Newton Schenck III Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contribution to the Arts. DeLauro is hailed as a steadfast champion of arts, culture and community; she has been a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus for over two decades and been vocal in her support for the National Endowment of the Arts and arts education in schools.

1 Jackie Downing is director of grantmaking and nonprofit effectiveness at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, but her tradition of nurturing arts, culture, and community in Greater New Haven goes decades back, the council notes. Earlier in her career, she worked to promote the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Dixwell Community “Q” House, Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund and the town of Hamden, among others. And she’s been an actor, producer and stage manager with the Whitney Players.

1 Hanan Hameen, daughter of local jazz legend Jesse Hameen II, is an artist, activist and longtime arts leader in New Haven. She founded the Artsucation Academy Network in 2005 to provide youth with passion, drive and creative leadership skills. She founded and directs Ms. Hanan’s Dance and Beyond, she’s director of Neighborhood Music School’s Premiere Dance Company, artistic director of the Healing Drum Society and a support group facilitator for the Lupus Foundation of America.

1 Ruby Melton, retired deputy general counsel for Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy, has been a steadfast supporter of the arts for decades, serving on the boards of Long Wharf Theatre, the Shubert Theatre, National Council for the American Theatre, International Festival of Arts & Ideas and others. She has taken a hands-on approach to the arts in New Haven, extending her expertise to mentorship initiatives with high school students in the city. She is, as Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame Director Sarah Lubarsky put it, a phenomenal calm in the storm.

1 Elinor Slomba, founder of Arts Interstices and Verge Arts Group, has made arts and culture a personal mission. After arriving in New Haven over a decade ago, she served as director for the city’s Project Storefronts program, adding the “Made In New Haven” initiative to her wheelhouse in 2016. She has served as cultural point person and curator with The Future Project, The Grove, Artspace New Haven and the New Haven Museum, curating “Old School Ink: New Haven Tattoos” at the museum in 2017.

1 Hanifa Nayo Washington is a healer, truth-teller, producer and weaver of community stories, says the council release. An Inspiring Equity Arts Fellow with the William Casper Graustein Memorial Fund, she is the curator of a semi-monthly “Lit Happy Hour” series and program director of The Word. She began her work as a cultural activist early — first solving socio-politics conflicts with the Peace Corps in Russia, then with education and outreach at Solar Youth, Maine’s Preble Street Teen Center, food cooperatives and farm exchanges, Amistad America, and public schools in Austin, Texas. She also produced Toto Kisaku’s “Requiem for an Electric Chair” at June’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

The Arts Council also has announced two new commissions that will be presented at the luncheon, both sponsored by Metropolitan Interactive. The first is a design by modern quilter Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill and the other is a performance by choreographer and awardee Hameen and NMS Premiere Dance Company.

Courtesy of Lotta Studio Honorees of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven are, clockwise from bottom center, Hanan Hameen, Jackie Downing, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Ruby Melton, Elinor Slomba and Hanifa Nayo.