A Conversation with Tracie D. Hall Intersection Between Purpose and Experimental

Prior to her appointment as Director of the Joyce Foundation’s Culture Program, Tracie D. Hall served as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) for the City of Chicago where she oversaw the Arts and Creative Industries Division which included the Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Music Industry, and Farmers Market programs, as well as the Chicago Film Office.

Hall has also served as Vice President of Strategy and Organizational Development at Queens Library in New York City, one of the nation’s busiest libraries serving over 11 million users annually; at Boeing Company’s Global Corporate Citizenship Division where she worked as Community Investment Strategist for 9 US and 16 non-US  sites and later as Chicago Community Investor; as Assistant Dean of Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science; as Director of the Office for Diversity at the American Library Association; as visiting professor at Catholic, Southern Connecticut State, and Wesleyan Universities and in non-profit and public sector posts across the country.

A poet, fiction writer, and playwright, Hall is a Cave Canem fellow and the recipient of various awards and residencies for her writing, creative and community work. Holding degrees from the University of California, Yale University and the University of Washington, Hall was born and mostly raised in South Los Angeles. She is Founding Curator of experimental art space, Rootwork Gallery and continues to make time to serve on various non-profit boards and committees.

Rootwork Gallery showcases artistic expression that has healing, reconciliation, or the investigation of folk, street and indigenous cultures at its core.