Creative Art Works announces leadership transitions

Longstanding succession plan comes to fruition following a decade of growth for the NYC creative youth development organization

January 11, 2023

New York, NY – Creative Art Works (CAW), a creative youth development nonprofit that serves thousands of NYC kids, teens, and young adults each year, has promoted Karen Jolicoeur to Executive Director. 

Jolicoeur, who joined CAW as Director of Development in 2012 and was made Deputy Director in 2017, was appointed to succeed Brian Ricklin as Executive Director, effective January 1, 2023.

Brian Ricklin, who joined CAW’s Board of Directors in 2007, and took the reins of the organization as Executive Director & CEO in 2010, will remain in a new role as President of the Board. Andrew Levin of Boston Properties will continue as Chairman of the Board.  

Jolicoeur was a key player during a decade of growth and development for the organization. During that time, CAW roughly doubled its annual budget and its core staff, diversified its program offerings and sources of support, and expanded its area of service into four boroughs. 

"Karen’s combination of business acumen, prior nonprofit work, and accomplishments in the arts made her an ideal choice when she first joined the CAW family as Director of Development,” Ricklin said. “It was the beginning of a period of planned strategic growth, and we needed somebody with Karen’s versatility and depth, someone who could not only lead but execute. Karen checked all the boxes – fundraising, program development, communications expertise, experience working with schools and community-based organizations, and passion for the work – she had it covered.”

Jolicoeur’s move to Executive Director was the fulfillment of a years-long planned succession. 

“The Board and I trust that these executive transitions will only further the sustainability of the organization,” says Ricklin. “I am personally energized to remain with CAW in this new role and to focus on external engagement and business and board development, and provide counsel and partnership on major initiatives.”

During her ten years with CAW, Jolicoeur, together with Ricklin and the Board, implemented systems across the organization to increase productivity and efficiency, reorganized and developed home office staff, worked to improve financial reporting and metrics, and grew sources of funding, including individual giving, grants and municipal funding, and the Annual Benefit for Kids, the single biggest fundraising event of the year for CAW. 

Jolicoeur, Ricklin, and Levin together with numerous stakeholders retained support for CAW during the first two and a half years of the pandemic. At a time when many nonprofits were scaling back or closing, CAW quickly adapted to the remote environment, providing redeveloped and redeployed versions of all four of its core programs online. 

CAW Board Chair Andrew Levin said, “The 2020 COVID shutdown in New York began a few weeks before the launch of our Annual Benefit for Kids. This is our single biggest fundraiser of the year, so we were understandably concerned. Karen led the way in recreating the event for the remote environment in 2020 and 2021, retaining critical support for our programs at a time when NYC kids needed us more than ever.”

Jolicoeur joins the growing ranks of female CEOs at a time when women in nonprofit leadership remain in the minority.

"This is an exciting moment for Creative Art Works," Jolicoeur said. Brian has left some big shoes to fill, and I am humbled by the responsibility he and the Board are placing in me and honored by their trust. The past decade was focused on growth, impact, and stability. The next few years will focus on sustainability and developing new systems and responsive practices to ensure that CAW continues to deliver high-quality and adaptable programs meeting the evolving needs of NYC youth and our partners.”

Read Karen’s full bio HERE.

About Creative Art Works: CAW is a 37-year-old nonprofit that empowers young people through the visual and multimedia arts. Their programs equip children, teens and young adults with essential tools and skills; connect them with community, academic success and career opportunities; and inspire them to reach for new possibilities. Working in underserved neighborhoods of NYC, partnering with public schools and social service agencies, CAW provides dynamic creative youth development for those who would otherwise lack access.

Working in under-resourced neighborhoods of NYC, CAW provides in-school and out-of-school time classes, creative workforce development programs, and community art-making events, in partnership with public schools, recreation centers, parks, and juvenile justice settings. Their programs build confidence, unlock a love of learning, and teach valuable technical and social-emotional skills while creating profound connections between their young constituents, their art and their communities. Students are never charged for participation, and youth apprentices earn wages.