Marjorie Waldo – Arts Garage, Delray Beach, Florida

Marjorie Waldo is the President and CEO of Arts Garage, a notfor-profit Cultural Center in Delray Beach, since November of 2016! Prior to joining the team at Arts Garage, she was a highprofile educator of 28 years, working primarily with under resourced students in public charter schools.

She has been producing events for decades. Her first big event was the Diversity Festival in New Jersey’s Hillsborough High School where she felt fortunate to Chair the Diversity Committee. We had two days of workshops, breakout sessions, and large group sessions, some with nationally renowned keynote speakers. The event drew 1400 people. Marjorie said, “It had lots of moving parts and satiated my passion. It was exceptional.”

Marjorie had lots of experience with programming during her career in education. She developed a curriculum for elective courses, including her favorite, Women’s Voices in Literature, with curated content for the students.

Since November of 2016, Waldo has programmed over 200 events annually at Arts Garage. She curates Jazz to Blues, Latin to Country, and Rap to Open Mic nights, as well as gallery exhibits for community events. “We try to prove the old saying “You can’t be everything to everyone” wrong. We have something for everyone at Arts Garage,” Marjorie assures.

Some of the talented performers, well-known in their genres or disciplines, who have graced the stage at Arts Garage were Paquito D’Rivera, Bill Charlap, Kermit Ruffins, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Many other big names appeared there, like local drummer Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen fame. Marjorie said Ann Hampton Callaway is undeniably an ultimate performer who left her starstruck. “We also hosted the iconic painters, the Florida Highwaymen, in our gallery on several occasions. I was honored to talk with these incredible visual artists,” said Waldo.

When Marjorie began at Arts Garage, the organization was a turn-around with significant financial and stakeholder challenges. It took two years in turn around mode to resolve these concerns. She said, “In the last six months, our team - the incredible staff, board, and volunteers, have enjoyed living the promises we made to our stakeholders – the City of Delray Beach and the Community Redevelopment Agency, our donors, and the loyal patrons who supported us during the pandemic. The challenges of the first two years and our navigation through these obstacles prepared us for the pandemic, I think. In the midst of COVID-19, we never stopped producing events, whether virtual or in person, for our community. We are very proud of that.”

In any given month, Arts Garage hosts amazing female performers. From local greats like Nicole Henry to national touring artists like Yoko Miwa, the calendar is alive with the diversity of the performers we produce. “We pride ourselves on creating a calendar of events that equitably presents different races, cultures, genders, and sexual orientations. We do not focus our efforts only during Women’s History Month or LGBTQ History Month. We showcase the talents of a broad world community, all year-long.”

Sometimes, Arts Garage plans an event specifically to highlight women, but Waldo assures that women are everywhere, all the time, not just in March. “Our audience should see clearly on our calendar that women are an integral part of everything we do. The art of women is on our gallery walls and women host our open mic nights. Women are musical performers on our main stage, weekend performances,” according to Marjorie.

Most producers have people who teach them how to produce by example. Marjorie said, “I have several mentors and role models who gave me insight and guidance. My favorite mentor is a woman of 95 who I’ve known for 50 years. She showed me that women could do and be anything they wanted. She

owned and operated a successful restaurant, at a time when women did not own businesses, let alone run them. She opened a world to me that made sense, where I could make broader choices than taking home economics in high school. I opted for a class in wood shop. Throughout my life, I surrounded myself with people who help me be better, do better, and strive for me.”

Waldo has a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Florida Atlantic University, which helped her in all of her leadership roles and when she became the President and CEO at Arts Garage, in 2016. The kindness of agents, board members, community members, and artists helped me hone my skills in producing the wonderful events that Arts Garage is known for. I cut my teeth in education, where a long and overused phrase, continual improvement was a refrain. I keep that phrasing as part of my self-talk because it grows the vision I bring to Arts Garage.

Waldo has been responsible for budgets ranging from $750,000 to $8 million. “I am drawn to turn-around projects and I love non-profits and small businesses,” she said.

She has an amazing team of committed board members who are aficionados of the Arts. Most of them were engaged at Arts Garage even longer than Waldo has been. She considers the City of Delray Beach and the CRA key stakeholders. They are “important parts of our team along with the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs. Without these organizations, our work would not be possible. Our staff members are artists and performers and art lovers who are passionate about the community work that we do. Our volunteers donate thousands of hours, yearly, with commitment and unending support. Our donors are committed to our work and create magic at Arts Garage, every day.”

When asked if Marjorie played an instrument, she said, “I have a lovehate relationship with pianos. And you never want to hear me sing. I am a writer and an avid lover of art, music, and theater.”