Riverzedge Arts staff share a vision with the board, volunteer corps, and youth for success, innovative capacity, a commitment to materials and resource conservation, and boundless energy to provide hope and contribution to others.
Kristen Williams, PHD, Executive Director
Kristen’s path to Riverzedge Arts has been a winding one with a perfect destination. Trained as a theatre practitioner and an academic, Kristen has been by turns a director and playwright, a published poet, and a college professor. She holds degrees in Theatre, English, and American Studies from Rhode Island College, the University of Toronto, and the University of Maryland, College Park. Coming of age in the do-it-yourself punk rock scenes of Providence and northern Rhode Island, Kristen believes strongly in the power of creativity to draw out and amplify the unique strengths of people, landscapes, and cultures to produce powerful and healthy communities. In her free time, she is an avid reader, gardener, and amateur furniture-builder, and is never happier than when she is trailing behind her dog on a hike in the woods.
Kristin Hark, Arts Education Director
Kristin is a big kid. A dreamer. A doer and an advocate here to celebrate the individuality of young people. Driven by both efficacy and creativity with equal measure. Qualities which intersect to form organized and thoughtful adventures. Kristin believe in creating without expectation or bias. Exploring the complexities and simplicities of life though visual works by way of photography, printmaking, and other media. She strives to contribute to a community in a meaningful way that fosters a sense of purpose and creative expression.
Maya Stern, MFA, Public Arts Studio Coordinator
Maya Stern is a Rhode Island based printmaking and fiber artist whose work considers the slippage and distortion of ancestral memories. Stern received her MFA from Syracuse University in 2021 and her BFA from the University of Rhode Island in 2016. Her work has been exhibited internationally with most recent shows at ArtLink Gallery (Fort Wayne, IN), ArtSpace 304 (Carbondale, IL), Gallery 7 (Madison, WI), Governors Island (New York City), sUgAR Gallery (Fayetteville, AK), and the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (Brooklyn, NY). She is the recent recipient of the Printmaking Today State of the Art Prize, the Merion Behr Printmaking Award, Best in Show at the Four Rivers Print Biennial, the Trust at Governors Island Summer Artist Residency, and the Graduate Fellowship from the Southern Graphics Council International. Her work has been collected by The Jyväskylä Art Museum (Jyväskylä, Finland), The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL), Zuckerman Museum of Art (Dallas, TX), Syracuse University Art Museum (Syracuse, NY), and the Bend Gallery (Chicago, IL). Currently, Maya is the Public Arts Studio Coordinator at Riverzedge Arts and Part-Time Lecturer at Roger Williams University.