Mid-America Arts Alliance Names Xenia Black, Ph.D., as Director of Development

Mid-America Arts Alliance Names Xenia Black, Ph.D., as Director of Development

Kansas City, MO – Mid-America Arts Alliance announces the appointment of Xenia Z. Black, Ph.D., as Director of Development. She will head all M-AAA fundraising efforts.

Black was formerly Director of Development at Marillac Center in Overland Park, Kan. Prior to her employment with Marillac, she held development positions at Safehome, Inc., and at Alphapointe Association for the Blind, where she helped lead a successful $4.1 million capital campaign.

“I am excited about the opportunities in this position,” said Black. “I’ve spent most of my professional life in the Mid-America region, and I think that there are so many funding resources for this organization that have yet to be explored. It will be a rewarding challenge, I’m sure, to lead the development department in that effort.”

Black will function as the senior grant writer, supervise staff grant writers, and pursue other avenues of private and public funding for M-AAA. She will work closely with the M-AAA board of directors in organizing its fundraising efforts and ensuring that M-AAA meets funder objectives and requirements.

“We are so pleased to have Xenia on board,” said Mary Kennedy McCabe, Executive Director of Mid-America Arts Alliance. “She has had tremendous development experience; she’s worked to garner planned and major gifts, annual contributions, and capital campaign funds. Outside of the development arena, she has been an editor, a professor, and a backstage theater manager. M-AAA is deeply committed to arts and education, so it’s gratifying to have someone who is not only solidly qualified, but also clearly shares the same passions.”

Black received her M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin. She received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Penn. She is married to Robert Black, and they have two sons, ages four and seven.

Mid-America Arts Alliance, founded in 1972, is a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. It is governed by a board of directors drawn from its partner states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, participant state arts agencies, and leading foundations and corporations. For further information, contact Sarah McGreer at (816) 421-1388.