William Way LGBT Community Center welcomes Jake Foster to the Arts & Culture Team

PHILADELPHIA, PA (October 4, 2024) — William Way LGBT Community Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Jake Foster to the position of Art Exhibitions Manager. The position of Art Exhibitions Coordinator was previously held by Alissa Roach, who left the Center in August to pursue graduate school at the Royal College of Art in London.

Jake Foster is most recently the Gallery and Collections Manager at the Stedman Gallery at Rutgers University—Camden. He holds degrees in art from Camden County College (AA), Rutgers University—Camden (BA), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MFA). 

This position is part of the Arts & Culture Programs team at William Way, and is responsible for managing the Center’s visual art exhibitions program and overseeing a team of dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers that make up the Center’s Arts Committee. 

Foster will oversee the Center’s roster of in-house art exhibitions, including the Annual Juried Art Exhibition, the Annual Group Art Exhibition, and an Art Student Biennial. Additional exhibitions, including those mounted off-site with partner organizations, come from proposals submitted by community members or planned by the Arts Committee. He will also curate selected exhibitions each year.

“The William Way LGBT Community Center has a long history of featuring the creativity of our community,” says Foster. “In this new full-time position, I look forward to being able to expand our exhibition programming and work with artists that reflect the diversity of our community.”

Besides his work at Rutgers—Camden, Foster has also worked as Gallery Coordinator for the Marlin Gallery at Camden County College/Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission. He has taught at both Stockton University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has written for the Broad Street Review and other publications.

“Jake is off to a fine start here at the Center,” says John Anderies, who oversees Arts & Culture Programs at William Way. “He brings a lot of enthusiasm, knowledge, and skills to the position, and has some great ideas for helping to move our exhibition program forward in new and exciting ways.”

###

The William Way LGBT Community Center seeks to engage and support the diverse LGBTQIA+ communities in the greater Philadelphia area through arts & culture, empowerment, and community connections. We want all LGBTQIA+ people to feel safe, connected, and empowered. We strive to be a community center whose staff, management, and board reflect the vibrant and richly diverse communities we serve.

For more information please contact arts@waygay.org.