Our Mission

Dublin Arts Council engages the community, cultivates creativity and fosters life-long learning through the arts.

Our Vision

A community of those who live, work, visit, play and learn in Dublin, in which the arts are embraced and nurtured; and through the arts, lives are enriched, diversity is celebrated and the economy is enhanced.

Meet The Staff

Dublin Arts Council operates as a small but dedicated team of professionals who are committed to the organization’s mission of engaging the community, cultivating creativity and fostering life-long learning through the arts. To connect with us reach out to curious@dublinarts.org

David S. Guion. Ph.D

Executive Director

David S. Guion, Ph.D., has served as Executive Director of Dublin Arts Council, since 2005. For more than 30 years, he has worked with nonprofit arts organizations and educational institutions in New York City, the Bay Area of California and Columbus, Ohio. Guion has had the privilege of working with such iconoclastic artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg, among others.
He received an M.A. in Art Education from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1988 and his Ph.D. in Art Education from OSU in 2008. He currently teaches graduate courses as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy at OSU. Guion has conducted fundraising seminars and workshops for a wide variety of nonprofit organizations and arts professionals in Ohio, Poland, Taiwan, New Zealand, Scotland, England and Chile. He has been recognized for his leadership as a Smart 50 awardee by Smart Business magazine in 2015 and has served as a panelist for the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Culture Works in Dayton, Ohio. He is a committee member of the Collaborative for Arts Education in Ohio and has adjudicated numerous arts exhibitions for a variety of organizations throughout the region.

Ava Morgan, Ph.D.

Public Art Manager

Ava manages the Art in Public Places program and develops educational opportunities for both inside and outside the gallery. Ava received her Ph.D. in Arts Education from the Ohio State University in 2020, a M.A. in Arts Administration from Goucher College in 2015 and a B.A. in Philosophy from Earlham College in 2009. While working on her doctorate, Ava served on the education team for Art & Resilience, a suite of gallery-based programs at the Wexner Center for the Arts. She also served as Executive Assistant for Ohio Humanities, the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Katy Marque

Education & Development Manager

Katy cultivates community and school relationships through the design of hands-on field trips, gallery tours, and arts-based workshops. Further, as development manager, Katy coordinates DAC’s grant and stewardship efforts. She comes to the council with significant community arts experience through her work at Minerva Financial Arts, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, and The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. Katy graduated from The Ohio State University with a M.A. in Art Education and B.A. in Arts Management.

Raygan Barrett

Communications Manager

Raygan brings a diverse background in design, brand strategy, fine arts, marketing, art education, and entrepreneurship. With 20+ years of experience in design agency settings working with clients like Target, Huntington Bank, The Wexner Center for the Arts and The Columbus Chamber. Raygan has owned and managed two art education businesses, and is a former Adjunct Instructor
at the Columbus College of Art and Design. In her spare time, a mixed-media artist. She graduated with a B.A. in Communication Design from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

Paige Dempsey

Community Engagement Coordinator

Paige supports Dublin Arts Council’s community programming, including the Visual Arts Series, promoting fundraising efforts and implementing the Community Arts Grants program. She has worked with the Wexner Center for the Arts, McConnell Arts Center and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Paige has an M.A. in Art Education with a specialization in Museum Studies from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Writing from Butler University.

Michele Gatz

Director of Finance & Administration

Michele manages Dublin Arts Council finances, human resources and administrative activities. She received a B.A. and M.A. from The Ohio State University and completed coursework in accounting at Ohio Wesleyan University. She has been with Dublin Arts Council since 1999.

Board of Directors

Officers
Kayln Bartley, President
Eileen Bolton, M.D., President-Elect
Jean Hilliard, Treasurer
Kimberly Shumate, Secretary
Mike Stull, Citizen Representative
John Reiner, Dublin City Council Representative

Members
Denise Applegate
Michael Bowman
Cap Clegg
Lori Doon

Bryan Faller
Adam Hernandez

Adava Jefferson
Ryan Keenan
Mark King, M.D.
Imran Malik

Jim Medsker
Emily Miller
Robin Moran
Kate Schwartz

Ioanna Skubas
Jaron Terry

Neil Widerschein
Isao Yamakawa, Ph.D
Hope Yanling Yin

Ex-Officio
Sandra J. Anderson
Robin Campbell

Dublin Arts Council Facts

FOUNDED
Dublin Arts Council (DAC) was founded in 1983 as an ad hoc committee to bring the Columbus Symphony Orchestra to the dedication of Dublin’s Scioto Park. The success of this activity encouraged the committee to form DAC, which was incorporated in 1984.

IMPACT
DAC improves lives through the convergence of creativity, curiosity and well-being. DAC provides lasting, meaningful, life-changing experiences for the community – All those who live, work, visit, learn and play in Dublin.

FUNDING
DAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, supported in part by the City of Dublin’s hotel/motel tax which was established to improve quality of life for residents, corporate citizens and visitors through community investment in projects and events that enhance visitor appeal, enrich the aesthetic of public property, provide cultural arts experiences, support business, attract positive local, regional and national attention, and encourage overnight stays in Dublin. DAC is also supported by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically. In addition, Dublin Arts Council is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, fundraising events, gallery sales and in-kind contributions. Please click here for Dublin Arts Council’s 2021 Return on Investment summary. Dublin Arts Council’s Tax ID/EIN is 31-1101457

PROGRAMS
Dublin Arts Council is a thriving local arts agency which administers comprehensive, engaging programs including a variety of award-winning Art in Public Places projects, a yearlong Visual Arts Series and the annual DAC Sundays at Scioto concert series. DAC is committed to programs and events with strong emphasis on education and community-building. DAC serves as a community convener and thought leader for using art as a catalyst for social change and cultural cohesion.

STAFF AND LEADERSHIP
DAC employs six full-time professionals to administer programs and projects. The DAC Board consists of volunteer members who represent the community in diverse ways.

Awards and Recognition

DAC serves as a community convener and thought leader for using art as a catalyst for social change and cultural cohesion, and has received numerous distinctions recognizing programmatic excellence. Accolades include:

The Riverboxes program – where public art meets geocaching and letterboxing – received a 2008 Award of Excellence from the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association.
Field of Corn (with Osage Oranges) by Columbus sculptor Malcolm Cochran has received “Best of Columbus” honors by readers of Columbus Monthly magazine each year of its nomination since 2008, including four #1 awards as best public artwork in central Ohio.
Dublin Arts Council was the recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Invitational Grant awards for Titration III: Rock, Paper, Sculpture (2009-2010) and the Dublin Art in Public Places Cell Phone Tour (2012), as well as a competitive ArtWorks grant for the 2018 multicultural B.R.E.A.D! festival of arts and community.
Dublin Arts Council received a 2010 “Living the Irish Attitude” award from the Dublin Convention & Visitors Bureau for creation of the Dublin Arts Council Gift Shop Celtic Corner.
The Dublin Art in Public Places cell phone tour and Riverboxes program received the 2013 Groundworks Group CreativITy award for using technology in innovative ways to advance mission.
The Shifting Perspectives exhibition series received the 2013 Commitment to Excellence award from Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio and was a 2013 statewide finalist for the Ohio Nonprofit Excellence Award from the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations.
In 2013, the Dublin Art in Public Places collection was the first public art tour in the state of Ohio to be included in the international CultureNOW “Museum Without Walls” project database and mobile applications.
The Dublin Art in Public Places program was named “Best Suburban Public Art program” in central Ohio by readers of CityScene magazine in 2013 and 2014.
In 2014, the Dublin Art in Public Places collection became the largest collection in the state of Ohio to be featured in the Public Art Archive database, an online and mobile accessible catalog of public artworks worldwide.
Dublin’s public art is the only collection in the state to be included in the augmented reality GPS-enabled mobile app Wherigo. 23 artworks are included in the 20-stage game. (2014)
Dublin Arts Council has received a PNC Arts Alive Year Five Grant Award to curate and present the socially-focused exhibition Alfred Tibor: Hatred Doesn’t Workin 2015.
Dublin Arts Council was nominated for a 2015 Ohio Arts Council Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio for Community Development and Participation.
Dublin Arts Council was named a top 1% geocacher among 450,000 in the United States by Geocaching.com in 2017.
The pandemic-inspired public art and public health 6-ft gallery project, created in collaboration with Visit Dublin, Ohio, received the Ohio Travel Association’s 2020 RUBY Awards’ Spirit of Community Award.
Dublin Arts Council’s Curbside Concerts were voted Best 2020-21 Drive-In Concert by the readers of CityScene magazine
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce named Dublin Arts Council’s Executive Director David S. Guion, Ph.D. 2021 Business Person of the Year
ProMovers Reviews named “Field of Corn (with Osage Orange Trees)” one of 150 must-see attractions in the United States in 2021. (The only one in central Ohio.)
The Dublin Arts Council gallery received back-to-back “Best of the “Bus” awards for Best Suburban Art Gallery from the readers of CityScene magazine for five consecutive years, 2017 – 2022

Equity and land acknowledgement

Dublin Arts Council is committed to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in all programs and services, and does not discriminate on the basis of race/ethnicity, color, religion, gender, marital status, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status. Dublin Arts Council’s established policy is to provide equal employment, advancement and other opportunities to all individuals based on merit, qualifications and abilities.

Dublin Arts Council identifies community as those who live, work, visit, play and learn in Dublin, Ohio, USA.

Dublin Arts Council acknowledges that it was founded upon exclusions and erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including those on whose land its institution is located. Its programming takes place on the unceded land of the Hopewell, Adena, Miami, Delaware, Shawnee, and Wyandot peoples. Dublin Arts Council asks community members to join the organization in acknowledging and honoring these Native communities, their Elders both past and present and all future generations. This acknowledgement demonstrates a commitment to beginning the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism.