Deborah Mason

Projects to be completed in collaboration with Elder-in-Residence Deborah Mason over the course of the residency period (July 15, 2022 - January 15, 2023).

Project 1: Assist Elder-in-Residence with retrieval of Pontella Mason artworks from storage and explore possibilities for housing the artworks at Johns Hopkins or another local repository.

Project 2: Organize for preservation-in-place Pontella Mason's journals, sketchbooks, small notebooks, sheet music, news articles, projection slides, and photographs.

Project 3: Record oral history interviews on Deborah Mason’s life story in relation to Baltimore history (1951 - present) and create an online repository for the oral history interviews, which could be open access or open with restrictions.

Project 4: (For phase 2, presumably beyond the initial residency term) (a) Curate a small display of Mason’s art works at the Library or elsewhere, and (b) develop a long-term plan for the public use of the oral histories gathered during the residency (especially to ensure that Mama Debbie's interviews are immediately accessible to Mason family members)

Deliverables for JHU: Ms. Mason will be expected to: (1) deliver a guest lecture in an Inheritance Baltimore course and/or a public address, (2) participate in a series of oral history interviews focused on her life, work and impact in Baltimore, to be stored at a JHU digital repository and made accessible to the public.

• Assisted in recruiting, hiring and training of team members.
• Interacted well with customers to build connections and nurture relationships.
• Recruited, hired, and trained initial personnel, working to establish key internal functions and outline scope of positions for new organization.
• Reported issues to higher management with great detail.
• Scheduled employees for shifts, taking into account customer traffic and employee strengths.
• Tracked trends and suggested enhancements to both challenge and refine company's product offerings.
• Enhanced team collaboration through regular communication, goal setting, and performance evaluations.
• Established a culture of continuous improvement by fostering open communication channels and empowering employees to voice their ideas.
• Cultivated a positive work environment that fostered employee engagement, increased retention rates, and boosted overall team morale.
• Managed budgets effectively to ensure optimal use of resources while maintaining financial stability.
• Facilitated cross-functional collaboration for improved decision-making processes within the organization.

• Assisted with special events and programs.
• Supported engaging, fun, and smooth-running events by helping with organization and planning.
• Used strong interpersonal communication skills to convey information to others.
• Represented organization positively and professionally while providing community with much-needed services.
• Strengthened volunteer team effectiveness by providing training sessions.
• Fostered sense of community, organizing neighborhood gatherings.
• Enhanced visitor experience by conducting informative and engaging museum tours.
• Facilitated community outreach to expand participation and support.