Kristina Newman-Scott is the first immigrant and first woman of color to serve as the Director of Culture and State Historic Preservation Officer for the State of Connecticut, where she oversees the state’s economic and community development grant-making, programs and services related to art, culture and historic preservation. In this role, Ms. Newman-Scott activates her passion for deploying innovative strategies that transform environments into vibrant and sustainable communities. 

 

Previously, Newman-Scott served as the Director of Marketing, Events and Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford; Director of Programs at the Boston Center for the Arts; and Director of Visual Arts at Hartford's Real Art Ways.  

 

Ms. Newman-Scott’s awards and recognitions include a 2018 Connecticut Women’s Education & Legal Fund, Woman of Inspiration; a 2017 Writers Block, ACE Awardee; Hartford Business Journal Forty Under 40; a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow; a Hive Global Leadership selectee; and a Next City, Urban Vanguard. Ms. Newman-Scott serves on the boards of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, The Connecticut Forum, and the New England Foundation for the Arts as well the Americans for the Arts Private Sector Council.  

 

She has been a TEDx speaker, visiting curator, guest lecturer, or featured presenter at  colleges, universities, organizations and events throughout Connecticut, across the country and internationally. Ms. Newman-Scott was a visual artist, creative strategies consultant, and a television and radio producer in Jamaica, where she was born and raised. She became a U.S. citizen in 2013.  

 

Kristina describes herself as a Jamaican-raised cultural strategist, connecting minds to a vision and hands to a purpose of meaningful existence.