We are pleased to announce our two honorees for our annual Soirée on the Prado fundraiser: Ruth C. Mercado-Zizzo, Vice President of Programs and Equity at EdVestors, and Doug Bowen Flynn, longtime NEMPAC board member, professional actor, and educator at Medford Public Schools. Join us on Thursday, September 18th to celebrate these two incredible individuals on the Prado! Tables are on sale now, and individual tickets will go on sale August 4th.
Ruth C. Mercado-Zizzo (she/her) is the Vice President of Programs and Equity at EdVestors, an education nonprofit in Boston where she oversees its arts education work through BPS Arts Expansion and the Bloomberg Arts Internship program, as well as EdVestors’ racial equity and mathematics work with Boston Public Schools. Ruth facilitates ensuring overall internal and organizational programmatic efforts incorporate an explicit and specific focus on advancing racial equity, including building an inclusive and equitable organizational culture and community. She previously worked at the Boch Center, where, as Director of Education, she oversaw the long-term planning and evaluation of all education programs and managed partnerships with cultural institutions and community organizations across the city. Ruth also worked for People’s Light and Theatre in both education and administration. Ruth was the Operations Director for Createquity, an online think tank that synthesized research pertaining to the arts. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Arizona State University, where she was honored with the Herberger College of Fine Arts Research and Creative Activity Award, and is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She has served as a board member of TYA/USA, as a National Endowment for the Arts grant panelist, and currently serves on the ArtsBoston board. She is an alum of the National Guild’s Community Arts Education Leadership Institute and National Arts Strategies/University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy.
Doug Bowen Flynn (he/him) is a 27-year resident of the North End and has been involved with NEMPAC since his daughter joined Family Music Makers seventeen years ago. As a professional actor, he has performed on stage, television, and film. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, later SAG-AFTRA, in New England for six years, and remains on the editorial board of SAG-AFTRA magazine. Doug also serves as the Humanities Lead Teacher for Medford Public schools, where he has worked for twenty-five years. Serving on the NEMPAC Board as a member, Vice-President, and President for the past twelve years has allowed Doug to combine his passions for art, education, and the North End-Charlestown neighborhoods in the most rewarding way imaginable, and he considers himself honored to be able to build our sense of common community through the arts.
The NEMPAC Soirée on the Prado is our main fundraiser of the year. Your table purchase, sponsorship, and/or donation will support music education and performing arts in our community for all.
If you are interested in sponsoring or purchasing a table please reach out to Sherri Snow at ssnow@nempacboston.org or 857 239 9997.
NEMPAC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All event sponsorships and table purchases are acknowledged in writing and a portion is tax deductible under charity ID 04-3545228.
