William (Bill) Belcher
ASSISTANT Lecturer, Arts Administration
Email:wbelcher@skidmore.edu
Bio Information:
During his 24 years in the field, William (Bill) has raised or coordinated more than $120 million for projects in the arts, humanities, and education. He鈥檚 served as President and Executive Director at Ucross Foundation and held chief fundraising positions at Vermont Studio Center, MASS MoCA, Ucross Foundation (prior to taken on the executive role), and The Hyde Collection. He鈥檚 also served on several boards, including the folk music venue Caffe Lena and the community art space Hubbard Hall Center of Arts and Education. As a teacher, he has taught at Russell Sage College and SUNY Adirondack, and he鈥檚 guest lectured at 撸短视频, Bennington, and Hartwick.
As a consultant, employee, or board member, Bill has worked with theaters, operas, museums, artist residency programs, music venues, literary arts organizations, and community arts education centers, as well as colleges, parks, land stewardship organizations, and social service groups.
He founded Wordhorse Strategies in 2017 to help nonprofit professionals at small- and mid-sized organizations with strategic storytelling, fundraising (major gifts, campaigns, and grants), donor communications, and planning. Wordhorse has helped dozens of nonprofits increase their fundraising capacity.
He earned his BA in English and Theatre Arts at Hartwick College and his MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. His novel Lay Down Your Weary Tune was published by Other Press (dist. Penguin Random House) in 2016. Described as "an examination of art, fame, and authenticity" (The Boston Globe) and a "richly textured novel about folk music" (Publishers Weekly), it won the Adirondack Literary Award for Best Book of Fiction. As a writer and arts administrator, he鈥檚 published essays, articles, and columns in many outlets, including Post Road, Entropy, The Sheridan Press, and The Alt Weekly (the Capital Region鈥檚 alternative news weekly from 2016-2018).