Clare Ann Harff

The Short:

Clare Ann (“CA”) is a devoted mom, artist, caring educator, arts advocate, community activist, bike rider, music lover, journaler, and avid book reader.

The Long:

CA joined the MAPS team in 2013 as a program developer and artist-instructor. She accepted the Executive Director role in 2016. Her compassionate and thoughtful leadership, coupled with MAPS’s established history and collaborative environment, has helped this educational media arts nonprofit grow, especially in other rural and First Nation communities.

Before joining MAPS, CA built a creative studio/art space (1996 – present) and was a co-owner of two Missoula galleries (2006 – 2015),

After earning a BFA in Visual Art from the University of Montana in 1996, CA co-founded The Clay Studio of Missoula, served as its Executive Director until 2002, and served on the board of directors until 2013.

Before 1996, CA studied at lots of arts & crafts schools, apprenticed for several years as a bread baker and pastry chef, traveled whenever she could, read and read some more, sought out the misfits and round pegs in square holes, and dove in heart first to many, many, many unknowns. Little did she know how these things would help her prepare for working in the nonprofit world…