Spotlight on the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation
How the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation leveraged operational infrastructure to support sacred re-membering and archival work
The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation carries forward the life and legacy of Valerie Jean Maynard, the Harlem‑born, Baltimore‑rooted artist whose work chronicled Black life with honesty, depth, and imagination. A close friend to members of the Harlem Renaissance, including James Baldwin, Valerie’s practice spanned sculpture, printmaking, installation, and public art. Her pieces—many held by the Baltimore Museum of Art—tell stories of identity, resistance, and community across decades.
Today, the Foundation is responsible for stewarding thousands of works created in Valerie’s former home and studio in Baltimore City. As a Black‑led, LGBTQIA+ affirming organization, they are building an institution that not only preserves the artist’s work but also uses the archival project as a living tool for teaching, community engagement, and intergenerational learning.
Their vision is expansive:
Cataloging and preserving Valerie’s extensive body of work
Hosting fellows, interns, and archivists
Offering community archiving workshops
Opening the Foundation’s space to neighbors and visitors
Developing a research and study center
Planning for a public gallery that honors Valerie’s artistic lineage
This is sacred work. And as the Foundation grows, the need for a strong internal infrastructure has become essential to sustaining the vision.
Strengthening the Foundation Behind the Work
As Executive Director, Antonio Lyons recognized that the organization needed a strong operational foundation. He began by focusing on the systems that would allow the Foundation to grow with intention: fundraising capacity and processes, and the staffing needed to support the breadth of work ahead. The Foundation brought in a fractional operator for a short‑term, high‑intensity period of operational support, and then worked with our ops firm to hire an Operations Manager to continue holding day-to-day items. By the end of the engagement, he described the organization as “ready for now”—a place of steadiness that allows for growth. For the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation, strengthening operations wasn’t a technical exercise. It was an act of honoring Valerie’s legacy—ensuring that the work of remembering her life, art, and impact can continue for generations.
More about the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation
To learn more about the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation, visit their website at https://valeriejmaynardfoundation.org/ and subscribe to the VJMF Substack Page. Also, look for ways get involved by donating to their efforts and/or attending an upcoming community archiving workshop.