Professional Development

Trainings

Internships

DEIA based Stagehands Internship

Seattle Theatre Group will be launching a new student internship with South Lake High School. The intended goal is to work with local High school that provides experiential opportunities including internships to prepare them for careers with a focus on BIPOC students.

Stephanie Johnson-Toliver

Stephanie Johnson-Toliver is President at the Black Heritage Society of Washington State (BHS) where she leads a dedicated Board of Directors who are committed to uphold the Society’s mission to preserve and share the history of Black people from across the region.

BHS holds the largest public collection of memorabilia that archives the lives and professional contributions of individuals, families, and organizations whose legacies contribute to the vitality of Washington State. The Society is an institutional partner at the Museum of History & Industry for more than twenty years and BHS manages its collections at a shared repository in Seattle, WA. In addition to directing collections management and guiding preservation work, Stephanie understands and accepts the expectation of BHS members and history keepers to advance the Society as a community stakeholder.

Stephanie is liaison to Seattle’s Office of Economic Development and Department of Transportation as leader for placemaking initiatives at the Historic Central Area Arts & Cultural District. Her passion to remain as a community advocate for historic legacies is solidly rooted in her own family history as a fourth generation Seattleite.

Community investment is a passion.

Current Leadership and Advisor Capacity

• Board of Trustees, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle, WA
• Co-Chair, Historic Central Area Arts & Cultural District, Seattle, WA
• Board of Advisors-Western WA Region, KCTS/Cascade Public Media, Seattle, WA

Affiliations

• Member, American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)
• Member, Association of African American Museums (AAAM)
• Member, Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH)
• Member, Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO)
• Member, Black Genealogy Research Group
• Member, National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC)
• Member, NW Archivists
• Member, Society of American Archivists

Accomplishments 2018-Present

• 2021 AKCHO Willard Jue Memorial Award Recipient
• 2018 Teen-Tix Best Youth Program/ Northwest African American Museum
• Dr. Carver Gayton Youth Curators (Program Lead 2009-2019)
• 2018-Present NMAAHC Standards and Excellence Program Co-hort, 1 of 7 national team members
• 2019 AKCHO Impact Award/Seattle Chapter Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary Team
• 2019-Present King County 4Culture Beyond Integrity Community Preservation Team
• 2019-Present Seattle Central District Placemaking Initiatives Team Lead
• 2019-Present WA Trust for Historic Preservation/ Development Team Lead
• King County African American Heritage Sites Online Tour
• 2019-Present Washington State Historic Society – Black History Education Initiative
• 2020 Black History Month Tribute and advisory for new app/online history tour

Education and Work Experience
Stephanie is a product of Seattle Public Schools K-12 and attended her first-year undergraduate study at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where she was Freshman Class President for Independent Women. She then went on to the University of Washington to study Communications/Mass Media while working in the Office of Minority Affairs as assistant to the Director of the Black Student Division. Her interest in botany led to an education shift leading to a successful career as Horticulturist at the premier Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle where she managed collections, worked to build partnerships, and developed community education programs. Stephanie’s quest for life-long learning led her back to the UW to complete a Certificate in Museum Studies where her practicum efforts evolved into contractual work with the Northwest African American Museum for ten years. Stephanie is a founding member of Friends of Jimi Hendrix Park and is aligned to Experience Hendrix.

Jackie Peterson

Jackie Peterson is a historian and an independent museum consultant with a focus on exhibit development, curation and writing for history museums, historic sites and other cultural institutions. With over twelve years of exhibits experience, she has worked nationally with museums, communities, and stakeholders to uncover and illuminate meaningful stories to create authentic, truthful, and enlightening exhibitions and history programs.

Jackie leverages the power of language and narrative to create experiences that attest to the nuances of our human experience, spark conversation and bring people together. Much of Jackie’s independent work has focused on storytelling through exhibitions and tour programs highlighting the experiences and lives of African Americans in Washington State. Jackie is passionate about equity in the museum field and grounds her work in the framework of diversity, access, equity, and inclusion (DEAI). She serves on the steering committee for Museums & Race, an initiative that seeks equity and justice for people of color in the museum field and is a consultant with the Empathetic Museum.

Ryan Anthony Donaldson

Ryan Anthony Donaldson, CA (he/him), is an information and heritage content manager, taxonomist, and archivist with extensive experience in cultural heritage, business, and institutional environments. Ryan currently is the Collections Strategy Manager and Archivist with the Washington State Jewish Archives and works as an independent consultant. Prior to these positions, Ryan was the Senior Manager of Heritage and Information Services at The Durst Organization, an industry-leading multi-generation New York City real estate developer. He also was part of the Steering Committee for the Society of American Archivists Business Archives Section and served on the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (A.R.T.) Board of Directors.