Joan Goshgarian

Joan Goshgarian Executive Director NH Business Committee for the Arts One Granite Place Concord, NH 03301 www.nhbca.com

"Nonprofits in the state of New Hampshire perform many meaningful and necessary services that, in other states, are assumed as a governmental responsibility. As the state promotes our great quality of life and New Hampshire advantage to attract business and tourism, it is extremely important that an entity like the NH Center for Nonprofits advocates for the importance of the nonprofit sector. It is due to the work of this sector that the assets the state promotes - higher learning, cultural offerings, human services and the quality of our environment - exist, and this work should be recognized and supported." --Joan Goshgarian

Joan Goshgarian is the founding executive director of the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts.

She graduated from Elmira College where she received a BA in education and was a staff photographer for the yearbook.  In her professional life she has held a variety of positions and has managed to involve the arts in most of them.

In education, Joan developed an art therapy program for developmentally and physically challenged institutionalized adolescents and organized a traveling exhibition of their works that had its debut at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston.  As marketing director for a real estate development company, she utilized performing and fine arts in various promotions.  As a consultant, she created and promoted a variety of special events. 

Joan has been the executive director of the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts since its formation in 1985. She is responsible for developing and implementing programs designed to broaden the base of business support for the arts, as well as maintaining the administrative functions of the organization.  NHBCA programs include Lawyers for the Arts/New Hampshire, Business Resources for the Arts, and the popular Business in the Arts Awards.  In recent years, the focus of NHBCA activity has evolved to a stronger emphasis on advocating for the business and arts connection and collaborating with other organizations including The New England Council, The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and Leadership New Hampshire. She has recently taken the lead in the NHBCA’s establishing the NH Creative Economy Network.

Joan's community involvement includes two completed terms as a trustee for New Hampshire Public Radio and two terms, one year as president, for The Friends Program, a human service agency based in Concord.  She is currently on the board of the New Hampshire Center of Nonprofits, The Commission on Charitable Giving and Volunteerism in New Hampshire, and its Task Force for Philanthropy.

Joan was named a “Remarkable Woman” by New Hampshire Magazine in 2002, and a “Leader of the 21st Century” by Business NH Magazine.

Joan enjoys running, reading, writing, design, and pretending to manage a garden.  She considers her most satisfying, on-going success her 25-year marriage to New Hampshire's Commissioner of Cultural Resources, Van McLeod, and the raising of their terrific daughter, Chelsea, whose artistic pursuits include dance, voice, and drawing.

Contact at:
New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts
One Granite Place
Concord, NH 03301      
603 224-8300 or joan@nhbca.com