The Community Arts Training Institute
A new organization. A 30 year legacy.
In 2025, The Community Arts Training Institute was established as an independent non-profit organization.
As a program of the Regional Arts Commission from 1997-2025, CAT trained over 350 fellows in developing collaborative community-based arts programs. CAT focuses on the belief that art has the power to be an agent for social and civic change, and brings together community-focused artists of all disciplines and their partners, including social workers, educators, grassroots organizers, and civic leaders who are committed to collaborative community building through the arts.
In 2026, The Community Arts Training Institute is building its distinct identity and infrastructure and developing the organization's governance, operations, and funding strategies.
Our Team
Pacia Elaine Anderson
Co- Director, Programs + Community Building
she/herMs. Anderson is the 4th Poet Laureate of St. Louis. She collaborates as a poet, visual and teaching artist, creative consultant, arts administrator, and community engagement coordinator, both locally and nationally. She is the STL City Regional Coordinator of Poetry Out Loud, and the Poet-In-Residence at the Intersect Art Center. In 2020 she was named Community Impact Artist by the St. Louis Visionary awards, and currently serves on the boards of The Saint Louis Poetry Center and St. Louis Art Place, an artist housing initiative.
Pacia completed the Community Arts Training program in 2014.
Co-Director, Organizational Development
she/herJenny Murphy
A St. Louis-based community artist and organizer, Murphy founded the St. Louis creative reuse organization Perennial in 2011 and is currently an owner at Garrity Tools, where she helped transition the company to a worker-owned cooperative in 2022. Her artistic practice spans design, installation, sculpture, community arts, and teaching, often focusing on solidarity economies, mutual aid, and cooperation.
Jenny completed the Community Arts Training program in 2012.
Our Founding Board
Kathryn Bentley, Vice President
Cultural Curator
Shelly Goebl-Parker, President
Associate Professor, Art Therapy Counseling Program
Art & Design Department, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Sue Greenberg , Treasurer
Executive Director Emeritus
St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts
Kaveh Razani
Stefani Weeden-Smith
Roseann Weiss, Secretary
Creative Advisor and Strategist
ART +
