About the workshop

We are a non-profit organization committed to building our local creative community through educational programming and partnership with community organizations.

We believe that the arts have the power to strengthen communities and inspire social change.

In pursuing this vision, the Community Design Workshop seeks to manage our programs and organizational culture in a manner that embraces equity, diversity and inclusion. We resolve to create a space where all people feel heard and respected.

We endeavor to create an environment that is welcoming to our artists, patrons and staff.

Meet our Team

  • Pam Rice

    Founder & Director

    Pam has made Wurtsboro her home for 33 years. She is an Associate Professor of Architecture at SUNY Orange, where she has taught for 17 years. Her areas of focus in her work at the college are community design and sustainability.

    As a community educator, she has facilitated numerous art and design workshops for children and teens in partnership with a variety of cultural institutions, including the Aspen Art Museum, the Wallkill River School, and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

    Pam founded the Community Design Workshop in the fall of 2023 to bring her experience home and to help build a strong creative community in Wurtsboro. Her daily artistic practice focuses on pottery and drawing.

  • Cheryl Jones

    Board of Directors

    Cheryl has a passion for community and facilitating connections and believes art and education are perfect conduits for helping people find meaningful connections to their own community. As a children services librarian, and now a library director, she has taught a wide variety of creative classes, but has only recently re-discovered her own artistic side through drawing, painting, quilting, and piano. She believes that life is a continual learning process and finds great joy in learning a new skill or hobby and sharing it with others. Cheryl has an incurable case of wanderlust and is continually inspired by all of the beautiful places she's traveled to. She is also a big believer that the process of creating can be more important than the outcome and regularly uses her artistic hobbies to process and understand her feelings about the world. Cheryl is also involved with the planning of the annual Sullivan County Youth Book Festival and is passionate about expanding literacy opportunities for children in Sullivan County.

  • Stephanie Severino

    Board of Directors

    Stephanie has been a resident of Bloomingburg for the better part of 40 years. After moving away for college and career opportunities, she came back to her family farm to raise her children.  She is a former zookeeper and environmental educator/scientist holding a BS in Large Animal Science and a MA in Environmental Management. Now, along with her husband, she runs a small graphics business and bookstore while still maintaining an organic hobby farm and caring for dozens of rescue animals.

    When she is not working or doing chores, Stephanie enjoys hiking, writing, and creating.  As a self-described “person who can’t draw a straight line with a ruler”she loves getting messy and making art simply for the fun of it.  Her belief is that life is meant to be enjoyed and too short to worry about perfection.

    Being a small business owner, she has learned the importance of community members supporting each other.  That is why she started attending Community Design Workshop events last year and was excited to become a member of the board of directors in the summer of 2024.  Stephanie has come to realize that making art with a diverse group of people can be both exciting and fulfilling.