Hailing from Washington, DC, Cat Frost is a playwright, educator, and grants administrator who is proud to call the DMV’s vibrant arts community home. We sat down with Cat to chat about her background in the creative sector, what interested her in working for AHCMC, and more. 

AHCMC: Let’s get started, tell us a bit about yourself! 

Cat: I love learning; I’m always talking about workshops I participated in. They’re usually creative, philanthropic, or liberation based, focusing on poems and fonts, new funding policies and platforms, systems of oppression and strategies for resistance, or just about adulting, like taxes and estate planning.  

If I’m not at work or in a class, I’m likely at a concert, catching up on WNBA games, spending time with loved ones, or reading. One of my goals is to collect the works of Octavia Butler and Zora Neale Hurston.  

If it’s game night, and we’re playing Taboo, Scattergories, Codenames, or any type of word association game, you want me on your team. Don’t recruit me for fill-in-the-blank type word games like Wheel of Fortune or Culture Tags, unless laughter is the prize you want, because I’m going to make up ridiculous phrases with half the letters I see and some that I don’t. 

AHCMC: What inspired you to work in the creative sector?

Cat: I got my first job in high school through a teacher and a mentor from middle school. Both of them recommended me for a Summer Youth Employment Program at the National Portrait Gallery. I learned about the art of portraiture, writing monologues, and different museum careers. From there, I was hooked. Every paycheck I’ve earned since has been tied to the arts, education, and community funding.  

My last job in high school was with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, creating a 10-minute Film about Good Hope Road and 30-second commercials for small businesses in Anacostia. 

Those projects inspired me to intern at the Anacostia Arts Center in college during the summer months, and I continued working there after graduation. I loved giving tours of the Center and letting folks know they could rent the space out for any event–fashion shows, graduation parties, film screenings, and more–because it is truly a community venue. 

I feel my best when I’m working on projects in the arts and professional development. Projects that allow me to combine my skills in educational events, record-keeping, and relationship-building to benefit the communities I’m invested in. I’m incredibly fortunate to have always worked in the creative sector! 

AHCMC: We hear you have a background in the theatre; can you tell us more?

Cat: I owe so much to out-of-school-time programs that were available to me when I was younger. I participated in playwriting and poetry programs in middle school, and those modes of expression stuck with me. 

For my college thesis, I was presented with three options: take an exam, write a paper, or produce a project. I wanted to explore displacement, the school-to-prison pipeline, childhood bereavement, and more. Writing and staging a play, blue heart beats, felt like the truest way for me to do so. 

After presenting my thesis, two classmates told me about writing opportunities I could apply for: the Gaffney Playwriting Award from the University of California, San Diego, and the Lambda Literary Fellowship. I applied and was selected for both, and in those programs, I connected with professional playwrights who modeled what was possible. Luckily for me, my hometown is an amazing theatre town, and I could continue pursuing my interests after undergrad. 

AHCMC: What interested you in working for AHCMC? 

Cat: I was excited to see the Grants Manager position was open and I applied because I paneled for AHCMC in 2017 and 2018, and it was a fantastic learning opportunity that set a high standard for review processes. That was the first time I participated in a panel with a public process, which is an incomparable way to learn about the field and an invaluable resource for all who attend. I continued paneling at AHCMC and brought my experience to other funding opportunities as a reviewer and administrator.  

AHCMC shows its commitment to equity isn’t lip service time and again via panelist recruitment, workforce development resources for the public at-large, and trust-based policies with grantees; it’s evident at every level of influence, it’s ongoing, and it’s expansive. It’s always a pleasure connecting with this local arts agency. I’m so thankful our paths could cross again. 

AHCMC: How have your first few months at AHCMC been?

Cat: Everyone has been so welcoming! I genuinely feel like I’m working on a team rather than in a department. The mindset is different. Here, it’s not about a rigid hierarchy. It’s about working towards a shared goal of supporting local artists.  

Some tasks I’ve worked on in my first few months include announcing a new round of grantees and supporting panels for the upcoming fiscal year. ASPG, the program for individual artists and scholars, has recently grown considerably, so it was exciting to notify such a large group of artists that they’d been funded. For the three project and organizational programs reviewed in the Spring, it has been wonderful getting to know new applicants and meeting stellar panelists. 

AHCMC: As you settle into your role as Grants Manager, what are you most excited about?

Cat: I appreciate the opportunity to learn and support the local arts landscape. The cultural plan is a fascinating initiative, and I’m energized by the Council’s commitment to language justice. So often when I’m in Silver Spring, I hear conversations where someone wishes their loved ones good night in Amharic or talks about weekend plans in Spanish; some days, English is maybe the 3rd or 4th language I hear. So, experiencing application work samples in other languages and gaining insight into launching cultural plan surveys in 7 languages has simply felt good, right, and aligned. Equity’s not fanfare; it’s the norm, it happens repeatedly because it is planned intentionally. As Grants Manager, I look forward to practicing my values day in and day out while advocating for a healthy local arts ecosystem.