Welcome Shelton Walker!

April 2024

To All Members and Friends of HatchSpace,

The Board of Directors of HatchSpace is thrilled to announce that Shelton Walker, most recently the Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Bennington College, has accepted the offer to lead our growing organization as Executive Director.

 Shelton stated, “As an artist and maker myself, and as one who has spent two decades devoted to igniting and supporting change through the arts, I am honored to join an organization like Hatch that is poised to have such a tremendous impact on the Vermont creative sector.”

 Shelton has co-led community-driven strategic planning processes, stewarded partnerships, and overseen critical operational functions including creative centers, museum and gallery spaces, buildings and grounds divisions, human resources, information technology, and marketing and communications, as well as youth and adult arts education programs. 

 Shelton has exactly the experience and leadership skills we require at this critical time in our organization’s growth.  She is the rare blend of managerial finesse, community activism, and development savvy grounded by an artistic sensibility.   She can’t wait to meet you, and we can't wait to introduce her to our community.

HatchSpace currently has over 150 active members making use of its facilities as well as a large slate of classes open to the public.  Poised to launch a series of programs to address the shortage of skilled workers with a special focus on reaching demographics traditionally overlooked by the trades, HatchSpace continues to fulfill its mission of introducing the satisfaction, confidence, and opportunities woodworking can provide.

 The board of directors reviewed an extensive pool of applicants before unanimously selecting Shelton.  

 “I am thrilled to join HatchSpace as Executive Director,” she said. “HatchSpace is transforming lives through animating our imaginations, improving cognitive and emotional capacities, and unlocking economic mobility through teaching skills that are in high demand within our region. From my very first visit, I could feel the magic that founder Tom Bodett and the HatchSpace team have created in Brattleboro.”

 Shelton will assume her new position in mid-May.   And a new chapter in the HatchSpace story begins!

Tom Bodett,  Founder, President