Community Spotlight: Emma Ellis

 

Emma Ellis is our Community Education Manager, responsible for overseeing our youth programs, including our ongoing Summer Program for Children, our new February and April Vacation Week Programs, and our year-round youth classes. Emma grew up in Jamaica Plain and had a strong familiarity with the Eliot School as a student prior to joining our team.

We sat down with Emma for this month’s Community Spotlight to learn more about her connection to the Eliot School and how it has evolved since she joined our staff.

See our upcoming youth programs and classes here. 

 

Transcript 

Emma: My name is Emma Ellis, and I am the Community Engagement Manager here at the Eliot School, and I run our youth programming. 

What is your favorite artistic medium? 

Emma: I was more of an art history person, and I wrote my undergraduate thesis about tapestries. I would say that my favorite medium for myself, though, is I just really enjoy life drawing, pencil, paper. Very simple, very classic. I do a lot of collage. I have a stack of vintage National Geographic that I cut up and stick together.

What initially brought you to the Eliot School? 

Emma: Well, I grew up in Jamaica Plain, so the Eliot School was always close by, and I was very much an art kid in elementary, middle, and high school. So, I came here for the first time in eighth grade to take a digital photography class.

What brought you back to the Eliot School? 

Emma: So, I have now been working at the Eliot School for a little bit, just over two years. I’d been working in art museums, but it hadn’t really been scratching my hanging out with kids and serving my community itch. So, when I saw this job was available, and it was teaching kids to become more confident and develop their skills, and tapping into my community, it just brought together all of my interests very nicely.

How has your relationship with the Eliot School changed? 

Emma: You sort of take for granted different organizations in your neighborhood as a kid, but then working here and seeing all the effort and intentionality and passion that all of the people who work with me put into making sure this place continues to run and provide excellent experiences in craft and art to its community. And I think I really appreciate the types of people that are drawn to the Eliot School, whether that’s the families or the staff or our board members. I feel like there’s a real common interest there and a sense of belief and purpose.

What are your hopes for the future of the Eliot School?

Emma: I think my hopes for the future of the Eliot School are just to continue to identify and build upon what works really well for us, what people love about us. And also find ways to build off that and explore new types of programs or new audiences.

Are there any specific classes you want to plug? 

Emma: We have our youth comics teacher is going to be doing an adult class this year. One of our youth teachers here, Nami Yamaguchi is doing embroidery workshops in the fall. It’s always nice feeling like I’m sharing the wealth because I have so many wonderful teachers that teach kids here.

We have a bunch of fine visual arts classes coming up for kids in 6-8 and 9-12 year old groups, and we have some cool family and 13+ classes as well. And we’re trying to build upon our April Break Vacation Program from 2025 by expanding that to February and April vacations in 2026.