Clarice "Dollie" McLean (born 1936) is founding executive director of the

Artists Collective, Inc. The Artists Collective, Inc. is an interdisciplinary cultural institution in Hartford, Connecticut, that promotes the art and culture of the African diaspora. It was founded in 1970 by alto saxophonist, composer, educator and community activist Jack ...

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. McLean, born Clarice Helene Simmons in Antigua, West Indies, was raised in Manhattan, New York. She studied dance under

Katherine Dunham Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for ma ...

, Jon Leone Destine,

Asadata Dafora Austin Dafora Horton (4 August 1890 – 4 March 1965) also known as Asadata Dafora was a Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. He was one of the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States, beginning in the early ...

, and

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...

. In 1970 she and her husband

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

(whose vision and concept was the Artists Collective) enlisted local artists bassist Paul (PB) Brown, dancer Cheryl Smith, and visual artist Ionis Martin to join them in establishing the Artists Collective, Inc. in Hartford, Connecticut.

Sources

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame History of the Artists Collective Inc.Connecticut Historical Society

References

Living people American female dancers Dancers from Connecticut African-American dancers African-American actresses 1936 births 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women {{US-business-bio-stub

See also

Sources

References