Joan Oates was an educator, artist, and philanthropist who believed that the arts have no boundaries, that arts are a universal language among all people, and that the arts are integral to learning all subjects. She was humble, kind, patient, and empowering, and as she worked throughout her life to make the arts accessible to everyone, she always had a twinkle in her eyes and a smile for all.
As founding co-chair of Partners in the Arts (PIA), Oates worked with the Arts Council of Richmond’s research team, Arts Market Consultants, and school divisions to develop the vision and mission of this unique arts-in-education program. The Arts in Education Plan developed from 18 months of research that included over 150 schools and community members, and received the highest non-museum grant awarded from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Oates was instrumental in obtaining an additional NEA grant for PIA in 2004, supporting teacher training, assessment, and projects in schools.
Following the 1994 inaugural year of PIA Awards supporting arts-integrated projects in schools, the first PIA summer institute was held in 1995 on the University of Richmond campus. In 2009, Oates worked with then-President Ed Ayers to bring PIA to the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (SPCS) permanently. She endowed the summer institute, which became the Joan Oates Institute, with the largest individual gift to SPCS.
Guided by Oates’ vision, PIA has trained over 1,200 teachers and the PIA Awards have supported over 200 projects, awarding $1.2M to teams of teachers and artists for projects in Richmond-area schools. Her support and passion impacted many of our regions’ best projects, such as the Richmond Ballet’s Minds in Motion program, which started as a PIA dance grant.
Oates was a unique artist and educator, and a rare individual who lived by example. Her name was rarely in the newspaper, except when she was asked to write articles on the arts. She was as comfortable speaking with political representatives as she was sitting on the floor teaching first graders. Oates epitomized the “servant leader,” someone who leads through helping others.
The YWCA honored Joan in 2007 as one of Richmond’s Outstanding Women. She also received the Central Virginia AFP Chapter Individual Philanthropist of the Year award in 2013 and was selected among 2013 Women in the Arts by Style Weekly. Oates is a member of the University of Richmond Quatrefoil Society as a benefactor whose transformative philanthropy over time has helped shape the University.
The legacy of Joan Oates lives on in the Joan Oates Institute, in the curricula of hundreds of teachers trained through PIA, and in the educational experiences of thousands of local students who benefited from high-quality integrated instruction.
