Patrice Maye

Executive Director, South Shore Art Center

A non-profit executive with 25 years of experience in building resources and audiences for diverse
mission-driven organizations, Patrice Maye joined South Shore Art Center as Executive Director in 2017.
This position was a natural outgrowth of both her professional work to raise funding and awareness for
youth arts and social justice programming and her many years of volunteer work to embed art
experiences in the local schools and communities. Maye’s leadership has heightened community
recognition of South Shore Art Center as an inclusive and innovative art destination, with a particular
emphasis on public art and creative youth development. She has also used art as a lens to stimulate
dialogue on and funding for important issues with exhibitions such as: 99 Problems: A Caregivers Guide
to Alzheimer’s, September 2021; Black Lives and White Fragility, November 2021; and Breathe Life, June
2022.
Uniting art and audiences is more than a job for Maye; it is a calling. She heeds this call through
extensive volunteer efforts to implement creative placemaking strategies on Boston’s South Shore, with
the understanding that creative businesses and experiences lend vitality to communities and stimulate
economic development. In 2016, Maye co-founded the Scituate Harbor Cultural District to activate the
town’s commercial center with intentional opportunities for residents to interact with art and culture
through murals, live music, visual art demonstrations, and an annual Art Walk. This work led to a sister
city partnership with West Cork, Ireland in 2017 and the development of a South Shore Irish Heritage
Trail in 2021. It also found her co-chairing a Cultural Placemaking Committee for the South Shore
Chamber of Commerce as part their 2030 Agenda and calling attention to the vital and growing role of the
creative economy as a member of the Chamber’s Economic Development Council.
A creative writer of poetry and fiction, Maye holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Boston
College; and she was a candidate for a Master of Philology in Irish Studies from the University of Galway,
Ireland. She lives in Scituate with her husband, musician Jay FitzGibbons, and their sons Cole and
Declan.