Help enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Rosemary Tracy Woods at the Arts Square Group Gallery at Tower Square.
Rosemary Tracy Woods, the owner of Springfield’s Art for the Soul Gallery and manager of the Artist Square Group Gallery in Tower Square, has lived a life that combines her love of art with a sense of social justice.
She grew up the only girl in a Philadelphia family with eight brothers that included the famous R&B singer, Harold Melvin of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. She lived in New York City at 92nd Central Park West with neighbors like Gladys Knight, Quincy Jones and Nikki Giovanni. She performed with Sammy Davis Jr. in the play “Golden Boy.”
“My brother had great hits and I always traveled with his band and helped him out. Even when traveling all over the country, I would always find a gallery or museum because it was my refuge. It was so peaceful and quiet," Woods said.
Woods first came to the Springfield area in the early 1970s with her fiancé, her childhood sweetheart. When he did not return home from Vietnam, she immersed herself in study at Temple University in Philadelphia before transitioning into politics to work on the Massachusetts campaign of Edward William Brooke III, the first African American elected to the Senate by popular vote.
“All my life I’ve always been very social justice oriented and have defended the underdog. One of my jobs that I enjoyed the most, in fact the first official job I had, was as an interim director for the governor’s committee on employment of persons with disabilities,” said Wood, about a post with Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker to enforce regulations of the then new Americans with Disabilities Act.
She recalled the effort it to took to hire an American Sign Language interpreter for someone from the West Hartford-based American School for the Deaf to attend a Connecticut conference.
“As I learned the job, I was so startled by how people were being treated,” Woods said.
“Speaking out is a habit. I know how to get results and don’t mind working hard. I’m not going to fluff it. People sometimes want you to do that and I can’t.”
Woods was recognized for her outstanding achievement by the State of Connecticut as a coordinator of diversity programs.
Woods also aided blind and visually-impaired persons who wanted to apply for state jobs. She recalled the effort involved to have a test translated into Braille, a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers, for an applicant.
"It’s really amazing how things have shifted since those early days,” said Woods, who retired three years ago from the Small Agency Resource Team of the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services.
From the start, Woods worked with artists with disabilities, and created a state-wide art contest for children that still continues today in Connecticut.
“It takes a special person to be an artist and we have to be inclusive and encouraging to the artists with disabilities because they are even more special,” Woods said.
In the early 1990s, Woods ran a small gallery with a friend in Hartford and became an expert on African American Renaissance art. Seventeen years ago, she opened the Art for the Soul Gallery in the lobby of Classical High School Condominiums, where she has lived for many years.
“I’ve curated shows with prominent artists like Frank Frazier, Larry 'Poncho' Brown and many famous contemporary artists and photographers. The very first show was funded by a grant and featured artists from the Sierra Leone. I did that in connection to the Wadsworth Athenaeum’s Amistad exhibit (in Hartford) and worked with Deirdre Bibby to get that going,” said the former Springfield Museums docent.
Woods has worked extensively with both the Springfield and Massachusetts Cultural Councils.
“The arts can happen here and they are happening here. I’d like to see more galleries and success for galleries,” said Woods, a member of the Springfield Business Improvement District.
“You can’t have economic development without the arts. My dream is for the empty storefronts here to be turned into places for public art. In Boston, two percent of all new construction is dedicated to the arts and I think it should be something that’s in the regulations state-wide."
Through her work with Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, Woods met first lady Michele Obama. In 2010, Woods was awarded an Unsung Heroine Award from the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. She also received a special recognition from Governor Deval Patrick for her work with the arts.
Her work with artists of all abilities earned her a Massachusetts House of Representatives citation for “exemplary dedication and outstanding contributions to community service and diligent efforts to promote multicultural understandings and inclusivity through the arts.”
“I didn’t get here by myself. I’ve had wonderful people to help me along the way and it’s just so awesome. I want to do the same for others and I want to know that I helped or inspired someone to bring out their creativity,” Woods said.
The grandmother of three and great-grandmother of four is enrolled in the arts management and museum studies program at the University of Massachusetts.
“I always say that I want to be a mark that cannot be erased. I want to leave a legacy in between that dash by helping to encourage others,” she said of her goal to continue to expand the arts in Springfield.