Leigh Winter joined the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis in September 2022 as the Grants Operations Assistant. As a lifelong creative, Winter believes in the extraordinary power of the arts to engage, communicate, question, teach, heal and inspire. Bringing communities together through artistic expression and programming is integral to a thriving city, and Winter is excited to help support individual artists and arts organizations through the grant’s process so they can bring their visions to St. Louis.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Winter spent 20 years in New York City after graduating from college. Her time there was spent working in the arts and assisting artists, critics, designers, architects and arts organizations. For 12 of those years, she worked for two renowned art schools — Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts. In her various roles within higher education, Winter taught undergraduates, coordinated an internship program, counseled students and alumni in all aspects of career development, organized exhibitions and produced programming and events for artists and designers.
Since returning to St. Louis in 2012, Winter has worked in the non-profit sector in addition to being a writer, consultant and volunteer. For the past nine years, she has coordinated the Schools and Art Activities area of the Historic Shaw Art Fair, which gives St. Louis City K-12 students a chance to display their artwork and envision themselves as working artists while highlighting our city’s exceptional art teachers.
Winter earned an MFA in Sculpture with a minor in Art Criticism from Pratt Institute and a BFA in Design with an emphasis in Metalsmithing from the University of Kansas. She also has a Certificate in Career Counseling from New York University.
When not serving artists and not-for-profit organizations, Winter spends time in her studio and enjoys exploring everything the St. Louis creative community has to offer with her family. Her greatest joys include supporting her son’s artistic pursuits and watching him ride ramps and practice new tricks on his skateboard.