Marlene Cooper Vasilic is the vice president for Outreach and Special Events at American Progress. Prior to coming to American Progress, she was the assistant director for distance learning initiatives and audience enrichment at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, responsible for managing the Center’s adult education program and leading in the development, design, and production of more than 80 ballet, symphonic music, modern dance, jazz, theater, and festival multicultural arts programs for the general public every year. She coordinated special projects at the Kennedy Center, including the annual Multicultural Children’s Book Festival, the National College Dance Festival, and the international Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell summer program.
Vasilic has also worked as the director of education and associate curator of Off Center for Center Stage, the state theater of Maryland. She developed and managed educational programs, Off Center performances, and multiple educational publications. She also established the Community Action Board of civic leaders of Baltimore, Baltimore County, and surrounding areas.
Vasilic has served as a cultural specialist in Argentina and program evaluator in Cyprus for the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Ambassadors program, and as an arts educator and writer for Arena Stage, the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Dance Institute of Washington, and Dance/USA Journal. She has also served as a panelist and grant evaluator for the Maryland State Arts Council; as a theater instructor for Johns Hopkins University’s Odyssey program and Baltimore’s ARTSCAPE Festival; and as a project director for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s play-reading series.
Vasilic is a former member of the D.C. Playback Theater Company, the Baltimore Mayor’s Advisory Council of Arts and Culture, the First Night Annapolis Advisory Board, and the Fine Arts Advisory Committee for Baltimore City Public Schools. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
Vasilic is a graduate of Purdue University and is originally from Monrovia, Liberia.