Ellen Naomi Zisholtz is the President/CEO of Center for Creative Partnerships. For ten years, she served as the Director of the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium at South Carolina State University, where she was Assistant Professor, teaching Museum Studies in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. She was a Board member for the national Association of African American Museums and a Trustee for Penn Center. In addition to her career as a visual artist, Ellen has worked in a variety of art forms - curating visual art exhibitions; producing theatre, music and dance.
She is presently Project Director for Center for Creative Partnerships’ preservation of All Star Bowling Lanes, on the National Register for the Orangeburg Massacre, important in Civil Rights History, and the development of an Artist Village with affordable artist housing, work-spaces for visual and performing artists, a gallery/Museum and an art centered day-care center, as a centerpiece for the redevelopment of downtown Orangeburg.
Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions including the Meridian Museum of Art, MS., York W. Bailey Museum at Penn Center, SC , the Cochran Gallery, Ga. and SOHO on 6, NYC.
Her honors and awards include:
2025 NYU Steinhardt international Award as the 2025 Visionary
2023 Social Justice Award, South Carolina State University
2017 Museum Leadership Award, Association of African American Museums at Conference hosted by National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC
2015 Medal for Social Justice and Civil Rights, National Civil Rights Conference,
Commemoration for Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, Historic Mount Zion Methodist Church, awarded by the Mayor, Philadelphia, Mississippi
2015 Featured Artist for National Civil Rights Conference, Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, Mississippi2015 Social Justice Award to the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium, at Commemoration for the Orangeburg Massacre
2011 Governor’s Award for the Humanities for the State of South Carolina to the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium
First SC State University Faculty Award in Creativity; Awarded at May 2011at Commencement Ceremony; Presented by Congressman James Clyburn
Orangeburg Links, Inc.; Award for Service to the Community in the Arts; May 2008
Center for Creative Partnerships has been involved in a number of creative projects including: Creative Roots, a community arts project in Beaufort, S.C. which utilized multi-arts to uproot racism from the community; and the Penn Center Gullah Studies Institute on St. Helena Island, S.C., where Ellen was the consultant for creating the program.
Her international work includes projects in Northern Ireland, Taiwan, Poland, Georgia, and the Dominican Republic, as well as participation in major festivals in Edinburgh, Budapest, Prague, Lyon, Aarhus, and Montreal.
Ellen graduated from Hunter College High School, studied at the Art Students League with Rudolf Baranik, earned her BA from City College of the City University of New York, studying with Dr. Kenneth Clark, where she earned a Tremaine Scholarship and was elected into the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society. She completed her MA in Arts Administration at New York University where she earned a Kurtz Scholarship and worked as an Assistant in the Doctor of Arts Program.
Across her career, Ellen has united art, education, and community development to preserve history, advance social justice, and inspire the next generation.
Artist Statement
My work is influenced by the great mentors from whom I was privileged to learn - including civil rights icons: Dr. Kenneth Clark, Dr. Dante Puzzo, and artists: Rudolf Baranik, Leon Golub and Nancy Spero.
The philosophy that guides my work and life is expressed in the Mission Statement of Center for Creative Partnerships:
The Center for Creative Partnerships (CCP) is an educational organization of Conscience and Social Justice. It is grounded in the belief that arts, culture, and history can be used to preserve memory, confront injustice, and inspire new generations. It seeks to preserve the lessons of the struggle for civil rights in the community based on the conviction that silence and erasure are unacceptable. Truth becomes the foundation for reconciliation. Therefore, the organization's principal goals are to restore and maintain the long-term viability of historical, cultural, and community icons; create forums for community dialogue; present historic and artistic exhibitions; and to serve as a catalyst for tourism through the redevelopment of downtown.