1991 – Charlevoix, Michigan
Joan M. MacGillivray has focused her time and energy on the promotion of the arts. She believes that, “without the arts our quality of life is diminished. As we have no deMedici family to support the arts (and the government is either unable to or attaches too many controls) it is up to business to assume this role. I am proud to have been associated with Northwood University, itself a business whose spirit of free enterprise reaches beyond national boundaries because it believes in the marriage of business and the arts. To that end it teaches students how to use the arts in business and in life, teaches artists how to market themselves in a businesslike way and has supported a fine orchestra which performed for several years in the Barn at Dunmaglas.” (Ed. Note, this innovative performance place was created by Joan and her developer husband Kenneth C. (Chuck) from a 100 year old barn on their Charlevoix, Michigan property. It housed and presented the Northwood Orchestra Music-Fest for several summers.) A graduate of the University of Michigan, Joan is past president of the Flint (Michigan) Beautification Commission, the Founders Society of the Flint Institute of Arts, the Professional Theatre of Flint and has served on the boards of the Michigan Nature Conservancy, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Crooked Tree Arts Council and, in Florida, the Martin County Council for the Arts, the Center for the Arts and the Lyric Theatre. She has five children and several grandchildren.
