As CuDC’s first professional staff member, Anne Corbett took responsibility for the transition from planning to implementation, overseeing the creation of CuDC and its programs, often working in cooperation with other partners or stakeholders, such as DC’s Office of Planning, Department of Housing & Community Development, Commission on the Arts & Humanities and Downtown Business Improvement District.

In this capacity, she coordinated the creation of the NoMa Development Strategy to guide development in underused areas north of Massachusetts Avenue. She helped launch Art-O-Matic, the country’s largest artist-driven multi-media exhibit. She advised the General Services Administration on the development program for the Jefferson at Penn Quarter, which now includes Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She also advised the sale and redevelopment of several historic properties, including the Tivoli and Atlas theaters. Anne has also guided CuDC’s participation on several development teams who have won public land competitions. Mather Studios, working with PN Hoffman, included 12 affordable condominiums for artists and their families and Flashpoint, a creative laboratory for DC's arts industry that combines strategic business support with affordable space.

Current projects include:

• Developing affordable work/live condominiums in partnership with Manna, Inc.;
  
• Developing a mixed-use project in partnership with Marshall Heights CDO, and Jair Lynch Companies east of the Anacostia River;
  
• Advising Boston Properties, JBG and Akridge companies on mixed-use development projects; and
  
• Delivering technical assistance to artists and arts organizations.

Prior to joining this effort full-time in 1998, Anne was a Program Officer for Partners for Livable Communities where she delivered technical assistance to government agencies, foundations and nonprofit organizations looking to put cultural assets to work for community revitalization. In this capacity, she managed DC’s Arts in a Living Downtown process and orchestrated the culminating summit hosted by then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Canadian Embassy. From this project, she published Arts in a Living Downtown: A Guide to Putting Arts to Work for Downtown Revitalization (Partners for Livable Communities, 1998).

Anne’s other responsibilities at Partners included managing a $3.5 million initiative of the William Penn Foundation and advising a $3 million initiative of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. She has also worked in new store development for the Taco Bell Corporation, private consulting with a national economic development advisor, and at the National Main Street Center.

Anne earned a Master of Community Planning specializing in Economic Development from the University of Maryland. Her award-winning thesis analyzed the economic impact of stadium and arena development. She graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Economics. She is a committee chair serving the Creative Communities Initiative at the Community Foundation of the National Capitol Region and a volunteer program officer for the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. She is a member of the Leadership Washington Class of 2001, serves on the Board of Directors of the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, and was formerly on the Board of the Lincoln Theatre.