Herbert Jones (’17)
Herbert S. Jones is a gospel musician, songwriter, and choral director with years of experience in museum human resources and volunteer management, with a passion for social justice. He received his undergraduate degree in economics with a minor in music from Northeastern University. He currently manages the intern and volunteer programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Herbert began his music career at Boston’s historic Concord Baptist Church and later became the Minister of Music at Messiah Baptist Church in Brockton, MA. His compositions have been performed by mass choirs at Thomas Dorsey’s National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, Inc., and the Edwin and Walter Hawkins Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference. He is a recipient of the New England Conservatory’s Gospel Music Award and a former member of its adjunct faculty, and has taught voice at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts.
For eight years, Herbert led a small ensemble, which performed his compositions exclusively and hosted a quarterly gospel coffeehouse at Brockton’s Fuller Museum of Art, now the Fuller Craft Museum. Since 2003, he’s directed BU’s Inner Strength Gospel Choir, a student-run organization that “…embodies the fulfillment of Dr. (Martin Luther) King’s dream,” according to Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“The Arts Administration program at Boston University allows me to formalize and contextualize the experiences and lessons of my career as an artist. For so long the arts/artists in faith communities have felt pressured to compromise in order to achieve success. I hope to acquire and share with them tools to maintain their values while pursuing and achieving success.”