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Mainframe hires Julia Franklin as new executive director

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A white woman with brown hair wearing a blue jacket and black shirt

Mainframe Studios has chosen Julia Franklin to serve as its next executive director. Starting Dec. 1, she will lead the thriving arts hub on downtown’s north side, which opened in 2017 and is now the biggest nonprofit art studio building in the country. “I really want to champion artists in our community, so they feel like they’re essential,” Franklin told dsm magazine. “I also want everyone who comes into the building to find art that interests them, that represents them and that connects them to what they’re feeling inside and with the world.” Franklin currently works as the community investment specialist at Bravo Greater Des Moines, where she manages a $4 million annual grant program that invests in more than 85 arts and culture nonprofits in Central Iowa. Previously, she taught art at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, where she helped guide the construction and operations at the Helene Center for the Visual Arts. She also managed the Anderson Gallery at Drake University. Mainframe’s board of directors chose Franklin after a five-month search, prompted by the departure of its founding executive director, Siobhan Spain, who left the role in June.