It is with terrible sadness that the staff and trustees of Community Arts Partnership note the passing of our tremendous colleague and friend, the talented, generous and lovely Tracey McVerry Crossan.
Many of you will have seen and supported the heart-rending crowdfunding appeal that Tracey and her family made to give her more time after her devastating diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Unfortunately and so very regrettably, her difficult struggle for that extra time, came to end on Saturday morning (our time) in Mexico, where she had been undergoing intensive treatment over the previous 3 weeks. Owing to insurmountable circumstances around health and family needs, it wasn’t possible for her adoring family to be with her, and instead they turned to her closest friends to offer her the companionship and support to make this hopeful journey to Mexico. This was obviously an extremely difficult decision for a family so close in love and united in support to have to take.
To those friends , all of whom shared her connection to the arts community, we offer our deepest gratitude and highest regard and commiserations.
Tracey had been a committed and skilled artist and facilitator for our organisation since way back in 2000, when as a young woman recently graduated from York St Art College, she had taken early steps in her career working on various projects.
Since then, Tracey worked across so many of our programmes: she coordinated our ground-breaking Summer Mural Festival in 2005, where her efforts to support communities to “re-imagine” divisive murals , directly laid the groundwork for later major programmes like Re-Imaging Communities.
She led our City Skate programme the subsequent year and up until more recently the Landmarks public art programme, supporting communities across the country to realise public art that reflected their creative ambitions. She assisted on countless other projects, always generously going the extra mile to see high quality outcomes support genuinely community arts ideals of co-design and collaboration.
Tracey was a natural – a people person first and foremost, always bubbling with enthusiasm, ideas and no small amount of skill, ingenuity and passion.
Tracey leaves behind a now devastated husband and four children who had been the light of Tracey’s life. We offer our heartfelt sympathies to them in the midst of their loss.
She also leaves a host of friends and peers across a range of organisations, all of whom understand just how special she was, as a person, a colleague and an artist.
We extend our deepest condolences to her loving family circle and to her wide circle of friends and associates, all of whom will not forget her radiant smile, her warmth and that effervescent personality that touched so many over the years.
As members of CAP’s team have remarked in the hours since news of her death emerged, ‘it has been a privilege to know and work with her ‘ and indeed, it is with the heaviest of hearts that we wish her now every peace in her transition from this world.
Rest easy, Tracey. You will always have a special place in the hearts of all associated with community arts across this country and amongst your friends and colleagues over the years in CAP.
