Diana Francis – Executive Director
Bachelor of Arts (BA), English and a Communications Minor concentrated on Film Studies, Virginia Tech
Master of Arts in Education (M.A.Ed.), Teaching and Learning, Virginia Tech
Diana has been a Blacksburg resident since 1994. She grew up in Arlington, Virginia where her father and mother worked for The National Park Service and The Library of Congress, respectively. As a kid, she accompanied her parents to a variety of concerts, museum events, monument unveilings, historic landmarks, and outdoor events on the National Mall and as a high school student, she interned at both the Library of Congress and Ford’s Theatre. She credits her appreciation of history, culture, and ghost stories to these experiences.
Diana comes to this role after an 8-year dual role as the Gallery Manager and co-founder of The Artful Lawyer, A Fine Gallery Inc. and a paralegal at The Creekmore Law Firm where in addition to curating art exhibits, she helped start and manage events such as Blacksburg en Blanc, Dinner en Noir, paint parties, and figure drawing.
Diana has raised two boys in Blacksburg, and as a mother and avid outdoor runner, cyclist and hiker, is quite happy with all this town and surrounding areas offer. She also spends much of her spare time in another historic building downtown, The Lyric Theatre, where she volunteers on Monday nights, serves on the Board, and facilitates the Reel Talks (post-film discussions) on Sunday afternoons.
Allison Roach – Museum Exhibits and Events Assistant
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Art History and Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Allison grew up in Concord, North Carolina and developed a deep passion for local history and archaeology as a child. She loved visiting museums like the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art along with smaller town establishments such as the Reed’s Gold Mine in Concord, NC.
As a child, she received a STEM based education furthering her passion in archaeology. Upon entering college, she became determined to combine her love of the arts and history with data driven research and implementing this in a meaningful way to the surrounding community. She chose to double major in Art History and Anthropology to combine the best of both worlds!
Allison moved to Los Angeles to explore potential careers options and see as much as the country as she could. After two years away, she has come back to the town she quickly grew to love and is eager to learn and promote the importance of conserving local history!
Allison started in late June as a full-time employee, working directly with the Executive Director on planning exhibits and events. Currently, she is conducting research for our upcoming Fall exhibit, “Death and Mourning Rituals in the Victorian Age,” and almost every day comes up with a new idea about how to present this information in an engaging exhibit format. She has helped us brainstorm a variety of ways to install our upstairs timeline, and in restarting our Archive of the Week series, has found and researched items in our collection to post – with Enya’s skilled voiceovers – every week until the end of this year. Allison has also been instrumental in organizing our collections. She and Jacqueline spend a great deal of time together on this task, which includes not only archiving and data entry, but physical work in moving items to their proper containers, re-tagging, and making room for extra storage space. We are beyond thrilled that she moved back to Blacksburg from Los Angeles and joined our team.
Kayla Crowder – Museum Assistant
CDA, Early Childhood Education
Kayla grew up in Pulaski County, but has lived in Radford, VA for the last 15 years. The New River Valley is somewhere Kayla has always been proud to call home and her appreciation for the vibrant community and rich history that Blacksburg offers is something she has long appreciated. Kayla fell in love with The Alexander Black House when she attended a concert prior to the museum’s opening and she is honored to now be part of the incredible team at BMCF.
Kayla has a CDA in Early Childhood Education and teaches private art lessons in her home studio in addition to working part time with BMCF. In all endeavors Kayla enjoys fostering curiosity and creativity while building community. Event planning and hosting are passions of Kayla’s and she can’t wait to assist with and attend the museum’s offerings.
Kayla is our most recent hire and has already given us creative ideas and added to the joy we feel in the house. We are thrilled to welcome her to our team!
Enya Armstrong – Work-Study Student
Currently working toward a degree in Studio Art and Art History from Virginia Tech
Enya grew up in D.C. and moved to Blacksburg when they were around 10. They are currently a sophomore studying Studio Art and Art History at Virginia Tech. While living in D.C., they and their mom frequented the Smithsonian museums almost every weekend, so they have always been interested in learning about almost anything, though they are partial to art. Working in a local museum is a nice way for them to help preserve knowledge and help educate people about the past culture of the area. In their free time, they love hiking, painting, and playing bass.
Enya takes their work study responsibilities very seriously, approaching it with determination and efficiency. Our Artifact of the Week series has returned with new life and vigor, in no small part due to Enya’s voiceovers. Being a “theatre kid,” they immediately jumped at the opportunity for this new role, and we are very thankful.
Jacqueline Mann – Museum Volunteer
Currently working toward a degree in Classical Studies from Virginia Tech
Usually you can find Jacqueline Mann at home glued to her computer coding, playing video games, or watching five-hour long random video essays on YouTube. Otherwise, she is a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in classical studies and minoring in creative writing, so when she was able to secure an internship at a museum, she was over the moon. Jacqueline says, “Growing up in the suburbs often times your world can feel devoid of history, everything paved over in a thin layer of concrete and white paint. Every day I learn something new about a place I love and challenge myself in ways I would have never expected. Just last week I was cataloging something as simple as a charm bracelet, but each charm told a story and held a piece of this person’s past. Her various sports charms bragged about her school’s championships, her starfish charm told me she loved the ocean, and the creepy baby charm spoke on her sense of humor. It’s these simple yet deeply personal pieces of history I love the most.”
Jacqueline’s title of “volunteer” is a misnomer considering how much she has helped the museum in a very short time. We gave her the monumental task of organizing, scanning, cataloging, and archiving items in our collections, and she is exceedingly skilled at doing so. She does not think of this work as purely data entry but has taken to it with great interest, expressing her care for our community’s rich history.
Frankie Keene – Museum Volunteer
Currently working toward a Master’s degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech
Frankie is currently a graduate student in the Masters of Architecture program at Virginia Tech. He attended VT for his undergraduate degrees in Property Management and Residential Environments & Design. His involvement through the work-study program brings him to the museum to do handiwork from quick fixes to planned projects. The Black House has become a passion of his, and he wants to help preserve this beautiful piece of history.
Frankie started work with us as a VT Work Study student, doing everything from building exhibit features and storage units to painting entire rooms and helping with holiday decorating. He decided to continue his work on a volunteer basis during the summer, showing his dedication to implementing creative ideas and helping the museum in a variety of areas. We very much look forward to continue working with him throughout the rest of his school year.
Alison Penczak – Museum Volunteer
Currently working toward a degree in Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech
Ali grew up just outside of Richmond and came to Blacksburg to attend Virginia Tech. Currently, she is in her final year of undergraduate studies as an urban planning and landscape architecture student. Her passions for historic preservation and meaningful community design are what sparked her interest in becoming involved in the museum. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outside, crafting, and cooking. As a volunteer for BMCF, she works to preserve local knowledge through museum projects.
Graciela Santopietro – Museum Volunteer
Graciela came from Argentina in 1985 to pursue her PH. D degree in Plant Pathology and never left Blacksburg. She worked at Virginia Tech as a researcher and taught Biology classes at Radford University. She is married to George and has two grown-up children. Upon her “retirement” started volunteering in five different organizations including St Mary’s Catholic church in Blacksburg. She enjoys giving back to the community that helps her be a better person. She enjoys traveling, keeping fit with a daily gym routine including Zumba, meeting friends for lunch or coffee, and loves watching movies at the Lyric, series on Netflix and PBS.