How a Performance Artist Is Helping a D.C. Hotel Be a Hub of Culture
Photo Credit: The Eaton Workshop Hotel in D.C., shown here, is pursuing a unique strategy that includes hiring a director of culture. Eaton Workshop
Skift Take
It's not unusual for hotels to talk about how they curate local culture into the experience. But a new hotel in Washington, D.C. is not just talking the talk, but walking the walk with this job.
When a key member of a hotel’s executive team is introduced to a reporter while wearing loose-fitting jeans and a sweatshirt adorned by Piggly Wiggly’s smiling swine logo, one realizes that this is likely no ordinary hotel...nor an ordinary hotel employee. Indeed, Sheldon Scott, director of culture for Eaton Hotel Washington DC, part of the Eaton Workshop brand, brings a unique background to his first true "corporate" job.
Scott comes from the world of psychology and mental health. The forty-something South Carolina native began his career with Boys and Girls Clubs. He then moved to Washington, D.C. working in the fields of substance abuse, sex offender treatment, and mental health.
A few years later, he turned his attention to the arts. “I wanted to scale the process of healing through art," said Scott. He started by performing one-man shows mined from his experiences in the Gullah/Geechee South and in mental health practice. Next, he developed the craft of “sharing n
