Ask anyone familiar with RCC’s arts programs what makes Cheri Danaher special and they’ll likely say: she makes people feel welcome. As RCC marks World Art Day, we are celebrating Cheri and the lasting impact she has on this community. For 35 years, she helped build not only arts programs but a sense of belonging for children, families, instructors and artists across Reston.
Cheri’s story at RCC began in 1990 when she joined the organization as a part-time Box Office assistant. A year later, she became Box Office Manager. In 1994, she stepped into the role that would shape the rest of her career as Arts Education Director.
Over the next three decades, Cheri helped grow RCC’s visual and performing arts programs into something deeply meaningful for the Reston community. Under her care, the arts at RCC became a place where people gained confidence, whether they were experienced artists or trying something new for the first time.
One of the biggest milestones in Cheri’s career came in 1999 with the opening of RCC Lake Anne. The building was much smaller then, but the vision was already clear. With a small team and a great deal of dedication, Cheri helped launch programs in ceramics, visual arts, music and children’s performing arts while also helping run the facility day to day. She later played an important role in its expansion, advocating for the spaces artists and students truly needed, including well-equipped studios, dedicated galleries and thoughtful details that make creativity feel at home.
Her impact reaches beyond RCC as well. Cheri was among the first RCC staff to earn Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP) certification. She represented RCC in Fairfax County strategic planning efforts and graduated from Leadership Fairfax, later receiving its Torchbearer Award. Still, what stands out most is how personal her work feels.
She has a gift for making people feel seen.
That is especially true in her work with children and families through programs like the Young Actors Theatre (YAT). Cheri created an environment where shy kids found their voices and more experienced performers stretched in new ways. She welcomed children and caregivers by name, calmed nerves and brought a steady warmth that helped people feel they belonged. For many families, that is what they remember most. Not just the classes or performances, but the way Cheri made the experience feel.
That same spirit shapes her approach to arts education.
She believes the arts should be open to everyone and be inviting rather than intimidating. They should give people room to be curious, take risks and discover something new about themselves. RCC’s arts programs reflect that belief because Cheri lived it every day.
Even at home, Cheri’s love of the arts is easy to see. Her house is filled with photographs, paintings and ceramics by Reston artists, including RCC instructors and students. It reflects a life grounded in creativity and rooted in the community she helped nurture for so many years.
At Cheri’s retirement celebration, RCC’s Executive Director BeBe Nguyen noted that Cheri did not simply build an arts education program. She cultivated “a creative ecosystem” where curiosity was welcome, risk was encouraged and talent was nurtured with patience and joy.
That feels exactly right.
On World Art Day, we celebrate the global arts community and we celebrate Cheri Danaher, whose decades of care and dedication helped make art not just something people attend in Reston but something they feel part of. Her legacy lives in each studio, gallery, classroom and stage at RCC and in those who found encouragement, connection and joy through the programs she helped shape.
