Meet Glens Falls Symphony Springtime Gala 2026

Honoree: Dr. Jacquiline Touba

Dr. Jacquiline Touba is an artist as well as a sociologist and museum professional. For close to 50 years, she has created pen and ink drawings of interesting sites on her world travels. After teaching and conducting research abroad for 15 years, her interest in art, education, and international affairs prompted her to found the World Awareness Children’s Museum.

This educational institution is located in Glens Falls, NY and fosters knowledge and appreciation of world cultures through exhibitions, interactive programming, the International Youth Art Exchange, and educator-led tours. She is also a Museum Assessment Program Reviewer for the American Association of Museums.

Dr. Touba’s diverse and extensive experience, both here and abroad, as a curator, published author, independent scholar, university professor, and sociologist, inspired her to initiate the International Youth Art Exchange and to help create the museum in 1995 with a mission to foster awareness and understanding of worldwide cultural diversity for children and adults.

From 1970 to 1980, she taught sociology and conducted research as Head of the Comparative Sociology Section of the Institute for Social Studies and Research at Tehran University in Tehran, Iran. While overseas, she also served as a consultant to the Joint Study of Widows with USHEW and the University of Cairo in Egypt and conducted research on many social issues affecting Iranian women and children.

Upon returning to the United States in 1980, Touba taught at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs and entered into private business. In 1984, she founded the International Arts and Culture Association in Glens Falls, which led to the creation of the International Festival of the Adirondacks, International Youth Art Exchange, and cultural outreach programs for children.

Jacky worked for the Planning Service of South Holland. Her work led to a law in the parliament which designated a forever green area to keep Rotterdam and Gouda separate.

After retiring in 2013, she brought her administrative skills to the Board of North Country Arts and the Glens Falls Arts District Committee. She started designing one-of-a-kind necklaces with silver components collected from around the world and semi-precious stones, as well as earrings. She continued her artistic and international interests by researching and drawing dancers around the world, birds in mythology, and paintings influenced by Persian miniatures. In 2015, she discovered a new art form of watercolor batik on Japanese Ginwashi paper and applied this technique to her art in vibrant colors.

From 2015, she did a series of coloring books of her pen and ink dancer drawings on five continents and a series of watercolor batiks of selected international dancers, a Birds in Mythology coloring book, and selected birds in watercolor batik paintings which are available in note cards as well. In 2021, a coloring book, Images of Women in the 15th-16th c.

Dr. Touba is a published author, and her extensive research and writings have been featured in many national and international publications and meetings. Professional organizations she belongs to include the American Association of Museums, Association of Youth Museums, National Art Education Association and New England Museum Association.

An active member of her community, Jacky is a proud member of the Rotary Club of Glens Falls, Lower Adirondacks Regional Arts Council, Lake George Arts Project and North Country Arts Center, the Hyde Collection, and the Chapman Museum.

She is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Zonta International Peace Award, the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council Apple Award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts in Education, the Girl Scout Woman of Distinction, the Soroptimist’s Making a Difference for Women Award, and the 2023 Henry & Betsy Crandall Award by the Crandall Public Library.

This spring, Dr. Touba will be the 37th recipient of the Annual J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award presented by the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC).