OAC Executive Director Julie S. Henahan Re-elected to National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Board of Directors
by Elizabeth Weinstein

The national service organization for state arts councils, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), has re-elected Ohio Arts Council (OAC) Executive Director Julie S. Henahan to the board of directors for a three-year term beginning in 2013. The election took place at NASAA's annual meeting on October 6. Henahan previously served on the board from 2010-2012.

"I look forward to working closely with my colleagues on the NASAA board and the entire membership on the critical issues facing state arts agencies over the next few years funding, creative economic development and changing patterns in arts participation," Henahan said.

Henahan, OAC executive director since 2006, is a long-tenured member of the OAC staff with 28 years experience as an arts administrator. From 2002-2006 she served as deputy director and from 1994-2002, she served as the OAC's Grants Office director. She currently serves on NASAA's Governance Committee and the National Standard Working Group and has served on NASAA's Research Information and the Planning and Budget Committees in the past.

"NASAA's board of directors is the policy making forum for the state and territorial arts agencies of the United States," said NASAA CEO Jonathan Katz. "In her first term, Julie gave us good guidance as we reviewed how NASAA gathers information and makes policy decisions. By electing her a second term, her colleagues have expressed confidence in her leadership as we promote best practices among state arts agencies and strengthen the federal-state arts support partnership in the months ahead."

Henahan has taken on leadership roles at the OAC throughout her career guiding the agency through significant changes in programming, staffing and resources over the last three years. Most recently Henahan was asked to serve on the Ohio State University's Town and Gown Committee for the Arts and has been working with the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board and the Ohio Holocaust Memorial Committee to evaluate proposals from artists for the creation of the memorial slated for dedication in 2014.

Other newly elected or re-appointed NASAA board of directors members are: Kim Baker, executive director, Oklahoma Arts Council; John Bracey, executive director, Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs; Margaret Hunt, director, Utah Division of Arts and Museums; Susan Landis, chair, West Virginia Commission on the Arts; Todd Lowe, chair, Kentucky Arts Council; Bill Mandicott, councilor, Maryland State Arts Council; Lionell Thomas, executive director, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

About NASAA:
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies is the membership organization that unites, represents and serves the nation's state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Each of the 56 states and jurisdictions has created an agency to support excellence in and access to the arts. NASAA's mission is to strengthen state arts agencies. NASAA represents their individual and collective interests, empowers their work through knowledge, and advances the arts as an essential public benefit.

About OAC:
The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.

PHOTO AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

[top]