“We hope Take pART will provide an opportunity for people in Ohio to share their arts experiences and in turn give others ideas to bring the arts into their own lives,” said OAC Executive Director Julie Henahan. “The arts play a part in each Ohioan’s life and we look forward to hearing stories from throughout the state.”

The purpose of Take pART is to demonstrate the wide variety of arts experiences that exist in communities throughout Ohio. Several years ago the OAC began working with its grantees and the public to define the public value of the arts. Public value is something that exists within each community and is created by the citizens, business and organizations of that community.

“While the OAC cannot define public value for the entire state or even for a particular community,” said Henahan, “through Take pART we can help Ohio’s citizens share their stories and experience the richness the arts add to everyone’s lives.”

To tell your story, visit http://www.oac.state.oh.us/ and click on the Take pART logo at the bottom of the page. Submissions will be reviewed and posted for others to read within two business days.

To find a list of events to experience in your area please visit ArtsinOhio.com.

Fleming-Gifford's extensive arts education experience includes serving as director of CHABAM, an early childhood arts education-based program located in Beachwood. She was also director of education for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio.

The Fine Arts Association is a non-profit community arts education and performance center, operating the School of Fine Arts with classes in the disciplines of music, visual art, theater and dance.

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced that Patrice Walker Powell will become the new deputy chairman for States, Regions, and Local Arts Agencies. This newly created position, reporting to senior deputy chairman Eileen Mason, will oversee the State and Regional Office as well as the Challenge America Fast-Track program and the NEA's AccessAbility activities.

Patrice Walker Powell has been with the NEA since 1991. She has been responsible for several initiatives including the Community Foundation Initiative with 26 participating foundations and the Rural Arts Initiative which funded 20 state arts agencies in their efforts to help stabilize rural arts organizations. She also has served as director of the Expansion Arts Program, director of Local Arts Agencies and acting deputy chairman.

National Endowment for the Arts announces the retirement of Arts Education Partnership director Dick Deasy.  Deasy led the Arts Education Partnership for more than a decade.  He will step down in June.

National Endowment for the Arts also announces the retirement of Arts Education Partnership director Dick Deasy.  Deasy led the Arts Education Partnership for more than a decade.  He will step down in June.

During Deasy’s tenure, Arts Education Partnership has published influential research on arts education in the United States.  He commissioned and edited its acclaimed report, Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, and most recently commissioned the research and co-authored the resulting book, Third Space: When Learning Matters, a study of the positive impact of arts education in underserved schools. 

Deasy has been a senior state education official in Maryland and Pennsylvania, president and CEO of the National Council for International Visitors and a prize-winning journalist covering politics and government at the state and local levels.  He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on housing and urban affairs in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

The Alliance of Artists Communities’ Board of Trustees has announced the appointment of Caitlin Strokosch as the Alliance’s new executive director. Strokosch was selected after a year-long strategic evaluation process led by the Executive Committee of the Board. She has worked for the Alliance since 2002, most recently as the program and communications director.

Strokosch has 10 years of arts management experience in marketing, development, communications, and program management. Most notably, she served as general manager of Bella Voce, one of the country’s premiere professional chamber choirs, and as executive director of CUBE, a new music ensemble based in Chicago.