Ohio Arts Council Executive Director Search Update
by Jami Goldstein

The Ohio Arts Council Board has decided to re-open the search for the successor of the agency’s long-tenured Executive Director, Wayne P. Lawson.

''The Ohio Arts Council Board Search Committee has not recommended any candidate to the Board for consideration for the position of Executive Director,'' said Susan Sofia, OAC Board Chair. ''Therefore, we are re-opening the search and the Board will contract with a consultant to actively recruit candidates for us to consider.''

Lawson will serve as Executive Director through March 31. OAC Board Chair Susan Sofia appointed Deputy Director, Julie Henahan, as the Interim Director effective April 3, 2006. Search consultant Adele Silver, of New York City and Washington, D.C., will assist in identifying qualified candidates on a national level.

Long hailed as the most visionary arts leader in the country, Wayne Lawson’s groundbreaking initiatives have made the Ohio Arts Council one of the foremost state arts councils in America in terms of funding, both public and private, long-range planning and evaluation, support for individual artists and innovative services to constituents in all arts disciplines. Upon his retirement Lawson will be appointed Director Emeritus of the Ohio Arts Council. He will teach classes in the Arts Administration and Public Policy Program of The Ohio State University and work with the Ohio Arts Foundation, Inc. on international cultural exchange projects.

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

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