OAC Executive Director Julie S. Henahan Elected to National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Board of Directors
by Jami Goldstein
The national service organization for state arts councils, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), has elected Ohio Arts Council (OAC) executive director Julie S. Henahan as one of five new board of directors members for a three-year term beginning in 2010. The election took place at NASAA's annual meeting on November 6.
“This appointment is a great opportunity to work with colleagues from around the country to position our state arts agencies for sustainable and successful futures and to keep access to the arts open to all,” said Henahan.
Henahan, OAC executive director since 2006, is a long-tenured member of the Ohio Arts Council staff with more than 25 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 has served on the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ Research Information Committee, the National Standard Working Group and NASAA’s Planning and Budget Committee.
"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. "I look forward to working with this great group of leaders who have been elected by their peers to help focus our collective resources on the most effective ways to broaden and deepen participation in the arts in this very challenging environment."
Henahan has long taken a leadership role at the OAC spearheading important projects and demonstrating her knowledge of the national arts environment, her professionalism and capability to successfully guide the agency in good times and bad. Henahan was one of five OAC staff members selected to participate in the Wallace Foundation’s program for a State Arts Partnership for Cultural Participation (START) grant award. The focused work that resulted from this grant allowed the agency to streamline its granting programs from 24 to seven.
She guided the agency through the implementation of the new OnLine Grant Application system (OLGA) and the agency’s engagement of two major federal grants for it’s international work. In addition, her grant proposal writing has earned the OAC special acknowledgement from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as consistently high-ratings from review panels.
Other NASAA board of directors members are: Suzette Surkamer, former executive director, South Carolina Arts Commission; Arlynn Fishbaugh, executive director, Montana Arts Council; Pam Breaux, secretary, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism; Elaine Mariner, executive director, Colorado Council on the Arts; Bruce Richardson, chair, Wyoming Arts Council; John Rohman, chair of the Maine Arts Commission; and newly elected members: John Bracey, executive director, Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs; Theresa Colvin, executive director, Maryland State Arts Council; Timothy D. Deratany, chair, Florida Division Of Cultural Affairs; Mark Hofflund, chair, Idaho Commission on the Arts.
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.
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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