Ohio Arts Council Executive Director Announces Retirement
by OAC Staff
Julie S. Henahan, executive director of the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), announced her retirement today effective August 1, 2014, culminating 30 years of service with the council.
A dedicated and experienced arts administrator with a commitment to excellence and public service, Henahan began her career with the arts council in 1984 and served in a number of positions with the agency, including eight years as director of the grants office and four years as deputy director, before being appointed executive director in September 2006. During her tenure with the agency, she was one of five OAC staff members to participate in the Wallace Foundation's State Arts Partnerships for Cultural Participation initiative, guided the agency through several grant management system evolutions and was instrumental in helping secure several major federal grants, including the agency's annual partnership grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, totaling more than $18 million.
As executive director, Henahan oversaw the most in-depth strategic planning process the agency has ever undertaken and during the same period, guided the arts council through the impact of the Great Recession and the most dramatic budget and staff reductions it had ever experienced (47 percent and 52 percent, respectively). In 2009, at a special meeting of the OAC board, the arts council instituted significant restructuring measures in order to address the radically changed operating environment it found itself in. These changes introduced more efficient grant-making processes and lengthened grant application cycles that reduced administrative burden internally as well as for the OAC's constituents. During this period, the arts council also moved from its long-time home on East Main Street in Columbus to the Rhodes State Office Tower downtown, which realized a notable cost-savings for the council.
Henahan has served on several boards and committees during her career. She is currently serving a second term on the board of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA, Washington, DC) and is also chair of its Governance Committee. She recently served on the Ohio Holocaust Memorial Committee and serves in an advisory capacity to The ELEVEN, a public art project in Canton, Ohio celebrating the eleven most important moments in NFL history.
Henahan also served on the boards of the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission and the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus. Other committee service has included The Ohio State University Town and Gown Committee, the Greater Columbus Creative Cultural Commission, the Columbus Arts Stabilization Project and the NASAA National Standard Advisory Group.
About her service with the arts council Henahan said, "The OAC has had the good fortune to have some truly supportive and dedicated board and staff members over the years that have always placed the agency's success front and center. Also, I have never forgotten how fortunate I am to work for a state arts agency that has such a rich artistic and cultural environment to work in. Ohio is blessed with an abundance of outstanding arts organizations, small and large, exceptional individual artists, wonderful arts education activities in our schools and strong arts programs in our colleges and universities. It's these organizations and individuals who have given meaning to my work and made my career at the OAC one of the most important journeys of my life."
"Julie deserves great applause for the job she has done as director of the OAC these last several years," said Wayne Lawson, director emeritus of the Ohio Arts Council. "She came to the job well-qualified and knowledgeable about the agency and the arts in Ohio. During her tenure she guided the agency through some very tough times, but always kept her eye on the importance of the arts to the lives of Ohio's citizens. She can retire with the knowledge that the OAC is in a stable place with an increased budget for the biennium. Her hard work is to be commended."
Henahan, who was born in Sidney, Ohio and raised in DeGraff, graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in history (medieval studies) and humanities and classics from Ohio Wesleyan University. She currently resides in Upper Arlington with her husband Jim.
About the Ohio Arts Council
The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.
[top]