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National Endowment for the Arts Announces New Deputy Chairman for States, Regions, and Local Arts AgenciesJanuary 24, 2008
Washington, D.C. -- The National Endowment for the Arts announced today it is appointing Patrice Walker Powell to the newly created position of Deputy Chairman for States, Regions, and Local Arts Agencies. Ms. Powell will be responsible for planning and managing the agency's partnership agreements and other initiatives involving the state arts agencies and regional arts organizations; small grant programs such as Challenge America Fast-Track, and the NEA's AccessAbility activities that are also carried out in conjunction with state and regional organizations.
NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said, "Patrice Walker Powell has been an exceptional member of the staff, consistently working to further the mission of the National Endowment for the Arts. Through her experience with the NEA's Expansion Arts program in the early 1990s and currently with the Local Arts Agencies and Challenge America Fast-Track programs, Patrice has demonstrated herself to be an insightful program director, an adept manager, and an effective communicator, developing enduring relationships with the agency's constituents and partners. With 40 percent of the NEA's budget designated for our partner agencies, it is important to dedicate a senior executive to oversee those relationships and to have a leader of Patrice's caliber in that position." Ms. Powell noted, "I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity of serving the National Endowment for the Arts and its constituents for the past 16 years. It has been an exciting and deeply fulfilling time. In this new position, I look forward to extending and enriching the NEA's collaborations with organizations across the country." Patrice Walker Powell has been a staff member at the NEA since 1991. Shortly after joining the agency, she was named director of the Expansion Arts Program (which concluded in 1995), responsible for oversight of NEA-funded programs in rural, inner-city, tribal, and ethnically diverse communities. In this capacity, she managed 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. Beginning in 1996, as the director of Local Arts Agencies, Ms. Powell has been responsible for grants to municipal and county agencies throughout the country. Early in 2002, she took on the role of acting deputy chairman providing oversight for grants and awards totaling approximately $40 million. In recent years, Ms. Powell has also directed NEA programs including Challenge America Fast-Track which funds civic design, cultural tourism, guest artist, and public arts projects. Her career in the arts has ranged from stage management for international touring companies, theatricals, and recording artists to research work for a documentary review of exemplary arts projects supported through the U.S. Department of Labor's Cultural Employment and Training Act. Ms. Powell has held staff positions with the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Texas Commission on the Arts. In addition, she has served as a consultant to other state arts agencies in Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, and the District of Columbia. Ms. Powell received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Howard University and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University's School of Drama.
National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency |
