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Oklahoma Arts Council Announces 2015 Leadership Arts Class Members

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Joel Gavin, Director of Marketing & Communications
(405) 521-2037
joel.gavin@arts.ok.gov

OKLAHOMA CITY (February 9, 2015) ?The Oklahoma Arts Council has announced the names of individuals selected to participate in the 2015 Leadership Arts program. The list includes 35 individuals from 27 Oklahoma communities who will convene throughout the spring to learn how to develop and advance their communities through the arts.

The 2015 class includes artists in the literary, performing and visual arts, college professors, community developers, educators, gallery owners, military veterans, nonprofit arts managers, professional designers and writers, small business owners, and others. Members of the 2015 class will join more than 200 individuals from 70 communities statewide who have completed the program since its inception in 2008. Eleven communities will be represented for the first time in 2015.

Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Amber Sharples said the Leadership Arts program is generating success for Oklahoma.

"Throughout our fifty year history as a state agency, the Oklahoma Arts Council has made the arts accessible across the state. With eleven new communities represented in this year's Leadership Arts class, we continue to see the potential for developing leaders who can amplify our efforts and strengthen the role of the arts in communities statewide," Sharples said. 

The Oklahoma Arts Council places a high priority on geographic, cultural, and professional diversity during the application process. Listed by community, members of the 2015 class of Leadership Arts include:

  1. Ada, Bethany Walling (East Central University)
  2. Apache, Alicia Seyler-Nevaquaya (Nevaquaya Fine Arts)
  3. Ardmore, Lucy Hicks (Ardmore Little Theatre)
  4. Blackwell, Dianne Braden (Tonkawa Arts and Humanities Council)
  5. Checotah, Iris Park (Heartland Heritage Center Museum & Gallery)
  6. Elgin, Sarah Godsave (Big Pasture Cultural Arts Foundation)
  7. Enid, Kelly Tompkins (Enid Main Street)
  8. Guymon, Miranda Gilbert (City of Guymon)
  9. Hulbert, April Stone (Locust Grove Children's Community Theater)
  10. Miami, Ben Whaley (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College)
  11. Mustang, Lynly Grider (Kimray, Inc.)
  12. Norman, Kelley Lunsford (Chickasaw Nation)
  13. Oklahoma City, Chandra Boyd (Oklahoma Arts Council)
  14. Oklahoma City, Donald Jordan (Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre/City Rep)
  15. Oklahoma City, DWe Williams (Rhythmically Speaking)
  16. Oklahoma City, Grace Gordon (The Spy/KOSU)
  17. Oklahoma City, Donna Cervantes (Historic Capitol Hill)
  18. Oklahoma City, Vernona Dismuke (Unified Dimensions)
  19. Oklahoma City, Kim Haywood (deadCENTER Film Festival)
  20. Overbrook, Brian Gunter (Ardmore City Schools/Ardmore High School)
  21. Perkins, Laura Clark (WildHorse Consulting LLC)
  22. Pryor, Rebekah Hawkes (Woody Guthrie Center)
  23. Rush Springs, Jason Poudrier (Cameron University)
  24. Salina, BJ Cummings (Pryor Main Street)
  25. Shawnee, Andrea Ellis-Harrison (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma)
  26. Stillwater, Louise Siddons (Oklahoma State University)
  27. Tahlequah, Callie Chunestudy (Cherokee Arts Center and Spider Gallery)
  28. Texoma, Brent Shoulders (Oklahoma Panhandle State University)
  29. Tulsa, Grace Grothaus (George Kaiser Family Foundation)
  30. Tulsa, Marjorie Atwood (Atwood Art Studio)
  31. Tulsa, Maureen Brown (Discovery School of Tulsa)
  32. Tulsa, Bobby Lee (National Resource Center for Youth Services at OU-Tulsa)
  33. Welch, Lana Chapman (community volunteer)
  34. Woodward, Michelle Murray (E&H Transfer)
  35. Yukon, Kathy Rawdon (The fresh stART Studio at the Homeless Alliance)

About Leadership Arts
Through the Leadership Arts program, individuals receive in-depth training and strategies for using arts and cultural resources to strengthen local economies, improve education, and enhance quality of life. Approximately 30 class members are selected each year to meet during four two-day spring sessions where they participate in panel discussions, group activities, hands-on learning, and tours of community art spaces.

Class sessions for the 2015 program will take place at the Chickasaw Conference and Retreat Center in Sulphur (February 25-26), Guthrie (March 25-26), Bartlesville (April 22-23), and Oklahoma City (May 20-21). Class members will graduate during the Oklahoma Arts Conference in Tulsa on October 21-22.

Leadership Arts is sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council and funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The program is a project of the Oklahoma Arts Council in cooperation with the communities of Sulphur, Guthrie, Bartlesville, and Oklahoma City.

About the Oklahoma Arts Council
The Oklahoma Arts Council is the official state agency for the support and development of the arts. The Council?s mission is to lead, cultivate and support a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans. The Council provides more than 500 grants to over 300 organizations in communities statewide each year, organizes professional development opportunities for the state's arts and cultural industry, and manages hundreds of works of art in the public spaces of the state Capitol. Additional information is available at arts.ok.gov.

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