News Release

Mayor Maxine Thomason to receive Governor's Arts Award

Nov. 6, 2007

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov

Oklahoma City, OK – Maxine Thomason, Mangum, will be honored by Governor Brad Henry at the 32nd Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Mayor Thomason will receive the George Nigh Mayor’s Award which recognizes an Oklahoma mayor for outstanding support of the arts in the local community. 

Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council, 16 individuals and four organizations will be honored for their contributions to the arts in their communities or throughout the state. The ceremony is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 28th in the 4th Floor Rotunda of the State Capitol and is open to the public. Presiding at the ceremony will be Council Chair Jim Tolbert and Interim Executive Director Suzanne Tate.

Thomason was elected Mayor of the City of Mangum in March, 2007. Prior to that, she was the Program Manager for the Mangum Main Street program from 2004 through early 2007. Thomason initiated the creation of Mangum’s Art on the Square organization which currently has 27 local and area artists as members. She facilitated the connection of artists to property owners and mentor businesses in the community now home to six art galleries in the downtown area.

She volunteers as a liaison to Mangum Main Street for the Art on the Square organization and currently also works as an assistant for both Mangum Main Street and the Greer County Chamber of Commerce. Thomason serves on the Advisory Board for the RSVP program in Greer County and is Vice President of the Women’s Civic Club. Thomason retired from teaching in 1997 after 30 years in the public school system and worked for seven years as a consultant with Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company.

A reception on the first floor of the Capitol will follow the 4 p.m. ceremony.  A complete list of Governor’s Arts Awards recipients and their photos are available at www.arts.ok.gov. For more information about the Governor’s Arts Awards, please contact Ann Dee Lee at (405) 521-2931 or at anndee@arts.ok.gov.

ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL

The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.

---End---