News Release

Wanda Otey Westheimer 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 – Wanda Otey Westheimer, Ardmore, will be honored by Governor Brad Henry at the 32nd Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Westheimer will receive the Marilyn Douglass Memorial Award which recognizes an outstanding Arts Council member and was established in 1980, upon the deaths of Marilyn Douglass, a council member, and her husband Rev. Richard Douglass.

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.

Appointed by Governor Brad Henry, Westheimer serves on the Oklahoma Arts Council and also serves on the Council’s Executive Committee. She is the chair of the Oklahoma State Art Collection Committee and has been instrumental in supporting the Council’s efforts to acquire donated works for the Collection. Westheimer currently serves on the University of Oklahoma Board of Visitors for the College of Fine Arts, the Board of Visitors of OU’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Board Member of the Oklahoma Arts Institute, Board of Trustees of the Westheimer Family Foundation and Trustee of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

She and her late husband founded the Jerome Sr. and Wanda Otey Westheimer chair for Distinguished Visiting Artists in Residence at the University. Along with previous gifts of art and funds for museum purchases, the Westheimers bequeathed to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art's the "Shining Spirit: Westheimer Family Collection," which is one of the most significant collection of modern-contemporary art in Oklahoma and is the single largest gift of art to the museum.

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.

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