Arts Council
Diversity Committee Established by Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Historical Society

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Historical Society have partnered to form a citizen-based Diversity Committee to ensure that programs, collections, staff, governing boards and audiences for both state agencies in the Commerce Cabinet reflect the diversity found within the commonwealth.

Committee members are: Dr. Chris Antonsen, Folk Studies Department, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green; Sheila Mason Burton, Research Coordinator, Legislative Research Commission, Frankfort; Jose Neil Donis, Editor and Publisher, Al Dia en America, Lexington; Bob Gates (facilitator), Program Director of the Kentucky Folklife Program, an interagency program of the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Historical Society; Vallorie Henderson, Special Projects, Kentucky Craft Marketing Program, a division of the Kentucky Arts Council, Louisville; Michael Jones, Research Curator, Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort; Kim Leingang, Secretary, Kentucky Craft Marketing Program, Frankfort; Sarah Milligan, Folklife Specialist, Kentucky Folklife Program, Frankfort; Virginia Moore, State Interpreter Administrator, Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Frankfort; Martha Newman, Program Director, Access Services, Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, Louisville; Eddie Pennington, Folk Musician, Princeton; Maraskeshia Smith, Administrative Branch Manager, Kentucky Arts Council, Lexington; Vlasta Viteskic, Reference Librarian, Bowling Green Public Library, Bowling Green; and Dr. Changzheng Wang, Human Nutrition Program, Kentucky State University, Frankfort.

Although the Arts Council has had a Diversity Committee in the past, this new committee will serve the Kentucky Arts Council as well as the Kentucky Historical Society.

The committee met for the first time on August 16, 2006, at the Kentucky Historical Society, in conjunction with a convening of Kentucky arts organization representatives sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council.  Charon Battles, Program Director of Dance, Local Arts and Preserving Diverse Cultures for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts presented a diversity workshop, “Bringing Diverse Groups Together.”

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NOTE TO EDITORS: High resolution, print quality photo available at http://artscouncil.ky.gov/Press_Images/DiversityCommittee.jpg

Photo Caption: L to R, Maraskeshia Smith, Bob Gates, Mike Jones, Jose Neil Donis, Martha Newman, Sarah Milligan, Eddie Pennington, Chris Antonsen, Changzheng Wang, and Kim Leingang. Committee members not pictured are Sheila Mason Burton, Vallorie Henderson, Virginia Moore, and Vlasta Viteskic.

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The Kentucky Arts Council is a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet.  Working in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Council invests in programs that develop vibrant communities, provide lifelong education in the arts and support arts participation.  Every $1 in grant funds awarded by the Kentucky Arts Council helps grantees secure $15 in earned income and matching funds from individuals, philanthropic sources and other levels of government.

An agency of the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet, the Kentucky Historical Society, since 1836, has provided connections to the past, perspective on the present and inspiration for the future.  KHS operates the Old State Capitol, Kentucky Military History Museum and its headquarters, the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History.   Since 1999, the thirty-million-dollar Center has welcomed more than one million visitors.