press room

For Immediate Release

Largest arts advocacy organization nationwide honors Greene while in Atlanta for annual meeting of more than 800 national arts leaders.

(Atlanta) Americans for the Arts, a Washington-based organization working to provide access to the arts for all Americans, presented a lifetime achievement award to local businessman, Don Greene, President of the Coca Cola Foundation, today at a patrons dinner to honor business and arts leaders supporting America's arts. Patrons were in Atlanta to participate in AFTA's convention at the Atlanta Hilton & Towers from June 3-8. This year's convention theme was "Building the Future with the Arts."

Bob Lynch, President/CEO of Americans for the Arts (AFTA), commented, "Without Don's leadership within the business community, Americans for the Arts likely would not exist. And we wouldn't have the level of support from other business leaders that we need to survive. He and Coca-Cola have been tremendous, long-term partners and have been especially supportive of our convention this year. We're very grateful to him and are happy to honor him with this award."

Don Greene was instrumental in the creation of Americans for the Arts. Greene was the former chairman of the American Council for the Arts, an advocacy organization for the arts comprised of business patrons of the arts. Greene worked with Harriet Sanford, former chair of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies (NALAA), to bring their two organizations together in 1996 to form Americans for the Arts. Sanford is currently executive director of the Fulton County Arts Council, the co-host of this year's AFTA convention.

Greene serves on AFTA's policy board and on the following boards of directors: Alliance Theatre of Atlanta; Atlanta Landmarks, Inc.; National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts; and Zoo Atlanta. He is a member of the Georgia Fine Arts Education Advisory Council, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, the International Education Advisory Council of the Georgia Department of Education and the Society of International Business Fellows. Greene is also on the Contributions Council of the Conference Board, the Georgia P-16 Council and the Hands-On Atlanta Advisory Board. He was the founding chair of Atlanta Business Volunteers for the Arts.

AFTA spearheaded the effort to save the NEA in 1997. It is the national organization that strives to make the arts more accessible to every adult and child in America. To this end, Americans for the Arts works with cultural organizations, arts and business leaders and patrons to provide leadership, advocacy, visibility, professional development and research and information that will encourage support for the arts and culture in our nation's communities.