press room

For Immediate Release

01/23/2006

Contact:
Beth Olsen
Goodman Media International for Americans for the Arts
212.576.2700 ext. 243 or bolsen@goodmanmedia.com


Six Elected to Council to Advise Growing Field of Public Art

Washington, DC — January 23, 2006 — Americans for the Arts announces four newly elected members and the re-election of two members to its Public Art Network (PAN) Council, a group that advises the board and staff of Americans for the Arts on the expanding and diverse field of public art. PAN is designed to provide services for the broad array of public art practitioners and to develop strategies and tools to improve communities through public art. More than 350 public art programs currently exist in the United States at both the state and local levels.

“We are proud to welcome these new members to the council as we work to build and strengthen the role of public art in communities around the country,” said Robert Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “Their considerable expertise will provide valuable insight and vision into the growing field of public art.”

Public art projects are often commissioned by local arts agencies to display works outside the traditional walls of a museum. Public art can be a sculpture located in an office building lobby or integrated into the architecture of the local courthouse. Public art projects, as well as how they are financed, vary from city to city. Americans for the Arts encourages the collaboration of public art professionals, government officials, city planners, artists, and designers in this growing field that merges art with the natural and built environment.

Following are brief bios on the two re-elected PAN members:

• Ricardo Barreto
  Ricardo Barreto has been the Director of the UrbanArts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art since 2000. Prior to his position with UrbanArts, Barreto served as a Program Officer for the Massachusetts Cultural Council and was the Program Coordinator for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project Arts Program in Boston. Current board memberships include the Massachusetts Foundation for Humanities, the Arts Services Coalition, and the Friends of Fort Point Channel.
• Jill Manton
  Jill Manton is the Director of Public Art for the San Francisco Art Commission and has worked in the public art field for more than 20 years. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Forecast Public Art Review, a publication dedicated exclusively to public art. Manton was the recipient of the Managerial Excellence Award in 1997 from the Mayor's Fiscal Advisory Committee.

Following are brief bios on the four newly-elected PAN members:

• Barbara Goldstein
  Barbara Goldstein is the Public Art Director for the City of San José Office of Cultural Affairs. Prior to her work in San José, Goldstein was Public Art Director for the City of Seattle. From 1989 to 1993, she was Director of Design Review and Cultural Planning for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. From 1980 to 1985 she edited and published Arts + Architecture magazine.
• Glenn Harper
  Glenn Harper, editor of Sculpture Magazine since 1996, was formerly the editor of Art Papers Magazine. Harper has written for Aperture, Artforum, Public Art Review, On View, and Afterimage and for books and catalogues. He is the editor of Interventions and Provocations: Conversations on Art, Culture, and Resistance, a collection of interviews with contemporary artists published by the State University of New York Press in 1998.
• Janet Kagan
  Janet Kagan is a founding Principal of the Percent for Art Collaborative. Since 2002, she has served on the Board of the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission as its Chair; Director of Artist Residencies; and Chair of the Percent for Art program. She is currently guiding the development of a Public and Civic Art Contextual Plan for the Town of Chapel Hill.
• Norie Sato
  Norie Sato is an artist living in Seattle, whose artwork for public places over the past 20 years has incorporated individual, collaborative, and design team work and planning projects. Sato’s current and past work includes projects in Miami FL, Tempe and Scottsdale AZ, Madison, WI, Portland OR, Ames and Ankeny, IA, Salt Lake City, UT, Orange County, CA, and in the Seattle area, among others, and encompasses transit, libraries, universities, infrastructure, airports and other civic structures.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. With offices in Washington, DC, and New York City, it has a record of more than 45 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.