President
Obama Appoints Additional Members to Serve on the President's Committee
on the Arts and Humanities
President Barack Obama appointed an additional six private
members to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH),
joining the twenty-five private members who were appointed earlier. The
new members will be sworn in at a ceremony at the Supreme Court on February
24. The President's Committee is led by Co-Chairs George
Stevens, Jr. and Margo
Lion and Vice-Chair Mary
Schmidt Campbell, and its members also include twelve federal members
whose agencies have cultural programs, among them the National Endowments
for the Arts and the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services,
the U. S. Department of Education, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library
of Congress, the National Gallery of Art and the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts.
The President's Committee's commitment to cultural philanthropy
and its success in engaging the public and private sectors is made possible
by the expertise and leadership of its private and federal members, who
embody and represent the diverse elements of the U.S. interdependent system
of support for the arts and humanities. The PCAH bridges the interests
of the White House, federal agencies and the private sector to support
arts and humanities efforts in three areas arts education, cultural diplomacy
and the arts and humanities role in community revitalization.
The new members include:
Chuck Close, Member, President's Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities
Chuck Close is a visual artist noted for his highly inventive techniques
used to paint the human face, and is best known for his large-scale, photo
based portrait paintings. He is also an accomplished printmaker and photographer
whose work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more
than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York's
Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently
at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2000, Mr.
Close was presented with the prestigious National Medal of Arts by President
Clinton. Close is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
and has served on the boards of many arts organizations.
Fred Goldring, Member, President's Committee on the Arts and
the Humanities
Fred Goldring co-founded the prominent California-based entertainment
law firm Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein which represents numerous global
superstar recording and performing artists, and is also co-founder of
entertainment strategic consultancy, MemBrain, which works with Fortune
500 companies and new media and technology enterprises regarding entertainment
marketing strategy. Mr. Goldring is also the former Chairman of the Board
of Directors of Rock The Vote, and has been the co-recipient of an Emmy
Award, a Clio Award, a Global Media Award and an NAACP Image Award.
Sheila Johnson, Member, President's Committee on the Arts and
the Humanities
Sheila Johnson is the founder and CEO of Salamander Hospitality; co-founder
of Black Entertainment Television; a documentary film producer; and the
only African-American woman to co-own three professional sports teams.
A classically trained violinist who began her career as a music teacher,
Ms. Johnson is a long time advocate for the arts. She serves as Chair
of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design and several
boards including Americans for the Arts.
Pamela Joyner, Member, President's Committee on the Arts and
the Humanities
Pamela Joyner is the Founder of Avid Partners, LLC. Her other business
experiences include holding senior positions at Bowman Capital, LLC and
Capital Guardian Trust Company. Ms Joyner is a former Co-Chair and current
Trustee Emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet. She is a Trustee of The
MacDowell Colony, The School of American Ballet and Dartmouth College.
Ms. Joyner also serves a Director of The California Healthcare Foundation
and an Advisory Board Member of First Republic Bank.
Jhumpa Lahiri , Member, President's Committee on the Arts and
the Humanities
Jhumpa Lahiri is a fiction writer whose debut collection of stories, Interpreter
of Maladies, received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the
Addison M. Metcalf Award, and the New Yorker magazine's Debut of the Year.
Her novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist
for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was selected as one of the best
books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest story
collection, Unaccustomed Earth, won the Frank O'Connor International Short
Story Award and the Vallombrosa-Gregor von Rezzori Prize.
Ken Solomon, Member, President's Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities
Ken Solomon is chairman of Ovation TV, a national cable and satellite
network focused on bringing art, culture and personal creativity to all
Americans. He is also chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour
network dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle.
With more than 25 years of television and multimedia experience, Mr. Solomon
has held top posts with the Walt Disney Corp., Universal Television, DreamWorks,
News Corp. and Scripps. He is currently vice chairman of the Young Presidents
Organization Bel-Air (YPO) and has been named “Humanitarian of the
Year” by H.E.L.P. Group, one of the largest and most influential
children's charities in the United States, for which he serves on
the Circle of Friends advisory board.
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