Mid-America Arts Alliance Executive Appointed to National Post

M-AAA | Press Releases | September 20, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 20, 2001

Mid-America Arts Alliance Executive Appointed to National Post

KANSAS CITY, MO. --- Mid-America Arts Alliance today announced that Executive Director Henry Moran has accepted an appointment by President George W. Bush to serve as Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Mid-America Arts Alliance Chairman Art Thompson (President of the Cooper Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska) announced Moran's pending resignation and will appoint Will Conner, Chief Operating Officer of Mid-America Arts Alliance, as acting director until a successor is named.

Thompson states, "The Board of Directors is pleased that the current administration recognizes Henry's energy, talent, and contributions to the field. His innovative thinking and dynamic leadership style have had tremendous impact on this organization and arts programs across the country and will positively shape cultural policy at the national level. With Will Conner, we are fortunate to have such a fine and tenured talent within the organization to lead Mid-America Arts Alliance forward during this interim period."

"What an honor it has been to serve Mid-America Arts Alliance and the artists, cultural organizations, and communities served by its programs," states Moran. "It has also been professionally and personally rewarding to work with each of our state arts agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts, and national and regional foundations and corporations that have partnered with Mid-America to support critical cultural infrastructures and vital projects in the region and beyond. With its distinguished and committed board of directors and dedicated and gifted staff, I conclude my tenure at Mid-America Arts Alliance feeling blessed and lucky to have worked for such a remarkable organization."

Under Moran's leadership beginning in the mid-1970s, Mid-America Arts Alliance has grown from an initial concept envisioned by a handful of civic leaders in the region to an organization responsible for creating, producing, touring, sponsoring, managing, or funding more than 600 arts organizations, artists, or museum exhibitions resulting in more than 12,000 different performances or events and generating over $232,000,000 in fiscal arts activity reaching over 28 million people. As head of Mid-America Arts Alliance, the first program-based regional arts organization in the country, Moran has served as a leader in the field, envisioning and defining the role of regional partnerships.

During his tenure Mid-America Arts Alliance has created regional, multi-regional, national and international arts and humanities programs reaching all 50 states and more than 30 countries. These programs include ExhibitsUSA, the leading fine arts exhibition and museum services firm in the country and the Heartland Arts Fund which, in collaboration with Arts Midwest, supports performing arts touring and international programs. Mid-America Arts Alliance also creates and manages programs involving education, community arts development, and the institutional advancement of arts organizations.

Additionally, Moran has served as executive producer for MA Productions, an enterprise division of Mid-America Arts Alliance. MA Productions activity includes owning and operating theatrical productions for commercial markets. It has produced over 160 weeks of performances in major markets and licensed 155 professional productions reaching 1.8 million people with revenues exceeding $17 million.

In addition to his service to Mid-America Arts Alliance, Moran has served as a charitable giving and funding policy consultant to many large corporations and foundations and as a consultant to over forty arts or humanities organizations throughout the country. Moran has been appointed to chair or serve on ten different National Endowment for the Arts advisory panels under six Presidential administrations. He has lectured at numerous graduate school programs and served on several national and local organizations' boards of directors. Moran has received numerous recognition awards including the Kimball Award of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, which recognizes achievement among not-for-profit executives. Moran is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago's Goodman School of Drama and received an MBA in corporate strategic planning from Rockhurst University.

Will Conner, who will be named Acting Director, has been a member of the organization's top management team for over 20 years. He has been Chief Operating Officer since 1991, having previously served as General Manager and as Director of Programs during his distinguished career at Mid-America Arts Alliance. Conner also serves as Executive Manager for MA Productions. He received his MBA from the University of Kansas.

Mid-America Arts Alliance, founded in 1972, is a non-profit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. It is governed by a board of directors drawn from its partner states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, participating state arts agencies, and by leading foundations and businesses. For further information, visit the Mid-America Arts Alliance web site at www.maaa.org or contact Lisa Cordes at (816) 421-1388. Information on the President's Committee for the Arts and Humanities can be found at www.pcah.gov.