FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2007

CONTACT:
Michael Johnson, Director of Communications
816-421-1388
michael@maaa.org

Ed Clifford Elected to Mid-America Arts Alliance Board of Directors

Kansas City, Mo.—Mid-America Arts Alliance is pleased to announce the appointment of Ed Clifford, to its board of directors.

A well-known Bentonville businessman and civic leader, Clifford currently serves as President and CEO of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. In 2001 he retired from Wal-Mart, Inc. after 17 years in various Merchandising Management positions. He was appointed by Governor Mike Huckabee in 2005 to the Arkansas Arts Council.

“The Arkansas Arts Council is very pleased that Ed has joined the Mid-America Arts Alliance board of directors,” said Joy Pennington, Executive Director of the Arkansas Arts Council. “Ed's business expertise and his knowledge of the contributions that creative economy makes to Arkansas and our region will be of great value to Mid-America. I know that Ed will assist Mid-America as capably as he serves the Arkansas Arts Council.”

In addition to his current posts, Clifford has served on numerous City of Bentonville boards and commissions, and he has been very involved in Rotary International, serving as a District Governor for Rotary Clubs in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. He has also been active on the boards of numerous regional organizations including the Northwest Arkansas Council and the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation, and he is a founding board member of the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust.

Clifford and his wife, Joan, have two children and two grandchildren.

Other Arkansas board members include Lori Cravens, Chair of the Arkansas Arts Council, Fort Smith; Dr. Scott Ferguson, a physician from West Memphis; June Freeman, a civic leader from Little Rock; Don Munro, Chairman and CEO of Munro Company, Inc., Hot Springs; Dorothy Morris, President, Morris Foundation, Inc., Hot Springs; and Joy Pennington, Executive Director of the Arkansas Arts Council, Little Rock.

Mid-America Arts Alliance, founded in 1972, is a nonprofit 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, participant state arts agencies, and leading foundations and corporations.

Mid-America performing and visual arts programs reach audiences in Arkansas though partnerships with cultural organizations including the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Warfield Concerts in Helena, the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Numerous communities across the state have participated in Mid-America programs in the last five years including Alma, Conway, Fort Smith, Harrison, Locust Grove, Mountain Home, Rogers, Searcy, Siloam Springs, and West Memphis.

For more information, please contact Andrew Graham at (816) 421-1388, ext. 225.