FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2007

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

ExhibitsUSA Advisory Panel Convenes in Kansas City, August 27-28

On Monday, August 27, ExhibitsUSA’s annual Advisory Panel will meet at the Writer’s Place in Kansas City, Missouri. ExhibitsUSA staff will convene with invited panelists, who represent a varied group of cultural institutions from across the country, to evaluate a diverse group of exhibition proposals received during the past year. ExhibitsUSA will develop and potentially tour exhibition ideas that receive favorable reviews from the panel.

This year’s 24 proposed exhibitions cover subjects as varied as American Indian footwear, pop art sculptures, indigenous photography, children’s book illustrations, and collections of works by artists such as Kate Breakey, Christopher Pekoc, Julian Montague, Karim Rashid, Betye Saar, and Faith Ringgold. The media utilized in these exhibitions ranges from photography, mixed-media collage,  and sculpture, to masks, plastics, and soda cans.  

The ExhibitsUSA Advisory Panel for 2007 includes Jill Chancey, Ph.D., Curator, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Miss.; Margaret Clark, Director of Adult Programs, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Mo.; Garbo Hearne, Owner, Hearne Fine Art, Little Rock, Ark.; Mark Ryan, Vice President of Collections and Registration, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, N.D.; Anne Starr, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions, National Heritage Museum, Lexington, Mass.; Kathrine Walker Schlageck, Curator of Education and Public Programs, Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, Kan.; and Brian Young, former Curator of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Director of Visual Arts and Humanities Dee Harris, who oversees ExhibitsUSA programming, said, “We are deeply appreciative to the panelists who contribute their time and expertise. Their thoughtful consideration will help to shape our exhibition offerings for the next several years.”

The purpose of ExhibitsUSA is to create access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions, nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures, and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities. ExhibitsUSA is a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Visual Arts and Humanities division.

Mid-America Arts Alliance, the nation’s oldest regional arts organization, was founded in 1972 to foster cultural growth in heartland communities. Today, Mid-America primarily serves communities throughout Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas, though it also develops and delivers fine arts, performing arts, and humanities programs for a national audience. Mid-America programs attract upwards of one million people annually in more than 300 communities.

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