ArtsKC Announces Dana Knapp as New President and CEO

Today, Brad Douglas, chairman of the ArtsKC Board of Directors, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dana Knapp as the new President & CEO of ArtsKC. She has been serving as Interim President & CEO since January 1, 2017. She begins her new role immediately. The selection was made after a national search and selection process led by the Arts Consulting Group.

"Dana brings tremendous experience in the Kansas City arts and civic communities, strategic leadership skills and a passion for the Kansas City area and its arts culture," Brad stated. "She has served our nonprofit community in several programmatic, fundraising and leadership levels throughout her career, giving her a breadth of perspective and experience, not to mention deep ties in our community."

He added: "I want to thank the Board and the staff for their dedicated service during this interim. ArtsKC has continued to grow its impact during the past several months, and we thank our many supporters of ArtsKC, for their continued generosity, as well as for their input to this selection process."

In response to her appointment, Dana said: "I am excited to continue the strategic planning, community outreach and oversight of ArtsKC programs and services as ArtsKC continues its critical role in promoting, supporting and advocating for the arts throughout the Kansas City region. It's my privilege to be given the opportunity to lead such a talented staff and to work with such an engaged board."

Dana M. Knapp has dedicated her career to the arts, design and education. In past roles, she served as Director of Programs for the Mid-America Arts Alliance for nearly four years, where she provided the oversight of all regional and national programs: grant making, touring exhibitions and professional development for arts professionals. She led the development of a new strategic plan, establishing a revised repertoire of regional programs that serve arts organizations and artists.

Earlier in her career, she worked for almost 20 years at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. As the Museum's Director of Planning, she led the Bloch Building construction and the renovation of the Nelson-Atkins building, including oversight of the capital expansion and the associated planning. She also served as the leader of the museums' exhibition design team and as a practicing designer.

Dana earned a bachelor's degree in Design and the History of Art from the University of Kansas. She has a master's degree in Nonprofit Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her professional affiliations include: founding board member of the Center for Architecture and Design, board member for the Mattie Rhodes Center, volunteer of PREPKC and member of the ArtsKC Advisory Council for the past two years.

About the ArtsKC - Regional Arts Council:

ArtsKC is a regional nonprofit Arts Council that promotes, supports and advocates for the arts across a five-county region. We promote art in all its forms, including events, performances, exhibits, music, theater, visual art and poetry. We support arts organizations, individual artists and arts programs of every size by awarding more than 100 grants annually to help fund their missions and projects. We advocate for the arts by bringing together key constituents to lobby for increasing arts funding and by fighting for issues that advance the arts. The mission of ArtsKC - Regional Arts Council is to unleash the power of the arts. Please visit www.ArtsKC.org for more information.

Photo by Tom Styrkowicz of 53Tom.com

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