National Artists Advisory

Press Release

In August of 2013, five artists of national renown gathered in Reston, VA to be embedded in the national arts standards writing teams. They advised, shared and responded to the work for two amazing days. Watch the video below to listen to what they had to say about what they saw- inspirational for anyone who works with or loves the arts.

We thank the generous folks at the Greater Reston Arts Center for hosting our opening reception within their beautiful gallery and venue.

Members of the Naitonal Coalition for Core Arts Standards Artists Advisory Council

Choreographer and dancer Kwame Shaka Opare. Opare has been the founding artistic director of DishiBem Traditional Contemporary Dance Group since 2003. He is an arts integration specialist, teaching artist, and a recipient of the Katherine Dunham Award for Best New Choreography.

Digital artist Laurence Gartel. Gartel is a globally acknowledged pioneer of the Digital Art movement, and considered the father of the Paintbox era of painting and photo manipulation. His work has been exhibited at, among others, the Museum of Modern Art, Joan Whitney Payson Museum, Long Beach Museum of Art, and in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History and the Bibliotheque Nationale.

Opera singer Nancy Gustafson. Gustafson,currently the general manager of the world-famous Castleton Festival in Virginia, has been acclaimed in leading opera houses throughout the world, including the Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, the Opéra National, Paris, Chicago Lyric Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and many others.

Playwright, screenwriter, and producer Jim Leonard, Jr. Leonard was a member of New York City’s Circle Repertory Theatre for twenty years and has been awarded three NEA Fellowships and a Dramatist Guild Award. He is currently a writer-producer for Major Crimes on the TNT network.

Artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Smith, born at the Indian Mission on her reservation, is an enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana and one of the most acclaimed American Indian artists working today. She has completed several collaborative public art works such as the floor design in the Great Hall of the new Denver Airport; an in-situ sculpture piece in Yerba Buena Park, San Francisco and a mile-long sidewalk history trail in West Seattle.