NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Oct. 6, 2009

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov

JULIE BAIRD TO RECEIVE
GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD

Oklahoma City, OK – Julie Baird, Enid, will be honored by Governor Brad Henry at the 34th Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Baird will receive a Community Service Award which recognizes individuals for significant contributions to the arts in specific Oklahoma communities in the areas of leadership and volunteerism.

Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council, 16 individuals and five organizations will be honored for their contributions to the arts in their communities or throughout the state. The ceremony is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 20th in the 4th Floor Rotunda of the State Capitol and is open to the public. Presiding at the ceremony will be Council Chair Kym Koch Thompson and Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Suzanne Tate. A reception on the first floor of the Capitol will follow the 4 p.m. ceremony.

Julie Baird has served as Executive Director of Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse in Enid since April, 2005. Named after the great Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo’s is a hands-on museum for children, with a special emphasis on arts and sciences. Under Baird’s direction, Leonardo’s has experienced unparalleled growth in the number of annual family memberships, the number of educational outreach programs, and the number of annual special events for children of all ages. Leonardo’s is currently in the process of securing funds to purchase adjacent property in order to build an educational center for arts and sciences, and, eventually, to expand the children’s museum to two floors.

Baird has also been a member of the Greater Enid Arts & Humanities Council Board of Directors since 2005. In 2008, Baird hosted the April session of the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Leadership Arts Class I. Later that year, she also served as local planning committee chair for the statewide Conference for the Arts held in Enid in November.  More than 200 individuals from throughout the state attended concurrent after hours events at two local art galleries, the Enid Symphony Center, Gaslight Theatre and Leonardo’s. 

After participating in Leadership Arts Class II earlier in 2009, Baird is actively working to establish a designated arts district in Enid. To date, more than 70 individuals are participating in 12 organizational sub-committees, with the goal of partnering with the City of Enid, Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce, and Main Street Enid to showcase Enid’s unique arts opportunities. 

Baird is a graduate of Oklahoma Christian University and a former high school English and journalism teacher. She has been a member of the Oklahoma Museums Association Board of Directors since 2006, and is a charter member and past president of Enid A.M. Too AMBUCS. She is also a graduate of Leadership Greater Enid and past president of their board of directors. Currently, she is in her fifth year of serving as an instructor for the Lifelong Learning Institute.

A complete list of Governor’s Arts Awards recipients and their photos are available at www.arts.ok.gov. For more information about the Governor’s Arts Awards, please contact Ann Dee Lee at (405) 521-2931 or at anndee@arts.ok.gov.

ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL

The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.

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