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
DR. GLENY BEACH TO RECEIVE
GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD
Oklahoma City, OK – Dr. Gleny Beach, Durant, will be honored by Governor Brad Henry at the 34th Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Dr. Beach will receive a prestigious Governor’s Award which recognizes individuals for longtime leadership and significant contributions to the arts across Oklahoma.
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.
Dr. Beach teaches art, makes art and advocates the value of the arts in her daily life. She currently serves as the tenured Associate Professor and Director of Art at the Department of Art, Communication, and Theater at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and previously served as Chair of the Visual Art Department. Grants she has written annually have provided support for the Art Exhibition Series and for renovation and redesign of Southeastern’s Centre Art Gallery. In 2004-05 she received the Southeastern Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Service given for service to the university and the community.
She is an active advocate for art in the community, serving on numerous committees promoting the arts. Local Government Challenge Grants she wrote in collaboration with the City of Durant have resulted in $30,000 in funding for public art. Dr. Beach currently serves as the President of the Red River Arts Council (RRAC) and has been a Board Member for 14 years. Grants she wrote for the Council resulted in $40,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for Southeastern’s music programs. Under her leadership, Dr. Beach led the RRAC Public Art Committee to plan and launch a “Horses in Durant” project to raise funds for a permanent bronze sculpture in downtown Durant. She has also worked with the Durant Main Street Project to put a historical monument in Market Square. In 1994, Dr. Beach founded “Young Artist’s Experience,” a low-cost summer visual art program for children age 6-15 that has continued every summer.
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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