Center: About: The Staff

	Background

	The Staff

	Board of Directors

	Research Task Force

	Contributors

	Listserv Archive

Ellen Lovell President and CEO

Ellen Lovell served as a Fellow at the Center since March 2001 and became President in 2002. Ellen is the former director of the White House Millennium Council under President and Mrs. Clinton. Ms. Lovell also served as director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities from 1994 to 1997. The committee advised the president and first lady on pubic and private support for cultural life in the U. S. and published the widely recognized study, Creative America. Prior to joining the Clinton administration, she served as chief of staff to Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont for 10 years. She began her career at the Vermont Council on the Arts, the state arts agency, which she led for eight years, creating such programs as Artists-in-the-Schools, Touring Aid, and the Governor's Institute for the Arts. Ellen also directs the Veterans History Project at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, a national project to collect oral histories and documents from veterans and civilians who served in war time.

Keith Donohue Creative Director back to top

Creative Director Keith Donohue is responsible for the Center's publishing and communications efforts. For 13 years, he worked directly for three different chairmen of the National Endowment for the Arts, serving as speechwriter for both John Frohnmayer and Jane Alexander. He was the Endowment's Director of Publications from 1994-1997, during which time he edited and published over two dozen books and led the team which launched the agency's web site. Together with Arthur Tsuchiya and the Benton Foundation, he created and produced Open Studio: The Arts Online (www.openstudio.org). He worked for three years as the senior advisor on work-life and child care issues at the U.S. General Services Administration. Mr. Donohue holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the Catholic University of America.

Laura Becker Programs and Internship Coordinator
back to top

Laura Becker, Programs and Internship Coordinator, graduated magna cum laude from the George Washington University in 1999, where she received her BA in Art History, concentrating in Cinema Studies. As an undergraduate, Ms. Becker served as an editor for Wooden Teeth, George Washington University's’s creative arts magazine, and participated in Recess, a comedy improv troupe. During her senior year, she worked at the Phillips Collection, Washington’s first museum of modern art. Before coming to the Center, Ms. Becker worked at the Genetic Alliance, a non-profit umbrella organization serving people with genetic disorders and involving lay advocacy groups in public policy.

Allison Brugg Bawden Programs and Special Projects Manager back to top

Allison Brugg, Programs and Special Projects Manager, graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1999 with a B.A. in anthropology and a minor in public policy. Her educational focus was on the intersection of culture and environment, particularly in indigenous communities. At Dartmouth she was a Presidential Scholar Research Assistant in the Department of Government, and during her four years as an undergraduate held intern positions at Archaeology magazine, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Sharon Kangas Program Manager and Designer back to top

Sharon Kangas, Programs Manager and Designer of the Center for Arts and Culture, comes from a background rooted in both the arts and arts administration. After majoring in studio art and psychology at the University of Tennessee, Ms. Kangas served as organist for her church, worked at the local art museum and arts council, and co-founded A-1/LAB, an alternative arts cooperative. She graduated summa cum laude from Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Arts Management program in 1999.