The Wallace Foundation Names New Arts Director

 

Contact: Lucas Held

Director of Communications

The Wallace Foundation

1-212-251-9782

 

 

 

 

New York, N.Y., Nov. 14, 2006 – Following a nationwide search, The Wallace Foundation has named Daniel J. Windham, president and chief executive officer of the Cleveland Music School Settlement, one of the nation’s best-known community arts schools, to lead the Foundation’s arts team, effective Feb. 1, 2007.

 

“Daniel brings demonstrated leadership in arts organizations, the ability to work thoughtfully and collaboratively building bridges between diverse groups, and, a passionate commitment to finding ways to help more people experience the benefits that the arts provide,” said M. Christine DeVita, Wallace’s president.

 

“He is well-suited to help advance our effort in the arts to develop effective ideas and practices that will help arts organizations and cities be more effective in building current and future audiences for the arts,” DeVita said.  

 

Windham will lead Wallace’s two current initiatives that continue the Foundation’s longstanding commitment to bringing the arts to more people. The Wallace Excellence Awards aims to develop effective ways for arts organizations to engage more people. The Arts for Young People initiative seeks to help cities devise effective ways to provide large numbers of young people with opportunities to experience the arts. In each initiative, the foundation seeks to support innovative solutions, draw lessons and fill gaps in knowledge, and then share those lessons broadly.  

 

“The innovative programs and generous philanthropic support of The Wallace Foundation have been of inestimable value to arts organizations, and their efforts to improve equity and access to artistic resources have helped increase participation in the arts for children and families throughout our nation’s communities,” said Daniel J. Windham. “It is a distinct pleasure to join the cadre of professionals at Wallace whose commitment and service to the field is so highly regarded,” Windham said.           

 

Windham succeeds Nancy Devine, who for two years held the dual posts of director of both the arts and out-of-school time programs. Due to the successful expansion of work in both initiatives – notably the addition of the Arts for Young People Initiative and the expansion of the Excellence Awards – the Foundation made the decision to divide the job into two, separate positions.  Devine will continue to direct Wallace’s work in out-of-school time.   

 

Since 2001, Windham has been president and chief executive officer of the Cleveland Music School Settlement, one of the oldest community schools of the arts in the nation and a nationally-recognized leader in community arts programming. The school, The Settlement, with a faculty of 116 and staff of 23, serves more than 2,700 children and adults annually, in its words, to build “social infrastructure through the arts.”

 

From 1992-2001, he was president and CEO of Kansas City Young Audiences which during his tenure grew to become the largest arts education organization in the region, producing more than 1,000 performances and 2,000 workshops annually.

 

Windham’s additional professional experience focused on efforts to reach out to underserved audiences. He led the Music Assistance Fund from 1986-1992 which is dedicated to “the identification and support of African-American and Latino string players who aspire to orchestral careers.” He has also served as the director of education with the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony.

 

A native New Yorker, Windham received his bachelor’s and master’s in music from the New England Conservatory of Music. An accomplished instrumentalist and vocalist, he has appeared as a baritone with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and will have his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra this month narrating Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. He has served on boards and committees for a number of prominent national associations and arts institutions that serve broad constituencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, Association of Performing Arts Presenters and Kansas City Public Television. He has presented at arts and arts education conferences, and has lectured on music history and literature at Wellesley College.

 

The Wallace Foundation is an independent, New York-based national foundation dedicated to supporting and sharing effective ideas and practices that expand learning and enrichment opportunities for all people. Its three current objectives are: strengthening education leadership to improve student achievement; enhancing out-of-school learning opportunities; and building appreciation and demand for the arts. More information and research on these and other related topics can be found at The Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center at http://www.wallacefoundation.org/ or by calling 212-251-9815.

 

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