A select few of the accomplished Women who are often featured in The Agenda News
Monica Jeffries Hazangeles - President & CEO Strathmore
Monica Jeffries Hazangeles was named Strathmore’s new President and CEO in August, 2018 by the Board of Directors. She will succeed Eliot Pfanstiehl, who founded Strathmore in 1981. Pfanstiehl & Jeffries Hazangeles guided the evolution of Strathmore into Maryland’s “most prolific multidisciplinary arts presenter and producer.” She will assume her new role at Strathmore effective September 1, 2018. Jeffries Hazangeles played a central role in securing $110M in public and private funding to build the world-class Music Center at Strathmore, which opened in 2005. She has advanced Strathmore’s mission by promoting several key programs, including Bloom, an initiative that encompasses Strathmore’s community outreach work in Montgomery County. She cultivated new audiences, notably in the Pike District on Rockville Pike, with the creation of AMP, the new music & dining space at Pike & Rose. Jeffries Hazangeles has worked as an arts professional for more than 25 years and holds a B.M. in Flute Performance from The Florida State University (1989), a M.M. in Flute Performance from The University of Missouri-Kansas City (1991), and an M.A. in Arts Management from American University (1996).
Image below: Monica Jeffries Hazangeles
To read more about Monica Jeffries Hazangeles & Strathmore, visit www.strathmore.org/
Julie Kent - Artistic Director The Washington Ballet
Julie Kent, The Washington Ballet's Artistic Director, received the 2018 Dance Teacher Award of Distinction from Dance Teacher magazine on August 4. Kent undertook the leadership role of The Washington Ballet (TWB) in 2016 with the goal of “providing the next generation of dancers with opportunities and experiences that will help them develop a successful dance career.” Under her artistic guidance, TWB “has further elevated standards and provides the highest level of training for students including Professional Training Programs to fully integrate the company and school.” Her long-term vision is to elevate the prominence of the TWB as a world-class ballet company in the Nation's capital by concurrently expanding the size of the company while broadening its repertoire. She has introduced into the company’s repertoire seminal works by George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, Jerome Robbins, Antony Tudor, Justin Peck and Alexei Ratmansky while embracing the work of emerging choreographers. Her commitment to the development of both the dancer and the art form is fulfilled through presentation of beloved classic 19th-century ballets and landmark 20th-century works while reaffirming a commitment to commissioned works that will contribute to the evolution of ballet and its relevance in our times.
Rena Hoisington - TheDepartment of Old Master Prints The National Gallery of Art
Rena Hoisington joined the National Gallery of Art as Curator and Head of theDepartment of Old Master Prints in July, 2018. Ms. Hoisington “has demonstrated deep commitment to public roles and education; collection care, research, and documentation; and museum administration and management. "As the former senior curator of prints, drawings, and photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art for the last 12 years, her interests have been wide-ranging, crossing all periods, and often involve other media."
Dr. Dorothy Kosinski - Vradenburg Director & CEO The Phillips Collection
Dr. Dorothy Kosinski, who has served as Director of the Phillips Collection for ten years, has been named the Vradenburg Director and Chairman of the Board of the Collection. The directorship of the museum has been endowed by a gift of $5.29 million in honor of George and the late Trish Vradenburg. Mr. Vradenburg was elected as a Trustee in 2001 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2002-2016. In 2016, he became Honorary Chairman and Trustee Emeritus. During her tenure as Director of The Phillips Collection, Dr. Kosinski has led the museum into partnerships with the University of Maryland in College Park and the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) in Southeast DC. She created Intersections, a contemporary art exhibition series, and grew the museum’s collection of photographs to over 1,000 works. Under her leadership, the museum has actively sought “to broaden the subject matter of its exhibitions to align with pressing issues of the day and highlight artworks made by women, artists of color, and other underrepresented groups.”
Cecelia Schieve - Director of Education and Outreach Virginia Opera
Virginia Opera announced the appointment of Cecelia Schieve as Director of Education and Outreach in June 2018. Ms. Schieve has extensive experience in opera, opera education, and as a community leader in the Arts in Virginia. She has worked closely with both the Virginia Commission for the Arts and OPERA America. With a background in music and a life-long opera educator, Schieve brings extraordinary credentials to Virginia Opera’s administrative staff. She has many years of combined experience as a professional opera singer and arts administrator, with a special dedication to opera education.
WETA’s PBS NewsHour named Judy Woodruff solo anchor in March. NewsHour “illuminates issues and events in the news, reporting the facts, offering critical context, and presenting thoughtful, civil discussion and insightful news analysis.” In 2011, Woodruff became one of the program’s rotating anchors. In 2013, she and the late Gwen Ifill were named co-anchors and managing editors of the program, marking the first time in history two women were the co-anchor team for a national nightly news broadcast. Woodruff served as sole anchor and managing editor of NewsHour after Gwen Ifill’s passing in November 2016. With more than four decades of experience reporting at PBS, NBC and CNN, Woodruff has covered 12 presidential elections; interviewed seven U.S. presidents; and has received many journalism awards. WETA's PBS NewsHour airs at 7 p.m. each weeknight on WETA TV 26 & WETA HD. Image below: Judy Woodruff
To see the current WETA schedule, visit www.weta.org
Henrietta Lacks - Portrait at The National Portrait Gallery The Mother of Modern Medicine
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is exhibiting a posthumous portrait made in 2017 of Henrietta Lacksby Kadir Nelson, thru November 4. The portrait was jointly acquired by the Gallery and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) as a gift from Nelson and the JKBN Group LLC, and will be shared by the two museums. Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951), “whose great-great-grandmother was an enslaved person, lost her life to cervical cancer at age 31. During her treatment, doctors took cells from her body - without permission - and discovered they lived long lives and reproduced indefinitely in test tubes. These "immortal" HeLa cells have since contributed to over 10,000 medical patents, aiding research and benefiting patients with polio, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions.” Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, has commented that “Lacks’ story presents moral and philosophical questions around issues of consent, racial inequalities, the role of women, medical research and privacy laws, providing rich platforms for historical understanding and public dialogue.” NMAAHC Director Lonnie Bunch has commented that “The National Museum of African American History and Culture has always felt that the story of Henrietta Lacks is a significant and important moment that deserved greater recognition.”
Image below: “Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine” by Kadir Nelson, oil on linen, 2017. Note that the wallpaper pictured behind her features the “Flower of Life,” a symbol of immortality; the flowers on her dress recall images of cell structures; and two missing buttons allude to the cells taken from her body without permission.
Rita Shapiro - Interim Executive Director The Washington Chorus
The Washington Chorus announced in late April, 2018 that Rita Shapiro, former Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), will serve as Interim Executive Director of the Chorus upon the departure of Chase Maggiano.TWC - now in its 57th season - is one of the foremost symphonic choruses in the nation. Rita Shapiro’s career at several renowned arts institutions has included fundraising, event planning, touring, operations, and more than 15 years of executive leadership. At the NSO, “she managed a $35+ million operating budget and stewarded the 60-member Board of Directors. She guided staff and board teams through strategic and creative planning processes as well as collective bargaining efforts. "Shapiro served as Operations Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra for 12 years and held fundraising positions with the Boston Symphony and the Cleveland Play House. "Her consulting work included fundraising for the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s new opera festival in Vicenza, Italy, and executive search research for Spencer Stuart. She is also a past president of the DC chapter of the International Women’s Forum, a networking organization of women executives from diverse professional backgrounds.”
Dr. Saharah Moon Chapotin - Executive Director U.S. Botanic Garden
Dr. Saharah Moon Chapotin was named Executive Directorof the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) in February, 2018. Before joining the USBG, Dr. Chapotin worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she has served since 2006. She was the Deputy Assistant to the Administrator at USAID’s Bureau for Food Security. Dr. Chapotin holds a bachelor of science in biology from Stanford University and a doctorate in plant physiology from Harvard University. Before her work with USAID, she completed fellowships at Iowa State University and the National Academies working on issues of biosafety policy, scientific communication and national security.
Maria Manuela Goyanes - Incoming Artistic Director Woolly Mammoth Theatre
Maria Manuela Goyanes has been named to succeed Howard Shalwitz in September, 2018 as Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre.She comes fromThe Public Theaterin New York, where she serves as the Director of Producing and Artistic Planning. She oversees the day-to-day execution of plays and musicals at the five-theater venue at Astor Place, as well as the Delacorte Theater for Shakespeare in the Park. She also spearheads the season-planning process & the planning and integration of The Public’s artistic programs.She is a member of the faculties of both Juilliard and NYU, a board member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the former Executive Producer of the 13P playwrights collective, and the former Co-Chair of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. She is known as “a champion for adventurous playwrights and an inspiration for great actors, directors, and designers, and she’s poised to play a leadership role in our city and in our field. She’s one of the most highly regarded artistic producers in the field, and she’s had a huge influence on so many artists making work today. Most importantly, her values are deeply aligned with Woolly’s."
Dr. Ellen Stofan - Director The National Air & Space Museum
Dr. Ellen Stofan has been named the first woman to lead the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Institution announced in April, 2018. The former chief scientist at NASA, she will succeed General J.R. “Jack” Dailey, who retired early this year. Dr. Stofan, who has a background in geology, helped to lead in the development of a long-term plan to get humans to Mars.Her father was a NASA rocket scientist, and she attended her first rocket launch at Cape Canaveral at the age of 4. Dr. Stofan has commented that “Space and aviation inspire our next generation of explorers, and there is no better place to experience this than at our museums on the Mall and at the Udvar-Hazy Center.” She will be overseeing an institution with more than 300 full-time employees and a budget of $48 million.
Latitude: The Washington Women's Arts Center 1975-1987 at The American University Museum
The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center (WWAC) is exhibiting Latitude: The Washington Women's Arts Center 1975-1987thru August 12.The WWAC was created in 1975 as a non-profit organization that provided professional support and opportunities for women in the arts. Throughout its history, the WWAC also sponsored speakers, produced literary and visual arts journals, and collaborated with other organizations to raise the profile of women artists in the Washington D.C. area and around the country. The exhibition features the art of former WWAC members and exhibitors & showcases 90+ works produced between the years 1975-1987, some of which are iconic of that time. Recent works by member artists are featured in a slide show - accompanied by interviews. The exhibition was curated by Francoise Yohalem & is sponsored by the Alper Initiative for Washington Art.
"Heavy Metal - Women to Watch in 2018" at The National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is exhibiting Heavy Metal—Women to Watch 2018, thru September 16.The exhibition features artists who “enthusiastically investigate the physical properties and expressive possibilities of metalwork through a wide variety of objects, including sculpture, jewelry, and conceptual forms. The series titled Women to Watch is presented every three years and is “a dynamic collaboration between the museum and its national and international outreach committees.”
