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Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee names Christine Harris as President and Executive Director

Paul Mathews, Chair of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee Board of Directors and President of the Marcus Center, announced that Christine Harris will become President and Executive Director of the organization as of March 1, 2008. Harris had been acting as managing consultant since November 2007.

Started in early 2005, the Cultural Alliance was formed by leading members of the cultural sector who believed that arts and culture organizations must work in a cohesive manner to insure they continue to be key contributors in shaping our economy and quality of life. The Alliance serves the seven county region, Milwaukee 7, and its mission is to strengthen, advance and represent the arts and culture sector as an essential asset for growing a vibrant, attractive region. The greater Milwaukee region is one of only a few large urban areas which has not had a vehicle for supporting and promoting the role that arts, culture and creativity play in the economic and social wellbeing of the region.

In announcing the appointment, Paul Mathews stated that “the Board’s choice of Christine Harris was an obvious one, given her experience, stature in the community and passionate commitment to arts and culture.”

“With critical initiatives underway such as Milwaukee 7’s focus on the region’s development and the City of Milwaukee’s revision of its Downtown Plan,” Mathews added, “the Cultural Alliance must provide strong leadership to insure the arts and culture sector has a well-articulated and unified voice in shaping the future. When Christine became available, our opportunity met our expectations.”

The strategic goals of the Alliance are:

1. building capacity for arts and culture through leading the development of strategies to strengthen individual organizations;
2. championing the sector through promoting its intrinsic value and its role in helping to address economic and talent growth, transportation needs, education, and community infrastructure;
3. developing a comprehensive information resource in order to foster dialogue and understanding of the role and impact of the cultural sector on our region and beyond;
4. creating a ‘best practice’ organization that serves the community with a high quality, growing, and sustainable arts and culture sector.

Dean Amhaus, President of Spirit of Milwaukee, says “Christine’s extensive experience, knowledge and respect will be invaluable in helping to position the arts and culture as having a rightful place at the public policy table when talking about the agenda for the Milwaukee region’s future success.”

Christine Harris left as President of the United Performing Arts Fund in September 2007 after five years of campaign growth. A veteran of over 25 years of arts administration, Harris previously served as Executive Director of the Milwaukee Ballet, Director of Audience Development and Education for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Executive Director of the Great Woods Institute for the Arts in Massachusetts, and her own consulting practice. Christine has a bachelor’s degree in retailing and a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Harris serves on the board of Visit Milwaukee, the leadership council of the Helen Bader Institute for NonProfit Management, and the board of the Milwaukee Riverwalk District.

Tim Shields, Managing Director of the Milwaukee Rep, believes that “The Cultural Alliance with Christine Harris at the helm will be newly able — and uniquely positioned — to serve as a united voice for cultural groups in the region; to help to guide and shape conversations about the role to be played by cultural groups in the future development of our community and our region; and will be able to help cultural institutions to be the most effective that they can be.”

The Cultural Alliance offices are newly located at 648 N. Plankinton Avenue, Suite 425; sharing space with Visit Milwaukee. The Alliance will be working closely with Visit Milwaukee on promoting our cultural amenities throughout the region and the nation.

In addition to Mathews, the Board of Directors for the Cultural Alliance comprises: Paul Batchelor, Virchow Krause, Treasurer; Genyne Edwards, Edwards Ingenuity, Secretary; Dean Amhaus, Spirit of Milwaukee; Murph Burke, community volunteer; Sheree Dallas-Branch, WI Dept of Administration; Ray Forgianni, consultant; Carmen Haberman, Herzfeld Foundation; Judy Jorgensen, community volunteer; Ruth Kohler, John Michael Kohler Arts Center; Falamak Nourzad, Continuum Architects; Bruce Pepich, Racine Art Museum; Tim Shields, Milwaukee Rep; Karen Spahn, Milwaukee Public Museum; Julia Taylor, Greater Milwaukee Committee; Robert Young, Paradigm Technologies.

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The Cultural Alliance website will be undergoing reconfiguration over the next few months. We thank you for your interest and patience.

Milwaukee 7-region arts and culture sector contributes $1/4 million to economy each year.

Arts and Economic Prosperity III, a landmark national study, reveals powerful proof of our sector’s economic impact in the region.

See the list of full reports available for download.

Recommended reading

Links to entries in “The Artful Manager” blog, by UW Madison Bolz Center for Arts Administration colleague Andrew Taylor, are presented here for easy access. Andrew consistently draws our attention to useful pieces of information, and to work that is going on around the world, which help us do our jobs with a supply of fresh ideas. Enjoy!

For more of the The Artful Manager, and other arts articles and blogs, check out ArtsJournal.com!