Governor Announces Arts Board Appointments
Governor Jim Doyle announced today eight appointments to the Wisconsin Arts Board, the state agency responsible for the support and development of the arts in Wisconsin. He has also reappointed two members to additional three-year terms.
The new members are: Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton, Green Bay; Ferne Caulker, Milwaukee; Julilly Kohler, Milwaukee; Paul Meinke, Green Bay; Barbara Munson, Mosinee; Glenda Noel-Doyle, Madison; Michael Reyes, Glendale; and Matt Wahl, Eau Claire.
The returning board members are Linda Ware, Wausau, and Robert Wagner, Milwaukee.
“I am pleased that these fine people have agreed to serve on the Wisconsin Arts Board,” Governor Doyle said. “The arts are important to my vision of a new day in Wisconsin. That is why I have asked the Lt. Governor to serve on this vital, working board. The Arts Board will build upon its almost 30 years of work to support and develop the arts, which play an important role in the human development of our citizens as well as the community and economic development of our state.”
The new and returning members join the following continuing members of the Arts Board: James Carley, Madison; Mary M. Giesen, Solon Springs; Linda Grunau, Elm Grove; Gerald Kember, La Crosse; and Ruth Lull, Cable.
“We welcome the new members to the Arts Board and look forward to working with them,” said George Tzougros, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board. “They bring an exciting mix of diverse backgrounds and arts experience to the board.”
The Wisconsin Arts Board is governed by a 15-member board appointed by the Governor to serve three-year terms. Board members are Wisconsin citizens recognized for their accomplishments in the arts, humanities, business, education or public service. The board includes members from urban and rural areas across the state and from diverse racial, economic and cultural backgrounds. Board members set policy for the agency and approve funding recommendations made by the peer review panels. The members meet a minimum of four times per year, and all meetings are open to the public.
The Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency responsible for the support and development of the arts throughout Wisconsin. Since 1973, the Arts Board has supported artists and art organizations with funds from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ferne Yangyeitie (Caulker) Bronson, Milwaukee
Caulker is the founder and Artistic/Executive Director of the Ko-Thi Dance Company, in existence since 1969. The company has become a national and international touring ensemble while maintaining a children’s ensemble (Ton Ko-Thi), year-round community classes in dance and drumming, and an active school outreach program in Milwaukee. Caulker is also a Full Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she has taught popular courses in African dance and history since 1971. She has received numerous awards and has served on boards and advisory committees as well as national and local arts panels. She served on the State Superintendent’s 1999 Blue Ribbon Commission on the Arts and Education and is a motivational speaker on behalf of the arts and education.
Julilly Kohler, Milwaukee
Kohler moved to Milwaukee after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison, and served in the District Attorney’s Office and in private Family Law practice until she left to raise her two daughters. Since then, she has been a partner in an art gallery and now is the managing member of her own real estate development firm. She has been instrumental in redeveloping Brady Street, is vice chair of the City Plan Commission, is a past member of the Milwaukee Arts Board, and founding co-chair of the Public Art Sub-Committee. She is also president of the Nia Imani Family, Inc., president of the Brady Area Foundation for Arts and Education, vice president for the Brady Street BID, past president of the Brady Area Association, vice president for the Turner Ballroom Preservation Trust, and board member and chair of the Milwaukee Turners 4th St. Forum Committee, presenting weekly panel discussions of civic issues.
Barbara Lawton, Green Bay
Lawton was sworn in as Wisconsin’s first female elected Lieutenant Governor in January, 2003. Once a bassoonist and madrigal singer, she has been a life-long advocate for the arts and arts education. She looks forward to deepening the connections between the arts and economic development throughout the State of Wisconsin. Lawton comes from a background of community activism, and was a founding member of the Educational Resource Foundation and Latinos Unidos, and founding trustee of the Greater Green Bay Area Community Foundation. She has lived in Oaxaca, Mexico and Santiago, Chile, worked as a cross-cultural trainer, and worked on a Ph.D. in Latin American Literature.
Paul Meinke, Green Bay
Meinke is president of Archetype Group, Green Bay, a strategic design and marketing communications firm. Archetype Group has expertise in brand development and print and electronic design, and has won numerous awards for its work. Meinke currently serves on the Executive Board for the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and is an avid support of The Meyer Theatre restoration there. In addition, Meinke encourages Archetype Group’s staff to donate their time and talents to organizations that benefit the Green Bay area.
Barbara E. Munson, Mosinee
Munson is affiliated with the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin. She has had a rich, varied career and is currently an Outreach Specialist with the Multicultural Center for Educational Excellence, UW-System, a diversity trainer, a consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s American Indian Studies Summer Institute, and a workshop presenter, speaker and advocate for Indian Education issues.
Munson is a founding board member of the Oneida Nation Arts Program and a board member of the Wisconsin Assembly for Local Arts.
Glenda Noel-Doyle, Madison
Noel-Doyle currently works for the University of Wisconsin Foundation as the Director of Development for the School of Veterinary Medicine. She was manager of Philanthropic Programs at American Express, where she oversaw the activities of 12 local grant-making committees and assisted in project work for national philanthropic initiatives, overseeing the distribution of more than $6 million in annual Foundation and Corporate grants to local and national institutions. She has also been assistant director of the Institute of African American Affairs at New York University and the coordinator of Cultural Affairs and Special Programs at Phillip Morris Companies, Inc.
Michael Reyes, Glendale
Reyes is an attorney in private practice with the firm of Flores & Reyes in Waukesha. His practice focuses on civil and criminal litigation, family law, traffic, real estate, and entertainment law through
the State of Wisconsin. Reyes’ arts activities include involvement in concert presentations featuring local, regional, national, and international artists in venues ranging from colleges and public schools to cultural centers, theaters and churches throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. He serves on boards and committees for Latino Arts, Artist Series at the Pabst, and the Rainbow Summer Festival. A past president of the Wisconsin Hispanic Lawyers Association, Reyes was recently included in the Shepherd Express’ list of Milwaukee’s top 50 influential Latino leaders.Matthew Wahl, Eau Claire
Wahl tours throughout the Midwest as a solo act, playing the acoustic guitar and harmonica, doing about 150 shows a year, performing original music at colleges/universities, resorts, fairs, festivals, private and corporate parties, cafes, bars, and other venues. In 1999, Wahl started his own record label, Open Road Records, on which he has released three CD’s of his original music.
Robert Wagner, Milwaukee
Wagner is the president of The Wagner Companies of Butler, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the Milwaukee School of Engineering Class of 1964. Wagner and his wife, JoAnn, have two grown daughters. He currently serves on the Boards of the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the War Memorial Center, and the Salvation Army. He has also served on the boards of the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Historical Society, Fox Point Lutheran Church and the Wisconsin Humane Society. Wagner has been a member of the Wisconsin Arts Board since February, 2002.
Linda Ware, Wausau
Ware is a Professor of English at UW Colleges-Marathon County in Wausau. She has taught courses in 20th Century American and Anglo/Irish Literature, Women’s Studies, Ethnic Studies, and the Canon in American Fiction. She has also presided as chair of the UW Colleges English Department and Chair of the Chairs’ Council of the UW Colleges. Ware was Leadership Fund Drive Co-Chair for Wausau’s Artsblock project and a member of the Governor’s Poet Laureate Nominating Commission. She has also served in a variety of board leadership positions for the Performing Arts Foundation of Wausau, Wausau Area Festival of Arts, and Wausau Community Theatre. Ware was originally appointed to the Wisconsin Arts Board in 1997 and has been a member of both its executive and education committees.
Date Posted: Friday, June 13, 2003
Contacts: Jessica Erickson, Governor’s Office, 608-261-2156
George Tzougros, Arts Board, 608-266-0190
