About Us
Helen Walton and Ed Dell Wortz established the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1989 to carry out the museum’s mission: boosting awareness and appreciation of women artists, who are still underrepresented in museums and undervalued in the market. Read a history of the Arkansas Committee.
The Committee is run by volunteers across Arkansas with no staff or headquarters and is online at www.acnmwa.org, Facebook and Instagram. Each year, the Arkansas Committee take applications for an Artist Award, a $4,000 stipend to a mid-career artist, and a summer internship, which offers a $2,000 stipend. Also, ACNMWA maintains an online juried artist registry, open to applicants biannually.
Exhibitions for free public viewing are the heart of the Arkansas Committee’s program. Women to Watch is the organization’s signature traveling exhibition of Arkansas women artists, guest-curated by invited Arkansas museum professionals in conjunction with NMWA’s triennial Women to Watch thematic exhibitions. We encourage collectors and curators to see Arkansas women artists, and all art lovers to discover and support the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Advocacy for Arkansas women artists is accomplished through our ongoing programs:
1. Artist Award
The Artist Award grant provides for artist expenses related to professional development or pursuit of new creative work: workshop training, research, travel, and/or essential equipment or supplies.
3. College Internship
The College Internship provides a stipend for an Arkansas woman student attending an Arkansas university or college to complete a summer collaborative project with a mentor in an Arkansas museum, gallery or arts or cultural institution.
2. Biennial Juried Artist Registry
The Artist Registry features work by Arkansas women artists selected by an Arkansas arts professional serving as juror. Artists’ images, artist statements and website links are featured online for a two-year period.
4. Women to Watch Exhibits
The international Women to Watch curated exhibition in Washington DC affords an Arkansas woman artist national visibility, press and curatorial connections. An invited Arkansas arts professional curates Arkansas submission(s) to national and a state Women to Watch tour of all nominees that travels the year after the national exhibition.
Board of Directors
MaryRoss Taylor
President
Little Rock
Sandy Alstadt
Vice President
Little Rock
Marilyn Rishkofski
Secretary
Conway
Mary Lynn Reese
Treasurer
Rogers
Virmarie DePoyster
Executive Committee
North Little Rock
Kate Maurras
Executive Committee
Fort Smith
Mary Harding Talbot
Executive Committee
Gould
Kinya Christian
Springdale
Garbo Hearne
Little Rock
Debra B. Jackson
Newport
Jeanne Parham
Fayetteville
Elizabeth Cooley Paris
Fort Smith
Ann Shackleford
Montrose
Anna Landers Swaim
Little Rock
Sarah Shell Teague
Fayetteville
Demara Titzer
Bella Vista
Marjorie Williams-Smith
Little Rock
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Founded to redefine traditional histories of art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts is the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing and literary arts. Learn more on the national site through the button below.