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.orgFacebook 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 $3,000 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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.