The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) is an advisory committee to the President of the United States on cultural issues. It works directly with the White House and the three primary cultural agencies:the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH),and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS),as well as other federal partners and the private sector,to advance wide-ranging policy objectives in the arts and humanities. These include considerations for how the arts and humanities sectors can positively impact community well-being,economic development,public health,education,civic engagement,and climate change across the United States.
Abby Joseph Cohen is an American economist and financial analyst on Wall Street. She is a professor of business at Columbia Business School. In 1999,she was first named as one of the most powerful women in business by Fortune Magazine. Later accolades included being named the second most powerful woman in finance and one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. Cohen has been included in Barron's 100 most influential women in finance every year since the list's inception.
Bill Ivey is an American folklorist and author. He was the seventh chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts,and is a past chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Martha Raddatz is an American reporter with ABC News. She is the network's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent reporting for ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir,Nightline,and other network broadcasts. In addition to her work for ABC News,Raddatz has written for The New Republic and is a frequent guest on PBS's Washington Week. Raddatz is the co-anchor and primary fill-in anchor on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
Denise Campbell Bauer is an American diplomat serving as the United States ambassador to France and Monaco. Bauer served as Ambassador of the United States to Belgium from 2013 to 2017. After being nominated by President Barack Obama,she was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on August 2,2013;she was sworn in the following August 7. She left office on January 20,2017. A member of the Democratic Party,she was the executive director of Women for Biden.
Irene Hirano Inouye was an American business executive who was the founding President of the U.S.-Japan Council,a position she held ever since she helped create the organization in 2009 until her death. Hirano Inouye focused on building positive relations between the United States and Japan,and was also a leader in philanthropy,community engagement,and advancing social causes. She served on a number of prominent non-profit boards,and was chair of the Ford Foundation's board of trustees. She previously served as president and founding chief executive officer of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from 1988 to 2008,which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.
Richard Kurin,an American cultural anthropologist,museum official and author,is the Acting Provost and Under Secretary for Museums and Research at the Smithsonian Institution. He is a key member of the senior team managing the world's largest museum and research complex with 6,500 employees and a $1.4 billion annual budget,caring for more than 139 million specimens,artifacts and artworks,working in 145 countries around the globe,hosting some 30 million visitors a year,and reaching hundreds of millions online and through the Smithsonian's educational programs and media outreach. Kurin is particularly responsible for all of the national museums,scholarly and scientific research centers,and programs spanning science,history,art and culture.
Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) is a not-for-profit theater arts-based education organization in Northwest Washington,D.C. It provides interactive in-school and after-school programs presenting and discussing student-written work to promote community dialogue and respect for young artists.
Megan Carroll Beyer is an American journalist,activist,and lifelong advocate of women’s rights and gender issues. Beyer is the Director of the Office of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State,appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022. She has served as an advisor to many arts and civic organizations,including Civic Nation,the American Film Institute,and the Better Angels Society.
Julius Genachowski is an American lawyer and businessman. He became the Federal Communications Commission Chairman on June 29,2009. On March 22,2013,he announced he would be leaving the FCC in the coming weeks. On January 6,2014,it was announced that Genachowski had joined The Carlyle Group. He transitioned from Partner and Managing Director to Senior Advisor in early 2024.
Melody C. Barnes is an American lawyer and political advisor. Formerly an aide and chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee,Barnes later worked at the Center for American Progress,a think tank,before joining Senator Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. After Obama took office as president,Barnes was appointed director of the Domestic Policy Council,serving in that post from January 2009 to January 2012. After leaving the White House,Barnes assumed roles at the Aspen Institute and New York University. Since 2016,she has been at the University of Virginia,where she teaches law and is the co-director of the UVA Democracy Initiative.
The Independent Film &Television Alliance (IFTA) is the trade association that represents companies that finance,produce and license independent film and television programming worldwide. The association is headquartered in Los Angeles,but has a global membership and wide scope of services and advocacy. Its roster of 150 member companies in 23 countries include independent production and distribution companies,sales agents,television companies,studio-affiliated companies and financial institutions. IFTA members create more than 500 independent films and countless hours of TV programming each year generating a revenue of $4 billion annually.
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is a scholar of Performance and Jewish Studies and a museum professional. Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University,she is best known for her interdisciplinary contributions to Jewish studies and to the theory and history of museums,tourism,and heritage. She is currently the Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition and Advisor to the Director at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
Deborah Anne Wong is an American academic,educator,and ethnomusicologist. She is known for her studies of Asian-American and Thai music.
The Australian Directors' Guild (ADG) is an industry guild representing the interests of film,television,commercials and digital media directors,including documentary makers and animators,throughout Australia. With its headquarters in Sydney,the ADG has branches in New South Wales,Queensland,South Australia,Victoria and Western Australia. As of 2022 the president of ADG is Rowan Woods.
Kathleen Woodward is an American academic. She is a Lockwood Professor in Humanities and in English at the University of Washington and has been the Director of the Simpson Center for the Humanities since 2000. Her areas of specialization include 20th-century American literature and culture;discourse of the emotions;technology and science studies;and age studies;digital humanities;and gender,women,and sexuality studies. She is working on risk in the context of globalization and population aging. Her writing talks about the invisibility status of older women and she advocates for an arena of visibility.
Paula Boggs is an American attorney,musician,public speaker,and former military officer. She is the leader of the Paula Boggs Band.
Claudine K. Brown was an American museum director and educator and nonprofit executive. She was best known for her work at the Smithsonian Institution,where she was Director of Education,responsible for directing its work to help educate K-12 students. She was also a specialist in African-American history.
Elizabeth Marie Allen is an American political advisor who served as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the Biden administration. She previously served as assistant secretary of state for global public affairs and as White House deputy communications director during the Obama administration. Allen resigned from the State Department on August 2,2024,to take up a role as chief of staff to Tim Walz,the then-unannounced running mate of Democratic presidential candidate and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris.
Joy Ford Austin is a Guyanese-American non-profit executive,philanthropist,humanitarian,and arts patron. She was the director of the African American Museums Association,which she helped found in 1980,and worked with institutions to preserve African-American culture and history. From 2000 to 2020,Austin served as the executive director of Humanities DC,an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since stepping down as executive director of Humanities DC,she has served as the president of AustinFord Associates and as the chief executive officer of Joy Ford Austin Arts and Humanities Advocacy.
