Bruner Loeb forum


Holly Sidford		REMARKS
	Holly Sidford is a strategic planner and organizational developer with more than 25 years experience in nonprofit management and philanthropy. She is currently Senior Associate at The Urban Institute working on a major research project, Investing in Creativity: A Study of Support Structures for US Artists. She is also directing a planning effort to shape implementation strategies based on the study’s findings. In addition to her work with The Urban Institute, since 1999 Ms. Sidford has conducted program planning for a range of nonprofit organizations and foundations, including the Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation and Joyce Foundation. Prior to that, she was the Program Director of the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, Executive Director of the New England Foundation for the Arts, and Associate Director of the Mass Council on the Arts and Humanities. She received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a certificate in nonprofit management from Columbia University School of Business, and has served on the board of Grantmakers in the Arts, the National Association of State Arts Agencies, the Naitonal Jazz Service Organization and the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.
	The Urban Institute	http://www.urban.org/

Maria-Rosario Jackson		REMARKS
	Dr. Maria-Rosario Jackson is a senior research associate and director of the Urban Institute’s Culture, Creativity and Communities Program. Dr. Jackson’s research focuses on urban policy, urban poverty, community planning, the role of arts and culture in community building processes and the politics of race, ethnicity and gender in urban settings. Dr. Jackson earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California and a doctorate in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.
	The Urban Institute	http://www.urban.org/

Cmsr. Lois Weisberg		REMARKS
	As Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs since 1989, Lois Weisberg serves as a member of the Mayor’s cabinet and supervises a municipal department that is charged with making the arts accessible to all, and with promoting the City of Chicago through its distinguished and diverse art and cultural attractions. Cmsr. Weisberg’s many accomplishments include establishing the Chicago Cultural Center, making Chicago a national model in cultural tourism through cultural exchanges, initiating public art exhibitions such as Cows on Parade, developing Chicago Neighborhood Tours, creating the Chicago Coalition of Community Cultural Centers, Gallery 37, the Chicago Sister Cities International Program and many other nationally known initiatives.
	Prior to being appointed Commissioner, Ms. Weisberg served as the Mayor’s Assistant for Special Projects, as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events where her initiatives included Taste of Chicago, the Chicago Blues Festival, the Chicago Gospel Festival, citywide neighborhood festivals, and the Chicago Holiday Sharing It Program. She is the recipient of numerous local and national awards including an award for extraordinary support and service to theatre in Chicago; the League of Women Voters Civic Contribution Award, Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year Award, the Harold Washington History Maker Award, the Chicago Tribute “Chicagoan of the Year” award, and many others.
	Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs 78 East Washington Street Chicago, IL 60602 Web:	Phone: 312-744-8923 Fax: 312-744-2089 Email : [email protected] http://egov.cityofchicago.org

Jack Murrah		REMARKS
	Jack Murrah was born in rural Alabama in 1949 and graduated from public high school in Birmingham in 1966. He attended Vanderbilt University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1971. Later he earned a master’s degree in English from Middlebury College.
	Between 1970 and 1978, he taught high school at the Alabama boys’ reform school, the Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy in Mississippi, and Baylor School in Chattanooga. In 1978 he joined the staff of the Lyndhurst Foundation, where he has served as a program officer, executive director, and, since 1989, and president. Lyndhurst is a private foundation that provides support for environmental conservation, public school reform, downtown and inner-city revitalization, and cultural activities, primarily in Chattanooga and the surrounding region.
	Currently he serves on the boards of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, the Rural School and Community Trust, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Community Impact of Chattanooga, and the Tennessee Aquarium. He is also a member of the Mayor’s Community Education Alliance in Chattanooga.
	Lyndhurst Foundation	http://www.lyndhurstfoundation.org/