NEWS RELEASE

Washington, D.C. -- President Barack Obama today (Tuesday, Nov. 3) appointed Minnesota Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Richard J. Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, to serve as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) has served each administration since 1982, advancing the White House's arts and humanities objectives by working directly with the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The PCAH works to initiate and support key programs, recognize excellence in the fields of arts and humanities, and encourage private-public partnerships around those disciplines.

In September, President Obama appointed Broadway producer Margo Lion and writer-producer-director George Stevens Jr. to serve as co-chairs of the committee.  First Lady Michelle Obama serves as the committee’s honorary chair.

Sen. Cohen is one of Minnesota’s leading arts advocates.  Serving in his seventh term in the Minnesota Senate, Sen. Cohen has played a key role in increasing the state’s investment in arts programming and facilities.  Most notably, in 2004 he began an effort to include funding for the arts and humanities in the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.  The amendment, which was approved by voters in 2008, will provide dedicated funding to protect the state’s environment and preserve the state’s arts and cultural heritage for the next 25 years.

Sen. Cohen’s appointment to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities isn’t the first time his work in Minnesota has garnered him national recognition.  Earlier this year, Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, presented Sen. Cohen with their national State Leadership Arts Award for his “outstanding leadership in the advancement of the arts at the state level.”

“I am deeply honored to have been selected to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities,” said Sen. Cohen.  “I hope that my work in Minnesota will be of benefit to the committee.”

Sen. Cohen and the other newly-appointed members of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities were to be sworn in on Tuesday, Nov. 3.  The swearing-in ceremony will be conducted by Vice President Joe Biden in the Vice President’s White House office.  The following day, Wednesday, Nov. 4, the members of the PCAH will meet with honorary chair First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House.