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For Immediate Release

Americans for the Arts presents its 1999 Selina Roberts Ottum
Award to Janet L. Brown at its 1999 annual meeting of arts leaders

(Atlanta) Americans for the Arts (AFTA), a Washington-based organization working to provide access to the arts for all Americans, presented its 1999 Selina Roberts Ottum Award today to Janet L. Brown, the executive director of South Dakotans for the Arts, Community Arts Network of South Dakota and the South Dakota Alliance for Arts Education.

Bob Lynch, President/CEO of AFTA, commented, "Having worked with Janet for some time, we know she has been a dedicated advocate for cultural programs that use the arts to benefit the community at large. Like Selina Ottum, she has the vision, dedication and creative spirit that inspires each of us working for community for cultural change."

The Selina Roberts Ottum Award is named in memory of Ottum, who served on the board of directors of Americans for the Arts (AFTA) from 1983 through 1988 and was the board's president from 1984 to 986. The award, presented at AFTA's annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, recognizes the achievements of an individual who has made a meaningful contribution to the arts through local arts leadership.

Recently Brown, in her leadership of the South Dakota Alliance for Arts Education, generated statewide publicity and positive newspaper and television editorials supporting legislation that mandated arts standards and assessments. Legislation failed to pass by only two votes, paving the way for another attempt in the fall of 1999.

Nationally Brown has served on the board of directors for Americans for the Arts and as a grants and review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). She also has been an on-site evaluator for the NEA for local and expansion arts. Brown often is asked to speak at arts conferences across the United States.

Locally she continues in her role as conference director of the Art Beyond Boundaries five-state conference and has worked as a consultant, trainer and facilitator for the Nevada Presenters Network and Arts Council, the NEA/NALAA Rural Arts forums and the Statewide Assemblies of Local Arts Agencies.

Brown also serves as treasurer for the United Statewide Community Arts Association, as a registered lobbyist with the South Dakota legislature and as board member of the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce. Brown has held leadership positions with the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, the Black Hills Community Playhouse Alumni Association, the Black Hills Community Theatre and has been the driving force behind many arts fund drives in the Rapid City area.