Delaware Arts Alliance serves as a dynamic advocate for arts and culture throughout the state, asserting the importance of the arts in the development of livable communities, vibrant economies, and creative citizens.

Goal 1: Advocate for increased resources for the arts in Delaware

Goal 2: Increase the visibility of the arts and artists in Delaware

Goal 3: Increase access and resources for arts education in Delaware

Goal 4: Create and sustain a structure that positions DAA as a unifying voice for the arts in Delaware 

Check the Executive Summary for tactics Click here

Shortly after the national fiscal downturn in 2008, it seemed that arts funding might be severely cut or even eliminated in Delaware, and a group of statewide arts leaders began meeting to prepare for a joint advocacy effort to reach key State legislators.

In June of 2009, the group hosted an organizational meeting at the Schwartz Center in Dover, attended by 33 arts groups from across the state.

Working with the Delaware Division of the Arts and Americans for the Arts, the group discovered a common purpose and mutual enthusiasm that has led to the formation of the Delaware Arts Alliance.

STEERING COMMITTEE:

Chapel Street Players; Christina Cultural Arts Center; City of Wilmington / CityFest; Delaware Art Museum; Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts; Delaware Children’s Museum; Delaware Symphony Orchestra; Delaware Theatre Company; First State Ballet Theatre; Grand Opera House; Milton Theatre; Opera Delaware; Rehoboth Art League; Rehoboth Beach Film Society; Schwartz Center for the Arts; Wilmington Renaissance Corporation. Americans for the Arts, and the Delaware Division of the Arts have supported DAA since its inception.

BOARD of DIRECTORS:

Maxine Gaiber/Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, President; Sheila Bravo/Rehoboth Art League, Vice President; Donald Parks/Biggs Museum, Secretary; Lee Kimball/Opera Delaware, Treasurer; Gail O’Donnell/Delaware Art Museum, Strategic Planning and Development Committee Chair; Mark Fields/Grand Opera House, Marketing Committee Chair; Carrie Gray/Wilmington Renaissance Corp. Advocacy Committee Chair; Deb Hansen, Education Committee Chair; Arden Bardol; Tina Betz/CityFest; Henry Cox; Mary Ann Elshlager/DE Theater Co.; Raye Jones Avery/Christina Cultural Arts Center; Galen Keene/Chapel Street Players, Membership Chair; Robert Grenfell/First State Ballet Theatre; Beth Howlett; Jeanne D. Nutter/AARP; George Meldrum/Nemours Foundation.

In addition to the Steering Committee members, current DAA members include:

ORGANIZATIONS:

Art Therapy Express, Biggs Museum, Center for the Creative Arts, City Theatre Company, Clear Space Productions, Coastal Concerts, Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies (DANA), Delaware By Hand, Delaware Music Educators Association, Delaware Shakespeare Festival, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Theater Association, Dover Art League, El Tiempo Hispano, El Centro Cultural, Film Brothers, Gallery 50, Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mèlomanie, New Wilmington Arts Association, Pieces of a Dream, Inc., Rainbow Chorale of Delaware, Southern Delaware Choral Society.

ARTISTS & ARTS SUPPORTERS:

Ginger Angstadt, Thomas Alderson, Sydney Arzt, Lynn B. DelPorte, JoAnn Balingit, Arden Bardol, Michael Barko, Lisa Bartolli, Allison Burris Castellanos, Theda Blackwelder, Hazel Bradshaw-Beaumont, Ruth Brown, Lauren Cahill, Judith Calhoun, Linda Chatfield, Charles Conway, Henry Cox, Thomas Dean, Dawn Dresden, Treiva & Rohn Dungee, Sue Early, Irene Fick, Mark Fields, Maxine Gaiber, Michael Kalmbach, Galen Keene, Lee Kimball, Michael Gray, Robert & MaryAnn Grenfell, Debora Hansen, Karint Lang, Margaret Rose Henry, William & Beth Howlett, Joyce Hill Stoner, Thomas Hornung, Debbra Johnson,Vera Kaminski, Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Matthew Loeb, Ron Meick, Diana Milburn, George Meldrum, Jeanne Nutter, Devon Miller-Duggan, Duane Mitchell, Lise Monty, Mary Jane Moser, Douglas Ingerson, Rose Murray, Anne Oldach, Gail O’Donnell, Rosetta Roach, Michelangelo Rodriguez, Donald Parks, Carla Pastore, Jay Pastore, Dana Peragallo, Amy Patrick, Anita Peghini-Raber, Karol Schmigel, Jeffrey Santoro, Ellen Semple, Kristen Shaw, Ruth Sokolowski, Ashley Sullivan-Kirsey, Marcie Tauber, Julie VanBlarcom, James Wilson, Lucinda Williams.