WESTAF Deputy Director Shannon Daut has been named to the position of executive director of the Alaska State Council on the Arts. Daut will leave a 12-year tenure at WESTAF to lead Alaska’s state arts agency. She will begin her work for Alaska on January 9.
WESTAF Executive Director Anthony Radich recognized Daut’s contribution to the work of WESTAF, noting that “Shannon has been involved in virtually every aspect of WESTAF’s growth and development over the last twelve years. Her involvement with our work has resulted in more progressive programs, more client-friendly software projects, and more far-sighted policy development. She has been a tremendous contributor to the success of our organization.”
Daut had a long career at WESTAF. One of her early projects was the management of WESTAF’s ArtJob, the 24-year-old project that seeks to link jobs in the nonprofit arts with qualified job seekers. She followed that work with the development of CallforEntry.org (CaFE™), a successful online site that was designed to bring the solicitation and adjudication of public art into the internet age. Most recently, she conceptualized and worked on the development of Public Art Archive™, a WESTAF website that contains a highly searchable database of public art and whose goal is to showcase all the public art in the United States. In addition to these projects, Daut has worked closely with the Western state arts agencies to advance cultural policy throughout the region and has managed a wide variety of grant programs, professional development and cultural policy convenings, and other efforts of WESTAF.
Daut holds a bachelor’s degree film studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a masters degree in communication from the University of Colorado, Denver. She is co-chair of the Create Denver Advisory Committee, a creative economy initiative of the city of Denver, and currently serves on the governing board of the National Performance Network.
For additional information, please contact Leah Horn at leah.horn@westaf.org or call 303-629-1166.
We are certainly going to miss Shannon. She has helped the Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts countless times. We wish her the best of luck in Alaska! And hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.
Shannon has been a tremendous partner in bringing the Arts to the people. We are grateful for her leadership and wish her well in her new venture!