On November 2, the White House announced the selection of 25 new members to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. These individuals join 12 federal members of the committee, whose agencies have cultural programs. The list includes:

• J. Ricky Arriola - President and CEO of Inktel Direct and Chair of the Board of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
• Madeleine Harris Berman - Member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of Americans for the Arts.
• Richard J. Cohen - Minnesota State Senator chairing the Finance Committee.
• Paula Hannaway Crown - Principal of Henry Crown and Company, a private investment firm, and an artist.
• Christine Forester - Architect specializing in hospital architecture - switched careers in the 1980s to head Christine Forester Catalyst, a business, marketing and branding company.
• Teresa Heinz - Chairman of the Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. She is a member of the Trustees Council at the National Gallery of Art and in 2001 was elected to be a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
• Victoria Strauss Kennedy - Educational consultant for Loyola Marymount University. She has worked at Harvard University as Head Teaching Fellow for an undergraduate literature course, and as a Fellow for the Derek Bok Center.
• Bryan Lourd - Partner and Managing Director of Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports agency.
• Anne Luzzatto - Served as Obama-Biden Transition Team review lead for the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also served as Vice President for Meetings, Council on Foreign Relations.
• Yo-Yo Ma - Cellist and 2001 National Medal of Arts recipient.
• Liz Manne - Independent film producer and consultant.
• Thom Mayne - Founder of Morphosis Architects, co-founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture and Distinguished Professor at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, where he extensively researches and publishes on contemporary urbanism.
• Edward Norton - Two-time Academy Award-nominated actor, producer, and director. He is also engaged in social and environmental issues, serving on the Board of Enterprise Community Partners, National Landscape Conservation Foundation, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and Signature Theater Company.
• Sarah Jessica Parker - Award-winning actress and producer, having won four Golden Globe Awards, two Emmy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
• Andy Spahn - President of Andy Spahn & Associates, an entertainment industry based consulting firm that specializes in public affairs, strategic philanthropy and communications.
• Jill Cooper Udall - Lawyer and former Officer of Cultural Affairs for the State of New Mexico. She currently works with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. 
• Reginald Van Lee - Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton.
• Agnes Varis - Founder and President of Agvar Chemicals and Modavar Pharmaceuticals.
• Kerry Washington - Award-winning actress and board member of The Creative Coalition.
• Alexa L. Wesner - Founder of Blue Texas PAC and formerly co-founder and President of HireTECH, a high technology recruiting firm in Austin, Texas.
• Forest Whitaker - Academy Award-winning actor, director, producer and game developer.
• Anna Wintour - Editor in Chief of VOGUE since 1988.
• Damian Woetzel - Renowned ballet dancer, who performed during his career as a principal dancer at New York City Ballet.
• George C. Wolfe - Tony award-winning theater and film director and playwright.
• Alfre Woodard - Actress and member of the National Film Preservation Foundation Board, as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences International Outreach Committee.

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities has served each Administration since 1982, advancing the White House's arts and humanities objectives by working directly with the three primary cultural agencies – National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – to initiate and support key programs; to recognize excellence in the fields of arts and humanities; and to encourage private-public partnerships around those disciplines.  PCAH’s four program areas of focus are: International; Youth, Arts, and Humanities Learning; Preservation; and Special Initiatives.  Signature programs supported by PCAH include: National Humanities Medals, Save America's Treasures, Coming Up Taller, and AFI Project: 20/20.

First Lady Michelle Obama presides as Honorary Chairman. George Stevens, Jr. and Margo Lion serve as Co-Chairs of the Committee, and Mary Schmidt Campbell is the Vice Chair. Rachel Goslins began work as Executive Director in July.

Additional information about the President’s Committee is available at: http://www.pcah.gov/index.html. 

Additional biographical information about the committee members is available, from Politico, at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29063.html.