Art Lies, Volume 34, Spring 2002 Page: 2
77 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Seeking the Whole:
a conversation with Adair Margo
by Rebecca S. Cohen
The country's preoccupation with the war against terrorism after September 11 pre-
dictably overshadowed George W. Bush's appointment of El Paso art dealer Adair
Margo as chairwoman of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
toward the end of last year. But now the former chair of the Texas Commission on the
Arts, current member of the Mid-America Arts Alliance board (and chair of the
ExhibitsUSA program) is beginning to make her mark. In mid-April we met in Austin
where the energetic El Paso native lingered long enough for me to ask her some ques-
tions about her latest public service role. The President's Committee was established by
Executive Order in 1982 during the Reagan Administration. Its members include
twenty-two private citizens appointed by the President and the heads of federal agen-
cies including: the National Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the
Humanities; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Library of Congress;
Smithsonian Institution; John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and the
National Gallery of Art.
The new chairwoman had come to Austin for a meeting of the Institutional
Effectiveness and Excellence Committee which she chairs as part of the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board, a 1995 appointment by then Governor Bush. Her next
stop would be New York and dinner with Beverly Sills and Luciano Pavarotti followed
by a few days in Washington D.C. where she and her friend Laura Bush, first lady and
honorary chairwoman of the President's Committee, would conduct their first meeting
and attend the National Medals Ceremony. The sixteen honorees this year include
Johnny Cash, Helen Frankenthaler, and Yo-Yo Ma, who was scheduled to perform a
duet at the ceremony with Condoleeza Rice, a concert pianist and, by the way, the
President's National Security Advisor. Adair Margo, with her stylishly short coif and
ready smile has come a long way from El Paso, but she insists she has never felt closer
to her roots.
REBECCA S. COHEN: What does the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities do?
ADAIR MARGO: It's an advisory committee rather than an agency. It doesn't have a
stream of income like the endowments. It can be very nimble. It has a small staff, and
we primarily earn our own money-it's about private dollars. We have all these public
partners and we move to add value to something they're doing, or collaborate with
people using their infrastructure to make a real difference. Ray Nasher (of Dallas) is
my Vice Chair. He was a Clinton appointee. The Bushes think very highly of him and
they kept him. [Two other Texans serving on the twenty-two-member committee are
Alice Carrington of San Antonio and Caren Prothro of Dallas.]2 ARTL!ES Spring 2002
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Bryant, John. Art Lies, Volume 34, Spring 2002, periodical, 2002; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228063/m1/4/?q=%22Dossett%2C%20Beckham%22: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .