The Madison Arts Commission (MAC) is made up of ten residents and one Councilmember. Each commissioner is appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. The eleven-member commission is staffed by a full-time arts administrator and two additional part-time support staff. The Commission was created by ordinance in 1974 to advise the Mayor and the Common Council on matters of public policy related to arts. It began as a unit in the Parks Division, but has since moved to Neighborhood Planning, Urban Design & Historic Preservation Section of the Department of Economic and Community Planning and Development.
Alphabetically by last name.
Sheri Carter is a lifelong Madisonian and an alumnus of West High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sheri was elected in 2015, making her one of the first African-American women elected to the Madison Common Council.
For the past 15 years, Sheri has been actively involved in the Madison community. Prior to her election as Alder, Sheri served as the President of the Arbor Hills Neighborhood Association for over 10 years, initiating several community projects in Arbor Hills and working closely with the Leopold Neighborhood Association.
In 2008, he launched the “See Something, Say Something, Make the Call” campaign in Arbor Hills. He has worked closely with Penn Park Partners to increase summer programs at Penn Park. In addition, Sheri served as Chair of the South Metropolitan Planning Council and became aware of projects and concerns from other neighborhoods. Sheri was part of the Nine Springs Health Assessment Committee that worked with Madison/Dane County Public Health staff and community residents.
For over 10 years, Annik Dupaty has planned, managed, and executed all of the major fundraising events for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, including the Art Fair in the Plaza, one of the largest and highest-rated art fairs of the country that attracts about 200,000 attendees. . She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; worked at the Milwaukee Art Museum; taught art history at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD); he was a contributing author/researcher on Permission to Paint, Please, a book chronicling a 150-year period of African-American art and artists in Wisconsin; and recently illustrated a children’s book, My Imagined World: A Story Inspired by Prince Rogers Nelson. Although drawing was her first form of creative expression, she has been exploring photography, ceramics and painting all her life. She has worked in the arts for decades, but is still regularly amazed and amazed at human creativity, and wants all children to be encouraged to express themselves through art. Annik lives in Madison, WI with her family and a cherished collection of Prince albums and Prince-inspired artwork.
Katie Howarth Ryan (Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Public Art)
Katie Howarth Ryan was recently appointed to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOCA) Advisory Council, where she serves on the Permanent Collection Committee. Ryan served two terms on the MMOCA Board of Trustees and had previously served as its Curator of Education. Ryan is also currently a docent at the Chazen Museum of Art.
Ryan moved to Wisconsin from New York where she worked at Art in America magazine and was managing editor of ARTFORUM magazine. In Wisconsin, Ryan did graduate work in art history at UW-Madison and was a teaching assistant before taking the position of curator of education at MMOCA (then the Madison Art Center). When she left the museum, she continued to volunteer in the community with particular commitments to the Cooksville Historic Trust, Inc., the Porter Township Historical Commission Zoning Committee, the Rotary Gardens Education Committee, and her four children’s schools. . He is currently a resident of Madison and a member of the Rotary Club of Madison.
Anna January is currently the Director of Individual Giving at Wisconsin Public Television. She has experience in fundraising, art administration, museum administration, grants, community development, and art history.
Anna spent her childhood in Madison and returned to the city in 2014 after completing a master’s degree in art history at McGill University (Montreal, QC Canada). While living in Montreal, she also received a Fulbright grant, which supported her research on native arts practices, critical race theory, and intersectional feminism.
In addition to working at WPT, Anna has held positions with the University of Wisconsin Division of the Arts, the Wisconsin Film Festival, the Children’s Museum of Madison, the McCord Museum, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Smithsonian Associates Program of the Smithsonian Institution.
Bethany Jurewicz is the Director of Public Programming and Community Outreach at Garver Feed Mill. Previously, she was Manager of Exhibitions and Events at the James Watrous Gallery, a program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, where she remains on staff to part time as a financial advisor.
After earning an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Sotheby’s Institute in London, he moved to New York City and pursued an expansive career in the food, beverage and event industries. She moved to Madison in 2014 and currently lives in the Atwood neighborhood on the east side of Madison. Upon his arrival, he gained employment as a business manager for several organizations while simultaneously producing large-scale culinary and visual art pop-ups to raise funds for local nonprofits including The Apartment Project, Municipal, Makeshift, and CSArt Dinner Series. . Most recently, she co-produced Femmestival with the Culinary Ladies Collective and curated Outside Looking In, a drive-in exhibit in the windows of the Garver Feed Mill. She hopes to plan public events in Garver and throughout Madison that highlight Madison’s creative economy while supporting artists. , musicians and culinary entrepreneurs.
Lance Owens is the founder and director of ArtWorking, a nonprofit program that supports artists with disabilities who want to pursue careers in the arts and small business sectors. For most of the last two decades, Owens’s professional emphasis has been on inclusive arts practices and micro-business development within the disability community. In particular, Owens has focused on the intersection of artistic entrepreneurship and social justice, and how art as a business practice can lead to community inclusion of marginalized populations.
