Jill Cooper Udall named to presidential arts panel

Posted at: 11/04/2009 8:24 AM
By: The Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Jill Cooper Udall, an arts advocate and wife of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, has been named to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

One of 25 people appointed to the panel by President Obama, she was sworn in Tuesday.

A lawyer and former head of New Mexico's Office of Cultural Affairs - now a department of state government - Udall is working with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.

Among those also named to the committee: actors Edward Norton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Forest Whitaker and Alfre Woodard, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The committee works with federal cultural agencies on programs that recognize excellence in the arts and humanities and encourage public-private partnerships.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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