MAYOR BLOOMBERG APPOINTS NEW CULTURAL AFFAIRS ADVISORY COMMISSION

Mayor Bloomberg today announced the appointment of 21 members of the New York City Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs, chaired by Agnes Gund. Ms. Gund is the President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and the founder of Studio in a School, a leading arts education organization in the city.

The Mayor's announcement describes the Commission as "a cultural advocacy body" mandated by the City Charter to advise the Mayor and the Cultural Affairs Commissioner on critical cultural issues.

Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin, Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris will serve as ex officio members of the Commission, along with Karen Brooks Hopkins, President of the Cultural Institutions Group (and President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music), and Laura Jean Watters, Executive Director of the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island.

The following were appointed members of the Commission:

Eddy Bayardelle, Director of Global Philanthropy, Merrill Lynch & Co.
Charles C. Bergman, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Laurie Blitzer, Executive Director of Non-Profit and External Affairs, McKinsey & Company
Daniel Brodsky, Managing Partner, Brodsky Organization
Board: New York City Ballet and the Municipal Art Society
Amy Chin, Executive Director, New York Chinese Cultural Center
Chuck Close, Artist
Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Vice President and Director of Museum and Cultural Programs, Asia Society
Evangeline Douris, Co-founder, Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee Robert Esnard, President, Donald Zucker Company
Board: New York Botanical Garden and the Wildlife Conservation Society
Dolores M. Fernandez, President, Hostos Community College at the City University of New York
Alan H. Fishman, Chief Executive Officer, Independence Community Bank
Board: Chairman, Brooklyn Academy of Music
Susan K. Freedman, President, Public Art Fund
Michael Lynne, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, New Line Cinema Corporation
Board: Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of the Moving Image, and the Drawing Center
Raymond J. McGuire, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley's Mergers and Acquisitions Group
Board: Chairman, Studio Museum in Harlem
Judith O. Rubin, Chairman of the Board, Playwrights Horizons
David M. Sable, President & CEO, Wunderman New York
Robert Soros, Deputy Chairman, Soros Fund Management
Board: The Kitchen
Laurie Tisch Sussman, Chairperson, Center for Arts Education
Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner, Vice Chair Emerita, Estée Lauder Companies
Allan Weissglass, Chairman, Magruder Color Company
Board: Snug Harbor Cultural Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art