This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 16, 1998

                 PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES GORDON DAVIDSON 
                   AND CLEO PARKER ROBINSON AS MEMBERS
                   OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS

The President today announced his intent to nominate Gordon Davidson and Cleo Parker Robinson as members of the National Council on the Arts.

Mr. Gordon Davidson, of Los Angeles, California, won the Tony Award for Best Director in 1977, and has been nominated two other times for a Tony Award. He is the Founding Artistic Director of the award-winning Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, as well as the Producing Director of the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Mr. Davidson directed the original Broadway production of "Children of a Lesser God," and has directed numerous other productions in New York and across the country. His staging of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" opened the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Mr. Davidson is the recipient of the New York Drama Desk Award, the Obie Award, and three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for his work in direction. He has served as a member of the Theatre Policy Panel, the Institutional Advancement Panel, and the Theatre Program Grants Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ms. Cleo Parker Robinson, of Denver, Colorado, is the Executive Artistic Director of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre, overseeing the operations of an internationally acclaimed dance ensemble. The ensemble toured Europe in 1993, through the United States Information Agency. She collaborated with Maya Angelou on the choreography of Lush Life and has been involved extensively with the National Endowment for the Arts. She has served as an NEA panelist, and has received several NEA choreography fellowships. A member of the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame, Ms. Robinson was honored by the City of Denver with a day named after her. She has instructed at several universities, including the University of Colorado, the University of Arizona, and Northwestern University, and her Project Self Discovery has provided the arts to at-risk youth in Denver as an alternative to gang activity, peer pressure, and substance abuse.

The National Council on the Arts advises the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts on policies, programs, and procedures for carrying out the agency's functions, duties, and responsibilities. Council members are chosen for their widely recognized knowledge of the arts or their expertise or profound interest in the arts.

-30-30-30-