Donna McNeil (born 1940s) is an American arts advocate, author, and curator. She is the founding executive director of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation and the former director of the

Maine Arts Commission The Maine Arts Commission is a state agency that assists artists and arts organizations in bringing music, dance, poetry, painting and other arts activities into the lives of people in Maine. History The idea of Maine state arts support began ...

Early life and education

McNeil was born in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She was educated at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, where she earned a

bachelor of fine arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in painting and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where she earned a

master of arts in liberal studies The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (ALM, MALA, MLS, or MALS) is a graduate degree that aims to provide both depth and breadth of study in the liberal arts. It is by nature an interdisciplinary program, generally pulling together coursework f ...

focused on art history. She holds an honorary Ph.D in Fine Arts from the Maine College of Art.

Career

She was the co-director of Artists in Context and the former executive director of the

. She has served as a juror for the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

and MacArthur Foundation. She is the author of the 2017 book ''There Has to Be Magic: The Art of Evelyn Kok'', which won the ''Excellence in Publishing'' award at the Maine Literary Awards in 2018. She also wrote ''Moser: Legacy in Wood'' about the Thos. Moser company, published in 2015. Since 2017, McNeil has served as the executive founding director of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, an arts grant and residency in Rockland, Maine.

Books

*''There Has to Be Magic: The Art of Evelyn Kok'', Maine Authors Publishing, 2017 *Donna McNeil &

Thomas Moser Thomas Moser (born 27 May 1945) is an American-Austrian operatic tenor. Life Born in Richmond, Virginia, Moser first studied singing at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and with Martial Singher at the Music Academy of the West, attende ...

, ''Moser: Legacy in Wood'',

Down East Books Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing comp ...

, , 2015

Personal life

McNeil has spoken in support of reproductive freedom, describing her own experience with a pre-''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

'' abortion in 1965.

Notes

References

External links

Donna McNeil
-

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

Ellis-Beauregard Foundation
- official website {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeil, Donna 21st-century American women writers 1940s births American women curators German emigrants to the United States Harvard Extension School alumni Living people Maine College of Art & Design alumni Writers from Würzburg Syracuse University alumni Women arts administrators