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Founding president of ART, has always been involved in the arts: ballet, piano, drama, and voice, performing in all of these areas from childhood on. At seventeen, as a university freshman, she became a certified ballet teacher with the Cecchetti Council of America and owned and operated her own dance studio, teaching and choreographing full ballets, to help finance her higher education at Michigan State University, where she obtained two degrees simultaneously. She began her professional writing career at age eighteen (while still in school) and studied the visual arts from graduation on. This early, direct experience in the fields of dance, drama, music and literature has given her a rare insight into the inner workings of artistic imagination as well as the techniques by which aesthetic perceptions are realized. During the last many years of her adult career, she has written articles especially championing the works of noteworthy, contemporary artists and critiquing American culture in general. Ms. York has also produced two pivotal art exhibits in New York City: "THE LEGACY LIVES: A Celebration of the World at its Most Beautiful and Man and Woman at Their Best," and "ROMANTIC REALISM: Visions of Values." Her writing career spans internationally published books (Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Van Nostrand, Book-of-the Month Club), newspaper and magazine essays, articles, and speeches (Reader's Digest, Vital Speeches of the Day, USA Today, Vogue, New Woman, Chronicles, The Intellectual Activist, Imprimus, American Arts Quarterly), poetry and lyrics. Notably, in other media, she both wrote and performed a biweekly feature on WPIX-TV Evening News in New York; wrote and hosted two national talk shows on ABC Radio Network, reporting on the contemporary art scene and reviewing movies; wrote and performed as principal actress in TV commercials, including a year-long stint as an exclusive Clairol national TV spokeswoman; starred in a triple-award winning short film, performed in Off-Broadway and major Industrial productions, and appeared nationwide on the TV/Radio Talk Show circuit, including The Today Show and Larry King Live. As a lecturer, she has spoken in every possible venue from Celebrity Author Series to universities to luxury cruise ships. This varied background as writer/lecturer and producer/performer in the arts uniquely suits Ms.York to spearhead ART's endeavors. She is the 1997 recipient of the Whiting Memorial Award, given by the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (ISPE) in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the advancement of society. Her latest books are FROM THE FOUNTAINHEAD TO THE FUTURE and Other Essays on Art and Excellence and CROSSPOINTS A Novel of Choice. She is listed in Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in America. ● Irene Pierpont General Manager of Centro Ybor, located in Tampa's historic Ybor City. She is an active board member for the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Economic Development Committee. Ms. Pierpont conceived and founded the innovative "Kidflix," Florida’s International Childrens' Film Festival, which is held each June and has turned into a great annual success and an unusual opportunity to encourage and bring to public visibility young talent in the field of film making. Prior to moving to Florida Ms. Pierpont was a Regional Vice President, simultaneously managing nine separate properties with the Simon Property Group (the largest shopping center/real estate development company in the USA). She has also managed and consulted on Regional and Super Regional Shopping Centers in New York, Florida, Boston, Milwaukee and various cities in Texas, including Dallas. Ms. Pierpont has been with ART from its inception and has worked with Alexandra on every major production of the foundation. ● Barrett Randell President of Randell Associates in New York City, a national commercial real estate finance/investment company. He is also President of Skylark Advisors, Inc. an investment and financial advisory firm and is active in numerous investment partnerships throughout the country. He is presently forming The BAPS Company, a new concept in the food industry. He personally funded all of ART’s activities for the first two years, until the foundation could stand financially on its own through its membership and other contributions. |
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