IAAE announces loss of Executive Director Position:
It is with sadness that the Iowa Arts Alliance for arts Education announces the loss of the position of Executive Director, due to financial constraints.
Diane Franken has served the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education as our Executive Director until our funding for the position expired in December 2010.
As Executive Director, Diane worked diligently to improve the visibility and awareness of the IAAE on the state level and also at the national level. Diane met with Congressmen and Senators to explain the importance of the arts in regard to a child’s total education. In addition, Diane worked with the various arts agencies to promote and provide a cohesive message to the public. During the previous years, Diane provided assistance to schools in the form of advocacy and worked diligently to help support and save arts programs.
Diane has provided many professional development sessions around the state of Iowa and has presented at the conferences of our major professional arts organizations. Diane along with her husband Joel will continue with their work on the BASICS grant program within the state of Iowa.
Members of the Board of Directors will reassign Diane’s duties amongst themselves to insure that the positive work of the Alliance will continue.
Sincerely,
David J. Law
Meet Executive Director Diane Franken
Diane holds a Master of Arts degree from C.W. Post, Long Island University, New York and administrator’s certification from Jersey City State College, New Jersey. She taught visual art on all levels in both private and public schools and is the former district visual arts coordinator for Rockaway Township, New Jersey.
She was president of the teachers’ association and the Art Educators of New Jersey, served on the State Visual Arts Standards Assessment Committee, received a national excellence award for leadership in national Youth Art Month from the Council for Arts Education, co-authored two visual arts text books and served as the arts consultant for a music textbook. She became a facilitator for Discipline Based Art Education from the Getty Foundation, a core instructor for six AENJ’s summer teacher curriculum institutes and a selected participant to the Getty “Arts in the Workplace” and “Leadership” seminars in Los Angeles.
She received five New Jersey Governor’s Award’s for Arts Education during her career as well as the New Jersey School Boards’ Award for Excellence for creating a CD on arts education. Diane was selected team participant to the National Gallery of Art Teacher Institute in Washington, D.C.
Diane also served as the Middle Level Director on the board of the National Art Education Association, where she served as their liaison to the National Consortium of Arts Education Associations and co-authored an arts integration guide, served on their Program Standards Task Force and received their award for National Middle Level Educator. Diane is a National Board Certified teacher and also a trainer for their assessors, contributing author to their arts on-site assessment components and served on their Arts Certification Revision Committee. In a partnership with State Farm Insurance, Ms. Franken mentored teachers seeking NBPTS certification in a variety of disciplines.
After moving back to Davenport, Iowa, Diane became the Arts Resource Coordinator at Lincoln Academy, a charter, arts-integrated school and a member of the Education Committee at the Figge Art Museum before coming to the Alliance. Diane is currently a member of the Awards Committee for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts’ State Arts Education Alliance Network. Diane has presented at Columbia University in New York and at several state arts and education conferences and for ten national conventions of the National Art Education Association.
Diane and her husband Joel, an elementary art teacher in Davenport, are antique collectors and have decorated their Davenport home with that collection.