NEA Artistic Field Directors

Ann Meier Baker

Music & Opera Director

Ann Meier Baker was appointed the director of Music & Opera at the National Endowment for the Arts in January 2015. She oversees the NEA’s grantmaking in music and opera, and manages the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships. Previously, Baker served as president and CEO of Chorus America, where she led the national membership association of more than 2,000 professional, volunteer, symphonic and children/youth choruses. She was founding director of the National School Boards Association Foundation, an incubator for new ideas...

Beth Bienvenu

Accessibility Director

Beth Bienvenu is the director of the Office of Accessibility at the National Endowment for the Arts, where she manages the NEA's technical assistance and advocacy work devoted to making the arts accessible for people with disabilities, older adults, veterans, and people in institutional settings. She provides guidance and support to state arts agency staff and professionals working the fields of arts access, creativity and aging, arts and health, universal design, and arts in corrections. Prior to coming to the...

Wendy Clark

Director of Museums, Visual Arts, and Indemnity

Wendy Clark was appointed director of Museums, Visual Arts, and Indemnity at the National Endowment for the Arts in July 2014, having served as acting director since November 2012. In this position, she manages the NEA's grantmaking for museums and visual arts, and the program's special initiatives, such as the Blue Star Museums program. Clark has more than 20 years of experience managing various federal grant programs and special initiatives at the NEA in Museums, Visual Arts, and Design. Most...

Jax Deluca

Media Arts Director

Jax Deluca was appointed to the position of Media Arts Director at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in January 2016. In this position, she oversees the NEA’s grant portfolio and field-building resources for arts organizations across the country working in film, video, audio, immersive technology, and other emerging media forms. Her field experience includes twelve years working at the intersection of arts and community-building as an artist, non-profit administrator, and educator. Prior to joining the NEA, she was...

Jennifer Lindow Eskin

Division Coordinator

Jennifer Lindow Eskin serves as the NEA’s Acting Director for Local Arts Agencies & Challenge America, overseeing grantmaking in these areas. Since 2008, she has been the agency’s Division Coordinator for Partnership. Her responsibilities include the management of resources and work strategies for the Local Arts Agencies, State and Regional, and Accessibility programs, as well as the Challenge America and Creativity Connects grant initiatives. Previously, Ms. Eskin worked as a Grants Specialist in the Grants & Contracts Office, after beginning...

Ayanna N. Hudson

Arts Education Director

Ayanna N. Hudson is the director of Arts Education for the National Endowment for the Arts., where she presides over the grant portfolio devoted to arts education, works with national service organizations on policy initiatives, and serves as the spokesperson for arts education at the federal level. The NEA's arts education program provides direct learning grants for projects that provide pre-K through 12th-grade students with opportunities to gain knowledge and skills in the arts both in and outside the classroom;...

Jen Hughes

Design and Creative Placemaking Director

Jen Hughes was appointed director of Design and Creative Placemaking for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in April 2018, having served as acting director since June 2017. In this position, she oversees grant portfolios that support the design and creative placemaking fields, as well as leadership initiatives that include the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design. Since 2011, Hughes has fulfilled multiple roles as design specialist and community solutions specialist at the...

Clifford Murphy

Folk & Traditional Arts Director

Clifford Murphy was appointed the director of Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts in August 2015. He oversees the NEA’s grantmaking in folk and traditional arts, and manages the NEA National Heritage Fellowships. Murphy was previously the director of Maryland Traditions, the folklife program of the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). In 2011, Murphy launched the state’s first Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival, and also managed the Maryland Traditions grant program supporting apprenticeships and projects. Murphy...

Sara Nash

Dance Director

Sara Nash was appointed director of Dance in August 2018, In this position, she manages the NEA's grantmaking for dance and will represent the NEA at dance-related conferences and meetings across the country. Nash previously served as the Program Director for Dance at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), where she led NEFA’s dance programs, including the National Dance Project, for seven years. Prior to working at NEFA, Nash managed the USArtists International grant program at Mid Atlantic...

Michael Orlove

Artist Communities, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works Director, International Activities Coordinator

Michael Orlove currently serves as the director of Artist Communities and Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works for the National Endowment for the Arts and has responsibility over the NEA's international programs. Orlove provides oversight on grants for presenting and artist communities projects and manages international partnership programs. A native of Chicago, Orlove spent 19 years as senior program director for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. His tenure with the department led to nearly two decades of innovation, creativity, and passion...

Greg Reiner

Theater & Musical Theater Director

Greg Reiner joined the NEA as the director of theater and musical theater starting in September 2015. Reiner manages NEA grantmaking in theater and musical theater and represents the agency to the field. Most recently, Reiner was executive director of Classic Stage Company in New York City, where he launched CSC’s Musical Theater Initiative, the organization’s largest fundraising campaign, and implemented new education programs such as a Teen Council and a Shakespeare scene and monologue competition. Prior to that, Reiner...

Amy Stolls

Literature Director

Amy Stolls is the Director of Literature at the National Endowment for the Arts. She oversees a portfolio that includes grants to organizations for projects such as the publication of books and literary journals, book festivals, writing workshops, and reading series; fellowships to individual poets, prose writers, and translators; Poetry Out Loud, a program that engages high school students nationwide in the public recitation of poetry; and the NEA Big Read, a national initiative that supports community-wide reading programs around...