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For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Americans for the Arts is pleased to present the 1998 Michael Newton Award to Robb Hankins, executive director of the Greater Hartford Arts Council in Hartford,

Americans for the Arts is the national service organization for community-based arts agencies and advocates dedicated to increasing public and private resources for the arts. The Michael Newton Award is named for the former head of the Los Angeles Music Center and past president of Americans for the Arts, a man with a remarkable commitment and dedication to broadening the base of support for the arts and promoting excellence in the arts by working to ensure the stability of local arts organizations.

"Robb Hankins is widely known for his strong character, creativity and commitment to making a community better through the arts, " said Americans for the Arts President and CEO Bob Lynch. "Robb has worked wonders in Hartford, boosting the amount of private sector money for the arts and promoting the city's cultural activities to build 50,000 new audience members. With the Michael Newton Award, we honor his extraordinary energy and dedication to the arts on both the local and the national level."

As Executive Director of the Greater Hartford Arts Council, Hankins has turned around an agency which, before his arrival in 1994, struggled to support itself. In three years, Hankins increased annual contributions to the United Arts Campaign by 33 percent and established almost 40 new workplace giving programs for the arts. Among his other accomplishments, Hankins opened an Arts & Entertainment District in downtown Hartford, and hosted more than 30 "First Thursday" celebrations for more than 250,000 people. He recently finished "Culture 2000"-the new arts and entertainment plan for the city, which has been adopted by the Millennium Project.

Hankins sits on the United Arts Funds Council, a national advisory board of Americans for the Arts which informs the direction of the field through policy-making, research and information and visibility for the work of the nation's 72 united arts funds, which raise an aggregate $83 million annually.

Hankins holds a a Bachelor's degree in theater and a Master's degree in communications from the University of Wisconsin, and a second Master's in Arts Administration from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Business.