Donna McNeil

Donna McNeil
Born	1940s Würzburg, Germany
Education	University of Syracuse BFA Harvard MLA
Occupation(s)	Arts advocate, author, and curator
Honours	Maine College of Art honorary PhD

Donna McNeil (born 1940s)[a] 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.

Early life and education

McNeil was born in Würzburg, Germany.[1] She was educated at Syracuse University, where she earned a bachelor of fine arts in painting and Harvard University, where she earned a master of arts in liberal studies focused on art history. She holds an honorary Ph.D in Fine Arts from the Maine College of Art.[2]

Career

She was the co-director of Artists in Context and the former executive director of the Maine Arts Commission.[2] She has served as a juror for the National Endowment for the Arts[3] and MacArthur Foundation.[4]

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.[5][6] She also wrote Moser: Legacy in Wood about the Thos. Moser company, published in 2015.[7]

Since 2017, McNeil has served as the executive founding director of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, an arts grant and residency in Rockland, Maine.[8]

Books

• There Has to Be Magic: The Art of Evelyn Kok, Maine Authors Publishing, 2017[5]

• Donna McNeil & Thomas Moser, Moser: Legacy in Wood, Down East Books, ISBN 978-1-60893-607-6, 2015[7]

Personal life

McNeil has spoken in support of reproductive freedom, describing her own experience with a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion in 1965.[9][10]

Notes

1. born in 1946 or 1947. (She was aged 70 in 2017.[1])

References

1. "Donna McNeil". The Mainers. The Mainers. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
2. "Moser: Legacy in Wood". Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
3. "Local Arts Agencies: FY 2010 Grants Panelists | Access to Artistic Excellence, Panel A, June 10-11, 2009". National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
4. "Board of Directors and Staff". Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. Ellis-Beauregard. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
5. "'There Has to Be Magic' named Excellence in Publishing Winner at 2018 Maine Literary Awards". PenBay Pilot. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
6. Lizotte, Melissa (17 July 2018). "Book about Presque Isle artist and her family wins state literary award". The County. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
7. Duguay, Carl. "Moser: Legacy in Wood". Canadian Woodworking. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
8. "McNeil to helm Ellis-Beauregard Foundation". Knox County VillageSoup. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
9. "Now This | Donna McNeil On Having An Abortion Before Roe V. Wade". Twitter. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
10. "Pre-Roe Abortion Patient Blasts LePage, Republicans for 'Relentless' Efforts to Strip Away Abortion Rights". Maine Dems. 20 January 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.

External links

• Donna McNeil - Instagram
• Ellis-Beauregard Foundation - official website