February 1, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:

G. Gary Moyer, Executive Director

(814) 472-3920

Travis Mearns, Public Relations Coordinator

(724) 238-6015

SAMA TO BEGIN 2008 GENERAL OPERATING CAMPAIGN; APPOINTS FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS

            Loretto – Ieva Grimm of Hollidaysburg and Dr. Paul Woolley of Johnstown have been named co-chairs for the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art’s 2008 General Operating and Membership Campaign. The co-chairs will work with Executive Director, G. Gary Moyer, to oversee the annual drive, through which funds are raised to help sustain operating costs for the Museum.

            Donations help underwrite costs for the Museum’s world-class exhibitions and also help fund SAMA’s award-winning education programs, which provide exposure to the fine arts for tens of thousands of children throughout the Museum’s six county service area. In addition, funds raised through the General Operating Campaign also allow SAMA to keep its four museums, located in Altoona, Johnstown, Ligonier and Loretto, open to the public free of charge.

            “Our job is not only to build awareness of the valuable arts collection that SAMA holds at the four museum locations, but to drive awareness and support for the programs that bring the arts to those who need it most,” said Grimm. “The Arts-in-Education and Museum/Health Care Partnership programs are just two programs that have enabled the members of our communities to draw inspiration from the arts.”

            Ieva Grimm has served on SAMA’s Board of Trustees since 2005. She currently leads the research department at Sheetz, Inc. Grimm has a B.S. in business administration from Shippensburg University, and completed AMA/Terry College of Business Advanced School of Marketing Research at the University of Georgia. She is a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals and the Marketing Research Association. In 2007, she joined a 40-member task force of consumer insights professionals representing major U.S. retail and CPG (consumer product goods) companies brought together for the purpose of advancing best practices in consumer research and marketing.

            Woolley has been a member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees since 2003. He is presently in private practice at Conemaugh Cancer Care Center at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center. He is the former director of UPCI @ UPMC Lee Regional Cancer Program and a former professor of clinical medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

            Founded in 1975, the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art exists to preserve, exhibit, and advance American art and is dedicated to making its programs and activities accessible to the people of the southwestern area of Central Pennsylvania. Charged with the development, maintenance and perpetuation of a permanent collection, the Museum mounts exhibitions designed to evoke an interest in and understanding and appreciation of American art through its four facilities. Numbering more than 3,000 works of art, SAMA’s permanent collection includes 19^th and 20^th century painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and prints highlighted with works by Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Alfred Stieglitz, Margaret Bourke-White, and John Sloan. In addition to exhibitions of the permanent collection, an ambitious calendar of special exhibitions is designed annually to provide opportunities to view important trends in American art. The Museum also places a tremendous focus on local arts, serving as a host site for annual juried exhibitions of regional artists.

            In partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), SAMA also operates Arts-in-Education and Artist-in-Residence programs that serve approximately 45,000 students in more than 70 schools throughout Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties. The Museum also instituted the Museum/Health Care Partnership Program, through which trained artists and museum educators work directly with therapists and patients to create meaningful works of art that act as a way to alleviate the pain and discomfort brought on by health issues. Donations can be sent to the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, P.O. Box 9, Loretto PA, 15940. Checks can be made out to the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. For additional information, please call the Museum at (814) 472-3920 or visit www.sama-art.org.