Arts council fills director position

Smith replaces Kay Logsdon, who resigned July 10 to serve as director of the Food Channel for Noble Communications Co. Council Education Director Addy McCord and Finance Director Judy Rognstad served as interim co-directors.

Smith will relocate to Springfield from Eureka Springs.

Her experience includes serving as cultural affairs specialist for Santa Cruz County, Calif., and as executive director of the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission. She also was responsible for creating and passing an ordinance there that requires 2 percent of all publicly funded projects to be for art.

While residing in Pennsylvania, Smith was a lobbyist for the arts and procured a budget increase for major arts organizations across the state every year. She spent three years as executive director for the fund-raising arm of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. She also created and coordinated academy special events, including the Philadelphia Wildlife Art Exposition and Super Sunday, which attracted more than 500,000 spectators each year and raised more than $100,000 in a single day for the academy.

“I am looking forward to working with the arts council board to continue implementation of the cultural plan already in place and to further the arts, not only in the city of Springfield, but in the region as well,” Smith said in a news release.