Tahoe Public Art Names International Environmental Art Luminary Mia Hanak As Its First Executive Director

  TAHOE CITY, CA - 11/17/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Tahoe Public Art’s (TPA) Board of Directors is thrilled to announce, after a thorough three-month search, that they have selected Mia Hanak as the organization’s first Executive Director.

Steve Miller, TPA Founding Board Member, enthusiastically announced the news to the organization’s stakeholders this week. “Mia has the knowledge, skills, experience, passion, and commitment to lead TPA and its mission into the future: the time is ripe for public art in the Tahoe Basin!” The TPA mission is to enhance and preserve the natural beauty and history of North Lake Tahoe through visual arts that promote environmental stewardship and cultural unity.

A proven leader with over fifteen years of executive director experience, Hanak has an outstanding track record of delivering public environmental art exhibitions and installations worldwide, and she demonstrates the qualities and expertise required to fulfill this important role for the TPA organization and Lake Tahoe community.

Hanak demonstrates a valuable capacity to galvanize effective collaborations and partnerships, which the TPA Board deems critical in expanding the reach and impact of the organization. Her excellent communication skills and ability to convene stakeholders around shared interests, and promote collaborative problem solving, and decision making, make her an ideal choice to advance TPA’s efforts in promoting visual arts, environmental stewardship, and cultural unity within the Lake Tahoe Basin region.

Prior to moving to Lake Tahoe in 2015, Hanak was the executive director for environmental art organizations serving the San Francisco Bay Area and the international community through traveling exhibitions with the United Nations. She is now looking forward to utilizing her vast network and expertise to bring unique art experiences to the Lake Tahoe community. 

Hanak was the founding executive director of the San Francisco non-profit, Natural World Museum of Environmental Art, which she ran from 2001-2008. In 2005, when the City of San Francisco hosted UN World Environment Day, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom asked her to produce an environmental art exhibition for the City, which earned the attention of visiting United Nations executives. Subsequently, Hanak’s team was invited to start curating and producing public art exhibitions, installations, and communications initiatives for the UN. 

In 2009, Hanak started Millennium ART, a UN affiliated organization, through which she launched several immersive and interactive design experiences and large-scale public art installations. Hanak’s work has reached cities near and far, including: Algiers, Brussels, Chicago, Copenhagen, Monaco, Nairobi, New York, Oslo, Paris, Reno, Rio, San Francisco, Wellington, and more. 

The TPA Board is confident that Hanak’s experience in exhibition design, strategic planning, nonprofit management, public programming, educational outreach, communications initiatives, social media activation, and fundraising make her a perfect fit to lead the implementation of TPA’s long-term strategic plan, with her results-driven, collaborative leadership style.

When asked about her new role, Mia Hanak stated, "I am extremely grateful and enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with the TPA board of directors, members, and associations to help manifest the long-term vision. Together we can create a delicate balance embracing the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe while presenting environmental art experiences that help educate, inform, and empower local and global audiences in preserving and protecting the natural and cultural heritage of this beloved region.” 

A San Francisco native and first generation American born to parents from the Czech Republic, Hanak visited Lake Tahoe each year of her life while growing up, and eventually followed her passion for living closer to nature by moving permanently to the Tahoe area with her two sons. Hanak earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Art History and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1996, and received a Masters Certificate for Museum Management and Exhibition Design from the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts in 2001. 

TPA, a startup non-profit organization founded in 2014 as a consortium of local arts and community organizations, celebrated its new 501(c)(3) status in 2016. TPA is currently serving the North Lake Tahoe region with projects such as the Kings Beach Roundabout Art Installations and the Truckee River Pipe Art Competition. The long-term vision of TPA is to bring public art to the greater Lake Tahoe Basin region, with an ongoing series of public programs and events, environmental art installations, and sculpture festivals that will feature a combination of local/regional, national, and international artists that reflect on the local environment and culture in Tahoe. TPA carries out its mission by seeking collaborative opportunities for artists to work with community organizations, public agencies and private businesses and institutions.

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TPA contact information: +1-530-580-8121 | info@tahoepublicart.org | www.tahoepublicart.org