Karen Hanan

Karen Hanan was appointed executive director of ArtsWA (the Washington State Arts Commission) by Governor Jay Inslee effective March 2014. The agency, established in 1961, is charged with speaking up for the public value of the arts, building leadership in and for the arts, and strengthening arts education in the state’s public schools. ArtsWA is also responsible for documenting the impact of the arts on the state’s communities and in people’s lives, and sharing the findings. The agency’s work also includes building participation in the arts and acquiring and caring for artwork in the State Art Collection sited at Washington’s K-12 public schools, colleges, universities, and state agencies. Prior to her current appointment, Hanan was the executive director of Arts Northwest, the regional service organization for the performing arts. Before that, she was the founder and first executive director of the Olympic Peninsula’s Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts, a four-day multicultural, multi-stage festival held each year over Memorial Day weekend. The organization also offers programs, shows, and outreach to locals and visitors year round. Hanan holds a bachelor’s degree from Leeds Polytechnic in England. She is well known as a resource to the greater arts community in the Northwestern U.S. and beyond. In 2014, Hanan was honored with a Distinguished Service Award in recognition of “exceptional leadership and dedication to the field.”