Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts

The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (ACNMWA) is a nonprofit volunteer organization committed to highlighting the achievements of Arkansas women artists and sharing the groundbreaking work of the national museum with audiences across the state. The committee’s mission is to educate the public about women artists by exhibiting their work and creating programs that advocate for equity and recognize excellence.

After learning about the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) while on a visit to Washington DC, Ed Dell Wortz of Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Helen Walton of Bentonville (Benton County) called together a group of Arkansas women interested in the arts. The Arkansas Committee held its first meeting in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on March 21, 1989. With $2,000 from NMWA and $100 from each Arkansas Committee member, the committee began planning for the future. In October 1990, the Arkansas Committee and NMWA signed an agreement calling for an exhibition of Arkansas women artists at the national museum.

The Arkansas Committee’s first statewide exhibition, A Personal Statement: Arkansas Women Artists, opened on October 19, 1991, at the Arkansas Arts Center (now the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts) in Little Rock. Twenty artists displayed works in this exhibition, and ten were chosen to exhibit their work at NMWA in Washington DC. The national exhibition opened on March 24, 1992, and was on display until June 14, 1992, featuring works by Les Christensen, Pam Shelden (Mayes), and Toni Davidson of Jonesboro (Craighead County); Jane Frier Hankins, Gertrude Tara-Casciano, and Kathleen Holder of Little Rock; Alice Guffey Miller of Mena (Polk County); Patricia Neukranz of Springdale (Washington and Benton counties); Mary Sims of Eureka Springs (Carroll County); and Kathy P. Thompson of Fayetteville (Washington County).

In 1997, the Arkansas Committee donated $50,000 to NMWA to fund the Arkansas Gallery at the national museum. This money was raised through a fundraising trip to the museum and other Washington landmarks. Fifty participants paid their own travel expenses and contributed $1,000 each to the museum in exchange for access to exclusive Washington venues, including a visit with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the White House sculpture garden.

The Arkansas Committee’s work focuses on four signature programs. First, the Arkansas Committee’s annual college internship, a program begun in 1999, provides a stipend for an Arkansas woman attending an Arkansas university or college to collaborate with a mentor working in an Arkansas museum, gallery, or cultural organization; this award is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Second, ACNMWA selects an accomplished Arkansas woman visual artist to receive its Artist Award, which, since May 1995, has been presented to an artist working in Arkansas and may be used for expenses ranging from professional development, equipment, and supplies to research, travel, and childcare. Third, in 2008, the NMWA introduced a program called Women to Watch to increase the visibility of promising artists who deserve national and international attention, and two years later, the Arkansas Committee began participating in this program. Finally, in 2015, the Arkansas Committee introduced its juried artist registry, which has served as a valuable resource for Arkansas artists, connecting them with curators and collectors and encouraging the creation, exhibition, and promotion of their artwork.

The Arkansas Committee has sponsored artists in five From the States exhibits at NMWA and continues to provide Arkansas women artists an opportunity to reach a national audience.

For additional information:
Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts Records (M96-02). University of Central Arkansas Archives and Special Collections, Conway, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://uca.edu/archives/m96-02-arkansas-committee-of-the-national-museum-of-women-in-arts/ (accessed September 16, 2025).

National Museum of Women in the Arts—Arkansas Committee. http://acnmwa.org/index.php (accessed September 16, 2025).

Jolynda Hammock Halinski and Kate Franks
Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts