The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's Art and Leadership Program for Girls has been selected from more than 300 nominations nationwide as one of 50 semifinalist for the Coming Up Taller Award. The Museum has received this national mark of distinction for providing excellence and effectiveness in its arts and humanities programming for Santa Fe's youth.

The Coming Up Taller Awards is an initiative in collaboration with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Coming Up Taller Awards honor and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America's youth. These awards focus national attention on exemplary programs currently fostering the creative and intellectual development of America's children and youth through education and practical experience in the arts and the humanities.

The O'Keeffe Art and Leadership Program for Girls was created in 1998 to provide critical access to the arts and to impart self-esteem and leadership skills to preadolescent and adolescent girls at-risk. Participating girls work with arts education professionals and interns, using art as a model of self-exploration. Artistic skills are broadened, while a sense of self, well being, and belonging, are developed to help these young girls reach their full potential. In response to the success of this program, the Museum initiated O'Keeffe Art and Leadership Program for Boys, now in its third year.

The Art and Leadership Programs have also been recognized for their effectiveness and artistic quality by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and by the Santa Fe Community Foundation, which bestowed the coveted Ger�nima Cruz Montoya Award for Arts and Humanities at the 2003 Pi�on Awards.

In addition to Art and Leadership for Girls and Boys, the Museum offers outstanding education and public programs such as docent training; lecture series; Art and Leadership Programs for College Women and Educators; school and teacher programs; and family programming throughout the year. ###

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, which opened July 17, 1997, is dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of Georgia O'Keeffe and to the study and interpretation of American Modernism (1890-present). The 13,000 square-foot Museum houses a permanent collection of more than 130 works by O'Keeffe. For visitors hours and exhibition information, call 505.946.1000 or visit our website, www.okeeffemuseum.org

Media Contact: Linda Milanesi +1 (505) 946 1050 lindam@okeeffemuseum.org