The Leeway Foundation Names New President
Vice President Sara Becker Assumes Post February 27th
PHILADELPHIA, PA —The Board of Directors of The Leeway Foundation today announced that on February 27th, current Vice President Sara Becker will succeed Linda Lee Alter, becoming Leeway's second President.
"The time could not be more right," said Charlene Longnecker, Founding Board Member. "Since August, 2000, when the Board began to plan for this transition, Linda and Sara have been working as a team. Sara's work behind the scenes has helped raise Leeway to a new level of organizational health and strategic effectiveness. Her passionate commitment to art as a catalyst for personal and social change has been an inspiration to us all."
"I believe that art is an essential part of the human experience," said Ms. Becker, "and I believe that art holds us responsible to our humanity. By reaching the heart, art circumvents prejudice and apathy. It invites us to question and can help raise up voices elsewhere muted or silenced. I believe that among the voices our society mutes and silences are those we most fiercely need to help guide us into the future—and many of these belong to women. By raising up the voices of our region's women artists, Leeway is working to support both our individual humanity and our communal hopes and dreams. I see my work as Leeway's President as much the same: to be, more than anything else, an effective listener and catalyst for communication."
Ms. Becker has served on the Leeway's Board for the past eight years. She also sits on the Board of Spiral Q Puppet Theater and the Community Funding Board of Bread and Roses Community Fund. She received an MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1999. She is the daughter of Linda Lee Alter, Leeway's Founding President.
"I have always envisioned Sara becoming Leeway's President," said Ms. Alter. "At the same time, I've envisioned the President that I want for Leeway—who shares my passion for women artists, but whose leadership and vision will take Leeway beyond anything I myself could build or dream. I am deeply pleased that Sara is this leader."
"Sara brings Leeway intellectual vigor, creativity and passion," said Barbara Silzle, Leeway's Executive Director. "She has the writer's ability to translate that passion into eloquence and the leader's ability to translate it into action. It's inspirational to work with her. It's also beautiful to see her partnership with Linda, who, in her roles as Founder, Board member and Program Committee member, continues to offer Leeway her own incredible creativity, sensitivity and wisdom."
The Leeway Foundation supports individual women artists, arts programs and arts organizations, focusing on the Greater Philadelphia region in order to help them achieve personal and community transformation. Leeway supports women artists of all backgrounds, traditions, art forms and stages of development. For more information, visit Leeway's web site at leeway.org or call (215) 545-4078.
