Harlan Brownlee

Harlan Brownlee, President and CEO of ArtsKC-Regional Arts Council, possesses a passion for the arts guided by a disciplined approach to change. Understanding the transformational power that the arts have to improve the quality of life for a community, he has led ArtsKC in developing community partnerships dedicated to ensuring access to the arts and cultural development for the region. Brownlee has worked for thirty years in the arts field as a performing artist, arts educator, and arts administrator. From 2005 to 2009, he served as the Executive Director for Kansas City Young Audiences, a non-profit dedicated to engaging all youth in the arts, promoting creativity, and inspiring success in education.

Mr. Brownlee is on the Kennedy Center's national touring rosters for the Partners in Education program and Changing Education through the Arts and has conducted master classes, workshops and residencies extensively in the Midwest and throughout the United States. In addition, he has been an adjunct professor for Rockhurst University's School of Education and the University of Missouri – Kansas City's School of Education. For fourteen years, Harlan served as a consultant for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and as a member of the Missouri Fine Arts Task Force.

Mr. Brownlee received his B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he was educated as a dancer and choreographer. His performance background includes work for thirteen years as one of the Artistic Co-Directors with City in Motion Dance Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Brownlee received his M.A. in Educational Research and Psychology from the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

Harlan serves on the Missouri Citizens for the Arts (MCA) board as the Regional Vice-President for Kansas City and is a board member of CS#1 Elementary and NP Connect, along with serving as a member of Kansas City, Missouri's Mayor's Task Force for the Arts. He is a Past-President of the Missouri Dance Educators Organization (MDEO), has served as a board member for the Kansas City School of the Arts (KCSA), the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies (MACAA), and the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE), and is a past Associate Editor for the Teaching Artist Journal.

Harlan's wife is Linda Putthoff, owner of Plaza Wellspring. Together they share a passion for dance having met first at City in Motion Dance Theater. They reside in Kansas City, Missouri and have three daughters, Samantha, Leah, and Amber.

http://www.artsjournal.com/jumper/2014/08/the-arts-in-a-civic-world-upside-down/