NEW YORK.- Artadia is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individual artists in the communities where they live and work. We provide unrestricted grants to visual artists, often representing the most significant support for artists in the community � as well as a national network for artists that engages leading curators, collectors, dealers and artists.  

The Board of Trustees of Artadia � The Fund for Art and Dialogue announced the appointment of Amada Cruz as Executive Director of the organization, effective January 2, 2004. �The appointment of Amada Cruz underscores our commitment to expand the only nationwide network providing direct support to individual artists in the communities where they emerge,� commented Christopher Edwin Vroom, President of the Board of Trustees.  

�Over the past twenty-two years, Amada Cruz has celebrated artists through precedent-setting exhibitions, scholarly essays of exceptional rigor and forceful advocacy of the artists who are defining contemporary culture today,� he added. �At the same time, she has played a critical role driving innovation at major institutions across the country including Chicago�s Museum of Contemporary Art and, most recently, at Bard College�s Center for Curatorial Studies. We are proud that Amada shares our vision to create a nation-wide network of support for individual artists.�  

Kent Logan, prominent collector and a member of Artadia�s Advisory Board, concurred: �Amada Cruz is one of the most creative curators working today and she has the added skill of having been involved with both museum administration and education programs. Her extensive curatorial experience has put her into contact with some of the most interesting artists of our generation. She will build on Artadia�s momentum to extend support for artists across the country.�  

Ms. Cruz joins Artadia from Bard College�s Center for Curatorial Studies where she served as Director of the Museum for five years. Prior to her appointment at Bard, she was Acting Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and a Curator at that institution for three years. Previously, she served as curator at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and from 1987 � 1989 was the Assistant Director and then Acting Director of the Lannan Museum in Lake Worth, Florida. She began her career at the Guggenheim in 1982 and since that time has organized over fifty exhibitions of artists ranging from Ilya Kabakov and Isaac Julien to Sarah Sze and James Turrell. She has served as a Juror on numerous panels including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tiffany Foundation, the SECA Awards in the Visual Arts and the Lannan Foundation. Ms. Cruz serves as member of the Board of the Tiffany Foundation, a member of the Board of Visitors of ArtPace and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Fabric Workshop.  

�Artadia has the potential to become the major provider of financial and other support for artists working in communities across the U.S. at a time when such support has never been more needed,� said Ms. Cruz. �I am very excited to have the opportunity to direct and expand these efforts.�  

About Artadia � the Fund for Art and Dialogue. Artadia�s mission is to support individual artists in the communities where they live and work. We provide unrestricted grants to visual artists, often representing the most significant support for artists in the community � as well as a national network for artists that engages leading curators, collectors, dealers and artists. Our expanding network currently operates in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and New York. We expect to add one U.S. or international city each year through 2010. Since its inception in 1998, Artadia has provided nearly $2.0 million in support to over 90 artists across the country.