The chair for Brenau University's Department of Dance has been appointed to a statewide council overseeing Performing Arts programs.
The Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) has announced that Governor Brian P. Kemp has appointed four new council members as well as a new council chair for the upcoming year--among them, Brenau's Madia Cooper Ashirifi.
Cooper-Ashirifi earned a bachelor’s degree from Brenau, as well as a master’s degree from the College at Brockport in New York, and a doctorate in Education from Vanderbilt. In 2022, she also earned the Ann Austin Johnson Outstanding Faculty Award at Brenau.
She will be joined on the GCA's council by Macon's Karla Redding Andrews, Vice President and Executive Director of the Otis Redding Foundation; Thomasville's Michele Arwood, founcer of Maris Design Group and the About Place Initiative; and Carrollton's Brandy Barker, Chief Creative Officer and Assistance Vice President for Placemaking at the University of West Georgia. Council members are also joined by Marietta's Alley Stage Owner and Operator, Colt Chambers, who has been a member of the council for the past five years. Chambers has been appointed chair for the GCA.
