Donna S. Collins

Donna S. Collins serves as the executive director of the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically. She has more than 30 years of experience in leading a state agency and statewide nonprofit organizations, demonstrating consistent success and solid results that impact policy, education, economic development, and arts and culture. At the state level, Collins serves as cochair of the Ohio Advisory Group of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, is a member of the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Monument Commission, is a committee chair for the America 250/Ohio Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial, is a fellow with the Ohio Art Education Association (OAEA) and is an Ohio Commodore by appointment of former Gov. John R. Kasich. She served as the Schwartz Leader-In-Residence at Marietta College for the 2016-2017 academic year. Collins currently serves on NASAA’s Development Committee and has also served on the organization’s Awards and Dues task forces. At the national level, Collins is former chair of the Kennedy Center National Leadership Committee. She also served as an Americans for the Arts (AFTA) state captain and a State Arts Action Network chair and member, as well as chair of the Arts Education Council. Collins has received the Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award from AFTA, Distinguished Fellow and Arts Administration Awards from the OAEA, VSA Ohio’s (now Art Possible Ohio) Fran Bay Award, and executive director recognition from the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network. She has been inducted into the Ohio Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame, and received the McDonough Award for Excellence in Leadership from Marietta College. (Board term 2018-2026)