The following is a press release issued by the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Newport County:

The Arts & Cultural Alliance Annual Meeting will be held Thursday, April 19 at 6pm at the Newport Art Museum, 76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI 02840. The Alliance celebrates 20 years as Newport County’s advocate for artists and cultural organizations, promoting and advancing the arts in the community. Alliance Chairman Cris Offenberg will present an update on the initiatives and successes of the Alliance’s past year.

Our special guest speaker will be Laura Scanlon, Director of State and Regional Partnerships for The National Endowment for the Arts. www.nea.gov/index with an introduction by Randall Rosenbaum, Executive Director of The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts http://www.arts.ri.gov.

The Arts and Cultural Alliance’s annual Dominique Award will be presented in recognition of extraordinary and outstanding work in the arts community. This year, the Dominique Award will be presented to Bonnie Strickman for her leadership as the founding Board chair of Sandywoods Farm, the unique intentional community in rural Tiverton, Rhode Island, dedicated to the arts, sustainable agriculture, affordable housing, and land stewardship.

Newport “Teacher of the Year” Loren Palmer will offer a tribute to Myra Horgan Duvally, who helped create the Newport Music Festival and the Benefactors of the Arts, the parent organization of the Secret Garden Tour, which she began in 1984. Myra passed away on September 27, 2011.

The meeting will include live entertainment by Newport County artists, including Rhode Island's Ballet Theatre, recognition of the Art Museum’s 100th anniversary and the Island Moving Co.’s 30th season and a wine reception immediately following.

For more information about the Alliance, visit www.newportarts.org.