Administrator, Iowa Arts Council
Des Moines, Iowa
Matthew Harris was appointed Administrator of the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, in March 2011. An Iowa native, Harris earned a BA in Communications/Public Relations from the University of Northern Iowa and worked in advertising sales for the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center before serving as Development Coordinator for the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, Iowa’s largest non-profit performing arts center, for almost seven years.
Through his role at the Iowa Arts Council, Harris oversees state arts agency staff, grant-making initiatives and programming while helping steward the agency’s mission of enriching the quality of life in Iowa through support of the arts.
Harris has been active in a variety of volunteer capacities and is a past member of the Cedar Falls, Iowa Community Main Street Board of Directors and Cedar Falls Vision 2010 Strategic Planning Team and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Les Hale Endowment Fund Board of Directors and a member of the statewide Character Counts in Iowa Board of Directors. Harris resides in Windsor Heights, a suburb of Des Moines.