Elizabeth (Liz) Reiss is a life-long arts advocate.  Her career has been guided by the simple belief that the arts belong in everyone’s life.  Raised in LI, Liz has worked in NYC, Pittsburgh, and the Capital Region, in art museums, childrens’ museums, arts festivals and now as the CEO of the Arts Center of the Capital Region. Her favorite projects have been developing Craft in the Classroom, a K-12 craft education curricula for NYC schools, renovating an empty storefront to become the Children’s Museum of the Arts in SoHo, and presenting public art projects that pushed traditional boundaries of art, such as the skateboard park Roll Rampant and Free.  Liz has a BA from Bard College and an MS from Bank Street School for Education.  She has played an active role in professional service organizations.  In the past, she has served as the Chair of the NYC Museum Education Roundtable, VP of Greater Pittsburgh Arts Alliance, and now serves as the Chair of the Troy Cultural Alliance, and on the boards of Arts NYS and the East Greenbush Education Foundation.  Liz has also served as a grants panelist for Institute of Museum and Library Services, Cleveland Percent for Art, New York State Council on the Arts, Pittsburgh Foundation,  and the Sprout Fund, Pittsburgh.

Lauren Wagner is the Executive Director of the Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA), a non-profit arts organization servicing the creative sector island-wide. With 16 years of administrative, development, marketing, programmatic, and sales experience in both for-profit and non-profit arts organizations, she brings a diverse set of skills and perspectives to her position with LIAA in order to support a culture where artists and arts organizations can thrive on Long Island. Her passion for the arts, in its many forms, stems from her appreciation and respect for those who create, as well as the fundamental belief that the arts are essential to community and connection. She uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to advocate for the arts and support the work of the Island’s world-class arts institutions, creatives, arts educators, and cultural spaces.

Lauren was named one of Nassau County’s Women of Distinction in 2021 for her work with LIAA. She holds a master’s degree in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Arts Administration from Wagner College.