Laing to Join Heinz Endowments

Master of Arts Management student Justin Laing will join the Heinz Endowments Arts and Cultural as a program officer in March, 2006. Laing's appointment is the result of a national search that began in September.

Laing is currently the manager and assistant director of Nego Gato, an African-Brazilian arts organization. He is a member of the boards of the Multicultural Arts Initiative, The Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and Macedonia F.A.C.E. and serves on the Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts, as well as a number of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants panels. Laing is one of 25 arts managers from around the country selected in 2003 to be an "emerging leader" by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. In that same year he received a Gold Star Award for Leadership in Public Education from the Pittsburgh Council on Public Education in recognition of special achievement in volunteering and in engaging students, teens and parents.

The Heinz Endowments' grant-making program is dedicated to promoting the vitality of Pittsburgh's cultural sector and its relevance to civic life. Laing will be responsible for working with small-arts organizations, assisting in financial analysis of all grantees, and in helping to develop the Endowments' arts education and community-based arts programs.