George R Ellis

George R. Ellis, of St. Petersburg, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Chicago, and was advanced to candidacy for the PhD at UCLA. He first served as an arts educator, and later the Assistant Director of the Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama and later held positions at the UCLA Museum of Cultural History (now The Fowler Museum). He served as the consulting editor to African Arts magazine and as a board member for the Los Angeles Ethnic Arts Council and the UCLA Associates for Ethnic Art. He was a Kress Foundation Fellow. After joining the Honolulu Academy of Arts as its Director and President in 1982, he oversaw a 21-year period of development and expansion of its facilities and programs including the addition of the award-winning Luce Pavilion. He was the recipient of numerous awards including a Maile Award from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, and the Alfred Preis Award from the Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education, recognizing his lifetime commitment to the arts and arts education of Hawaii’s children and their families. George retired from the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 2008 and continues to serve as an arts consultant and curator.