Joanna Bell

Joanna Sheehan Bell is passionate about advancing artists and artforms—currently serving as the first Arts and Culture Director for the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 2017, she became TheatreSquared’s first Director of Marketing and Communication where annual attendance doubled for the organization and a 2020 virtual production was named as Best Theatre of the Year by The New York Times. As director of programs for the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, she oversaw programs ranging from grants, awards, professional development initiatives, Emmy-nominated media productions, and national partnerships during a ten-year tenure with the New York-based organization. She holds an MA in arts administration from Columbia University, NY, and a BA from James Madison University, VA. Her brief memoir of life so far is included in NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING: Six-Word Memoirs By Writers Famous and Obscure (Harper Perennial: 2008). She currently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas with her husband, two sons, and their tail-less cat. She thinks that, when she squints, Beaver Lake looks a little like the Chesapeake Bay where she grew up.