Rita Putnam has spent most of her career in the music program of the New York State Council on the Arts – under several governors, with a variety of budgets, and with various approaches. Beginning with Gov. Rockefeller, NYSCA preceded the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been a model for many arts funding sources throughout the US. She has worked with nearly every possible genre of music, in every corner of New York State.

A native of Boston, Rita headed the glee club and the madrigal club at Milton Academy and studied piano with Nicholas van Slyck. At Sarah Lawrence College, she continued with the piano, studied music and writing, literature and languages, and was a leader in the well-known ‘European Chorus’ under conductor Harold Aks.

Of particular interest at NYSCA was helping to design the NYSCA jazz tour – sending a half-dozen jazz ensembles and performing artists, including Ursula Oppens, and the World Saxophone Quartet, throughout New York State – a unique and successful journey for both artists and audiences. More recently, the Diversity in Orchestras project has drawn both attention and funding from the Council in its eTorts to make the concert stage more accessible and welcoming to players and conductors of color.

In her knowledge of hundreds of music ensembles throughout the State, from symphony orchestras to vocal quartets, avant-garde jazz ensembles to young Baroque groups, Rita is adept at assessing the finances and administrative structures of each, acquainted with the varied communities of music lovers that support them, and of course familiar with a wide variety of concert venues around the State.