The High Museum of Art has appointed Louise Sams the new chairwoman of its board of directors. Sams has served on the High’s board for eight years and succeeds board chairman James L. Henderson, III, who has served in this capacity since 2007.
Sams is currently the president of Turner Broadcasting System International (TBS, Inc.). She also serves as executive vice president and general counsel for TBS, Inc. In these positions she oversees the company’s worldwide legal matters, including protection of the company’s intellectual property, and litigation and employment matters. Sams directs a staff of approximately 80 lawyers located in Atlanta, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong and Sydney. She is also responsible for all production, distribution and ad sales relating to Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, Boomerang and all other entertainment networks and media services offered by Turner both in North America and around the world. Prior to joining TBS, Inc. in 1993, Sams was a corporate associate at White & Case in New York. Sams received her J.D. from the University of Virginia’s School of Law, where she was executive editor of the “Virginia Journal of International Law,” and her B.A. at Princeton University, where she graduated magna cum laude.
In addition to her affiliation with the High, Sams serves on the boards of a number of other organizations, including the board of trustees of Princeton University, the board of directors of the Metro Atlanta YMCA and the board of councilors of the Carter Center. She received the Inspiration Award from the Atlanta chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications, and was named among the most influential business women in Atlanta by “Business to Business” magazine. The “National Law Journal” named her one of the 50 most influential female lawyers in the United States.
High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art, founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association, is the leading art museum in the southeastern United States. With more than 12,000 works of art in its permanent collection, the High Museum of Art has an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American and decorative art; significant holdings of European paintings; a growing collection of African American art; and burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, photography and African art. The High is also dedicated to supporting and collecting works by Southern artists and is distinguished as the only major museum in North America to have a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of folk and self-taught art. The High’s media arts department produces acclaimed annual film series and festivals of foreign, independent and classic cinema. In November 2005 the High opened three new buildings designed by architect Renzo Piano that more than doubled the Museum’s size, creating a vibrant “village for the arts” at the Woodruff Arts Center in midtown Atlanta. For more information about the High, please visit www.High.org.
The Woodruff Arts Center
The Woodruff Arts Center is ranked among the top four arts centers in the nation. The Woodruff is unique in that it combines four visual and performing arts divisions on one campus as one not-for-profit organization. Opened in 1968, the Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the High Museum of Art and Young Audiences. To learn more about the Woodruff Arts Center, please visit www.woodruffcenter.org