state arts action network

Tommy Usrey

Now in his 11th year with the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council, Tommy Usrey works with representatives of area, statewide, and national arts organizations to develop and implement cultural programming. Additionally, he provides technical assistance in program development, grantsmanship, financial and organizational structuring, and fundraising to Region 8's cultural organizations. Usrey has also helped develop the Louisiana Division of the Arts Decentralized Arts Funding Program which he administers through NLAC for cultural Region 8 and created a working arts infrastructure which now includes more than 55 cultural, civic, educational, and governmental entities. As executive director and now as president and CEO, Usrey developed Louisiana’s only region-wide presenting consortia, RUPAR, which has now become the model for capacity building in the state’s rural areas and the Southeast United States. Under his leadership, NLAC was awarded the 2001 Governor’s Arts Award as Louisiana’s Outstanding Arts Organization.

Tommy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration/law from Louisiana State University with specialties in finance, economics, statistics, and management, attended the LSU Law Center, and earned a bachelor’s degree in  social studies/secondary education at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. His business experience has been in merchandising/marketing and as district operations manager for a major national retailer and as a business owner. He is a member of the boards of the Louisiana Folklife Festival, Louisiana State University Honors College, and serves as vice president and advocacy chairman of the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts and is immediate past president of the Louisiana Alliance for Arts Education.