Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee

Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel is an author, interviewer, television producer, and exhibit curator.

Throughout her 40-year career, Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel has served as a leading voice on some of the defining urban issues of our time, including preservation of the historic built environment of the United States. She is a pioneering champion of the arts, architecture, design and public policy.

The first Director of Cultural Affairs for New York City, she brought the first public art to Bryant Park in 1987, and the first public performance by the Metropolitan Opera to Central Park. She was the longest term Landmarks Commissioner in the city's history, spanning four mayoral administrations from 1972 to 1987. She also served on the New York City Arts Commission and the New York City Cultural Commission. She was the Chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Foundation from 1987 to 1995, and since 1995 has been the Chair of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center. Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was appointed by President Reagan to the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and by President Clinton to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, where she was elected its first woman vice chair in 2002. She was Chair of the 45th Anniversary Celebration of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Law and was named vice chair of the New York State Council on the Arts in 2008, a position she still holds.

Diamonstein-Spielvogel earned her doctorate with honors from New York University, and received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Longwood University and the Pratt Institute. She is the author of 19 books and dozens of magazine and newspaper articles, interviewer/producer of nine television series for the Arts and Entertainment Network plus many programs for other national networks, and curator of seven international museum exhibitions-one of which traveled to 82 countries under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State. Her next book, Landmarks of New York, Vol. V, to be published in 2011, will be accompanied by an exhibition that will travel throughout New York State.

Over a hundred of her television interviews, many of which were shown at the Leo Castelli Gallery, are now available on iTunes U and YouTube, digitized by the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Video Archive at Duke University. In October 2010, Duke will initiate the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Visiting Filmmaker Series to address significant contemporary topics of social, political, economic, and cultural urgency from a global perspective.

Throughout her career, Diamonstein-Spielvogel has been involved in board service for national and local institutions and organizations, including current appointments to the Fresh Air Fund, the Drawing Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Acquisitions Committee of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Board of the Museum of Modern Art, the American Council on the Arts, and the White House Endowment Fund, to name a few. She is married to the leading international business executive, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, Carl Spielvogel.

The recipient of many awards and honors, Diamonstein-Spielvogel has recieved lifetime achievement awards from Partners for Livable Places in Washington, D.C., and the Citizens Committee of New York; a Pratt Institute "Legend" Award; and the the Gen. Milan R. Stefanik Award for contributing to the advancement of public knowledge about the Slovak nation and people. She will receive the Weeksville Society's Humanitarian Award this November. Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel has been a powerful force in shaping the direction of preservation and culture, in New York, where her influence is pervasive, and on the national and international scene as well.