During the most recent meeting of the Diplomacy Center Foundation Board of Directors, Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel was elected as the Foundation’s newest board director.
Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel has been referred to as a model for civic and cultural engagement, having demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to the arts, architecture, design, and public policy. She was a White House assistant and helped create the White House Fellows, the Presidential Scholars Program, and the first and only White House Festival of the Arts in 1965. She was the first New York City (NYC) director of Cultural Affairs and the longest-serving member of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. She served as the chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Foundation from 1987 to 1995, and she has been the chair of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center since 1995. Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel created the Historic District Marker Program, which has become a model for similar initiatives throughout the United States. She also created the Cultural Medallions Program to commemorate notable New Yorkers by placing medallions on buildings where they have lived or worked.
Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was also the producer/interviewer for seven television series about the arts, architecture, design, crafts, and public policy for the Arts & Entertainment Network and many other programs for national networks such as CBS and NBC. President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the Board of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), and she served as chair of the sub-committee of USHMM that commissions all the Art for the Public Spaces. In 1996, President William J. Clinton appointed her to the US Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). In 2002, she was the first woman to be elected as vice chair of the CFA in its century-long history.
In 2001, Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was the first woman to be elected as an honorary member of PEN-Slovakia. In 2003, she received the Gen. Milan R. Stefanik Award for contributing to the advancement of public knowledge about the Slovak nation and its people. In 2004, The Slovak Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs decorated her for “her remarkable personal contribution to the development of a civil society in Slovakia.”
In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed her to the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), which oversees the design, construction, and maintenance of the US military memorials throughout the world. She also chaired the ABMC New Memorials Committee.
Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was appointed to the New York State Council for the Arts in 2007, in which she served as its vice chair from 2008 to 2016—until she was appointed chair and chief executive officer by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2016. In 2011, she was elected an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects.
In addition to her extensive public service, Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel is the recipient of four honorary doctorates and numerous honors and awards. She is the founder and chair of the NYC Landmarks55+ Alliance—a consortium of more than 189 organizations that was convened to commemorate and honor the significant anniversaries of the passage of the NYC Landmarks law in 1965.
In 2014, Dr. Diamonsten-Spielvogel and her husband, Ambassador Carol Spielvogel (ret.), were welcomed to our Ambassadors Circle for their charitable support. Ambassador Carl Spielvogel is recognized as part of our Founding Ambassadors Society. “We look forward to working with Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel as part of the Foundation’s Board of Directors,” says DCF President Roman Popadiuk. “Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel provides a wealth of knowledge and experience in the arts and cultural sector, along with a personal connection to American diplomacy. Her counsel will be most helpful as we continue to progress through the exhibition design, fabrication, and installation phase for the future Museum.”
Learn more about the Diplomacy Center Foundation’s leadership.