UN Program Director News and Updates 2025

UN Graphic

The UN Program is in transition this year. I have had to make the extremely difficult decision to step down as Director of the WCA UN Program. I have had health issues the past several years and am not able to continue with my leadership responsibilities. I will be sad to leave and hope to stay in touch with those of you I have grown so close to. Liz Di Giorgio will continue to be the Director of the Youth Representatives Program, and will take responsibility for these updates.

Last year the main concerns were AI and Climate Change. This year we have the added issue of our new president’s relationship with the UN. He has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accords, World Health Organization, Human Rights Council, and has sanctioned the International Criminal Court. He has threatened UNESCO and UN Women to no longer use any DEI language and denounced the SDG's. At the UN General Assembly he voted with Russia rejecting condemnation of the war against Ukraine. (The vote was unpopular - the condemnation passed with an overwhelming majority). He has demanded loyalty to the United States from neutral international UN agencies. Plans are in place to significantly cut US financial support to the UN, which would cripple many important initiatives. We do not know what the future will bring, but we do know that the UN will continue with the heart of it’s values and ideals.

On a positive note, the Youth Rep Program is thriving. We have two new Youth Representatives who are already excited and animated to be part of our outreach to art students at City University of New York/Queensborough. Liz DiGiorgio, our Director is on sabbatical this year. Replacing her is Dr. Kathleen Wentrack, Feminist Art Historian, Art Professor, and Chair of the Art Department. We consider it a great honor to have her as a mentor to the students.

Maureen Burns-Bowie

Update #1

Two New Youth Representatives

Alexa Campanile

Alexa Campanile

My name is Alexa Campanile, I was born right here in New York and though I am only 19, I have big dreams for the future of women's equality. In an artistic sense, my passion is graphic design, and my hope is that in the future my work will be shown to many, but the discussion surrounding human rights often consumes my thoughts. Throughout my whole life I have always felt that we could always being doing more to contribute to change than what we are currently executing, and this internship gives me a platform to use my voice to inspire others via my personal perspectives. My ideas align with the missions of the Women's Caucus for Art as the work of countless women goes unrecognized just because of their gender and I feel as if it is crucial for women to be presented with leadership opportunities and professional development roles to put an end to this. The best thing that we can do to enact change is to support and take part in any form of activitism and advocacy regarding art equality.
I have heard numerous stories about women throughout history who were role models, and I hope that one day I will do something so that someone will look at me that same way. I want to grow into something that is more than what I was given as that shows true strength and resilience as a woman. I wish to find solutions to the very real issues we see daily such as environmental impacts of human life, economic hardships, and poverty. Eagerness to expand my knowledge is always something that I carry with me, and I will continue to do that throughout my life. I believe that hearing new perspectives and experiences of others will be a great influence and I would be honored to experience this opportunity as a young college student.
Women are a vital part of life, and it is truly amazing that the Women's Caucus for Art exists and gives them the recognition they deserve for all their work. Having the chance to work alongside other hardworking women who share the same beliefs and ideas as myself is truly empowering and vital for there to be societal growth in topics concerning women’s rights. I am always eager to learn new perspectives of others and attending briefings at the United Nations, an organization that works tirelessly to maintain international security and peace would be the best place to do so. The culture of peace is something that the whole world has struggled with since the beginning of time and I would be proud to be part of a program that educates me on how to achieve that. Without social activism there would be no progress in society, and it would be a never-ending cycle of struggle and hardships, that is why it is important for young women like me to be a part of advancement organizations, just like the Women's Caucus for Art to enact change into the world.

Angelina Provvisiero

Angelina Provvisiero

In my second year at Queensborough Community College, I feel an immense gratitude in
being able to openly share and receive perspectives towards ongoing conflicts, both locally and
globally, and aid in synthesizing possible resolutions. Viewing the objectives of the UN WCA
Youth Representative Program has been very inspiring, and I am eager to engage with others on
various topics of today’s relevance. I am currently a student majoring in Art and Design with a
strong gravitation towards the psychology of art and art therapy. I plan to transfer to Queens
College after the spring semester to confirm a double major consisting of fine arts and
psychology, aiming to settle professionally into a position surrounding art therapy in the future. I
often contemplate why the relationship between art and the human brain receives such little
acknowledgment when it is a truly fascinating allegiance. I consider art therapy to be a crucially
underrepresented form of mental health healing and notice that many approach this method with
shallowness as it is not often advocated for with sincerity. It has a strong association with being
targeted toward the mental health of children, but the ability to guide emotions and ease the brain
through loose, intuitive expression can be responsible for intense emotional breakthroughs and
self-confidence enhancement. I am also heavily convinced that the ability to relate to, create, and
appreciate the art of our kind is one of the remaining elements of humanity that our race ceases
to depart from. As technology endangers employment, as leaders disappoint with invasions of
corruption, and as our own consumption and senselessness stages our peril, art is the altar we
inevitably return to for grounding, for unity, and as a reminder of what we are and always have
been.
Although many women are defining contributors to several art movements, their work
blends into the cast of male figures. Disappointingly, this recurs incessantly throughout time and
exceeds the art world, as a prominent issue within research, medical, philosophical, and
governmental positions. If remarkable efforts are exerted by a woman, it is almost expected that
her work will be undermined, neglected, or stolen. Unfortunately, the likelihood of this
misrepresentation only increases with women of color.
Being American with Guyanese-Italian heritage offers my life interesting fusions of rich,
vibrant cultures and small inclusions of language in my writing and vocabulary. I have a
fortunately thrilling combination of backgrounds that are both heavily involved in structuring my
identity. Although thankful for this unique blend of cultures, I am still aware of the
overwhelming competition for women’s presentation in contemporary artwork, and I hold doubts
at times about my development as an artist being a biracial woman. Regardless, persistence for
myself and others with similar concerns is something I consider with a great strive, and I wish to
carry a supportive, voicing presence for those being unreasonably denied recognition.
I plan to involve my personal views and experiences while participating in this Women’s
Caucus for Art program and I am also committed to collaborating with others on related topics,
being advised on areas I am not as familiar with, and conversing about proposing logical,
collaborative resolutions to common concerns. I am delighted by my placement in this program
and anticipate sessions of future growth and collaboration while being educated by others.

Update #2
CUNY Mentor to Youth Reps

Kathleen Wentrack

Dr. Kathleen Wentrack

Kathleen Wentrack earned her PhD from the Graduate Center, The City University of New York and a Master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Design at the City University of New York, Queensborough. Dr. Wentrack’s recent publications include “Carolee Schneemann: Eye/Body,” in the exhibition catalogue of The Female Side of God at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, 2020; “1970s Feminist Practice as Heterotopian: The Stichting Vrouwen in de Beeldende Kunst and the Schule für kreativen Feminismus,” in All Women Art Spaces in the Long 1970s from Liverpool University Press, 2018; “Female Sexuality in Performance and Film: Erotic, Political, Controllable? The Contested Female Body in the Work of Carolee Schneemann and VALIE EXPORT,” Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 2014; and “What’s so Feminist about the “Feministische Kunst Internationaal” Exhibition? Critical Directions in 1970s Feminist Art.” Frontiers, 2012. She has also published on pedagogy including the essay “The Power of Images: Enhancing Learning Outcomes in a History of Photography through the Refugee Experience,” in: Humanistic Pedagogy Across the Disciplines: Approaches to Mass Atrocity Education in the Community College Context published by Palgrave Macmillan: 2018. Dr. Wentrack is on the Managing Committee of The Feminist Art Project and Contributing Editor to the peer-reviewed journal Art History Pedagogy and Practice.

Update #3

Youth Representatives with Kathleen Wentrack at UN