NEW YORK, NY.- SundayArts -- THIRTEEN’S unique broadcast and online showcase for the arts – adds its newest correspondent, Melissa Chiu , in March 2010. Chiu will conduct a series of interviews with tastemakers in the arts who are multi-generational and culturally diverse; her interviews will focus on the compelling life stories of her subjects, who include The Nose opera director William Kentridge, Oscar Award- winning composer Tan Dun, painter Chuck Close, filmmaker and artist Shirin Neshat, and conceptual artist Yoko Ono. Chiu’s interviews will appear on the SundayArts program on Sunday afternoons and select Thursdays during primetime on THIRTEEN (check local listings). “Melissa represents a fresh voice that offers new insights into the arts and culture of New York City ,” says Neal Shapiro, President and CEO of WNET . ORG . “Her decades of experience in her field make her an amazing addition to our already-stellar team of art historians and commentators.”

Chiu is a renowned expert who lectures on contemporary arts and culture at festivals, symposia, and conferences around the world. She is Director of the Museum and Vice President of Global Art Programs at Asia Society in New York , where she has worked for nearly a decade. Prior to this, she was Founding Director of the Asia-Australia Arts Center in Sydney , Australia . Chiu holds a PhD in art history and has organized more than 30 exhibitions of international art. Her books include 'Breakout: Chinese Art Outside China', 2007, focusing on the international Chinese artistic Diaspora, 'Chinese Contemporary Art: 7 Things You Should Know', 2008, and a forthcoming survey of Asian contemporary art published by Thames and Hudson and Monacelli Press.

“I am delighted to be joining the SundayArts team and look forward to sharing my perspectives on the arts through interviews with pioneers in the fields of art, architecture, film, music, and dance,” says Chiu. “Each has a story to tell that we can learn from and be stirred by—in looking at their inspirations, aspirations, failures, and triumphs—in short, what has made them who they are today.”

SundayArts, provides the tri-state audience with a unique overview of New York City ’s unparalleled cultural offerings, encompassing not only the performing arts but the visual arts as well. Co-hosted by Philippe de Montebello –President Emeritus of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art - and award-winning television journalist (and accomplished cellist) Paula Zahn , each presentation of the SundayArts includes news, profiles and magazine-style segments covering New York City’s vast array of museums, artists, gallery exhibitions, and live performances, all in tandem with an extensive web site.

Launched on March 23, 2008, the weekly SundayArts showcase embodies THIRTEEN’S commitment to arts and culture programming. Broadcast Sundays at noon on THIRTEEN in HD, the full three-hour program (including a feature presentation) encores each Sunday at 3 p.m. on WLIW21. SundayArts Primetime Special premiered in November 2009 and highlights segments of the series’ New York City arts news coverage on select Thursdays at 8 p.m. For SundayArts, Joan Hershey is Editorial Director and David Horn is Executive Producer.