CHAIR: Jordan Peimer
Cultural Programs Director
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 North Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049-6833
jpeimer@skirball.org
tel: 310.440.4646 fax: 310.440.4695

For the past ten years Jordan Peimer has been at the Skirball Cultural Center where, as director of programs, he develops their cultural activities and performing arts programs. Under his leadership the Skirball produces over 250 public programs for adults, children and families in southern California. He works closely with AFI FEST on a variety of programs including Cinema’s Legacy, an annual Filmmaker Tribute, and Screen Education Program. Peimer works directly with the Skirball Education Department on performance and media aspects of the School Outreach Program. He is recipient of a 2000 fellowship from the American Jewish Committee, and a 2001 fellowship from the California Presenters Initiative of The James Irvine Foundation. He recently curated Zeitgeist: The Harry and Belle Krupnick International Jewish Arts Festival, Los Angeles’ first international festival of Jewish art. Peimer is a member of the International Advisory Board for the Live Arts Development Agency of the London Arts Board. Peimer was Founding Chair of the board of directors of Diavolo Dance Theater. He also served on the board of the Los Angeles Dance Kaleidoscope Foundation and was a former board member of the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Education and former vice chair of the West Hollywood Fine Arts Commission. He has lectured on contemporary performance and choreographic practice at UCLA, UC Irvine, CalArts, The Institute for Contemporary Arts, London and the Silesian Dance Festival in Bytom, Poland.

VICE-CHAIR: Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center
Urban Institute
2100 M Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20012
mjackson@ui.urban.org
tel: 202.261.5689

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson is a senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center at the Urban Institute and director of UI’s Culture, Creativity and Communities Program. Her research focuses on urban policy, neighborhood revitalization and comprehensive community planning, the politics of race, ethnicity and gender in urban settings, and the role of arts and culture in communities. Dr. Jackson’s work has appeared in academic and professional journals as well as edited volumes in the fields of urban planning, sociology, community development and the arts. She has been a speaker at numerous national and international conferences focusing on quality of life, changing demographics, communities and cities of the future, and arts and society. Dr. Jackson is also a consultant and instructor. She has provided technical assistance in planning and program implementation to numerous organizations and has also consulted with a range of cultural organizations about their role in promoting civic engagement and community development. Dr. Jackson has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in social policy, planning for multiple publics, community economic development and research methods.

TREASURER: Tanya Mote
Development Director
El Centro Su Teatro
4725 High Street
Denver, CO 80216
tanya@suteatro.org
tel: 303.296.0219 fax: 303.296.4614

Tanya Mote has been the development director at El Centro Su Teatro, a multidisciplinary Chicano/Latino arts organization in Denver, Colorado since 1999, and has worked for ECST since 1997. She is dedicated to developing a long-term sustainable base for the organization by integrating fundraising with community building principles. Mote serves as a board member for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) and on the advisory board of The Veterans of Hope Project, an educational initiative on religion, culture and participatory democracy. Mote will complete a PhD examining community-based art in the U.S. in 2008.

SECRETARY: Nicole Garneau
Assistant Director of Community Partnerships
Columbia College Chicago Ctr for Community Arts Partnerships
600 S. Michigan
Chicago, IL 60605
ngarneau@colum.edu
tel: 312.369.8856 fax: 312.344.8015

Nicole Garneau is a Chicago-based visual and performance artist. In 1993-94 Nicole worked as an actor in the Theatre of Moscow South-West, performing in Russian. Since returning to the U.S,. she has continued to work in dance and theater while building an inter-disciplinary performance practice. Since 1994, Garneau has worked closely with Insight Arts, an organization dedicated to increasing access to cultural work that promotes social justice and defends human rights. In 2005, Garneau created HEAT:05, a durational art project in which she performed every day of the year in order to mark 10 years since the 1995 Chicago heat wave disaster. Chicago’s Links Hall is presenting her current projects: UPRISING—monthly outdoor performances exploring revolution, and EVIDENCE—color postcards documenting the performances for subscribers. She is interested in creating performance and visual art work that is directly political, critically conscious, and community building. In Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Community Arts Partnerships, Garneau coordinates the Arts in Youth and Community Development concentration of the Master’s in Arts Management. Garneau holds a B.A. in Theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Art from Columbia College Chicago. Her work is documented at www.nicolegarneau.com.

AT LARGE: Vicki Meek
Manager
South Dallas Cultural Center
3400 South Fitzhugh Avenue
Dallas, TX 75210
msart55@yahoo.com
tel: 214.939.2787 fax: 214.670.8118

Vicki Meek, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a nationally-recognized artist who has exhibited widely. Meek is in the permanent collections of the African American Museum in Dallas, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut. She was awarded three public arts commissions with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Art Program and was co-artist on the largest public art project in Dallas, the Dallas Convention Center Public Art Project.  In addition, Meek is an independent curator, writes cultural criticism for Literafeelya, an online art publication and ARTLIES: A Texas Art Journal. With over 30 years of arts administrative experience that includes working as a senior program administrator for a state arts agency, a local arts agency and running a non-profit visual arts center, Vicki Meek is currently the Manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas, a full-service African-centered center that is a program of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.

PRESIDENT & CEO: MK Wegmann

National Performance Network, Inc.
900 Camp Street, 2nd Floor
New Orleans, LA 70130
mkw@npnweb.org
tel: 504.595.8008 fax: 504.595.8006

MK Wegmann has 26 years experience in organizational development, artists’ services, presenting and producing for non-profit visual and performing arts organizations. As an independent consultant, she has worked with organizations and individual artists in long-range planning, organizational development and systems management. Clients have included Alabama Dance Council, JumpStart Performance Co., Southern Danceworks, Dallas Black Dance Theatre and YA/YA (Young Aspirations/Young Artists, Inc.). From 1978-1991 she was associate director for the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, a $1.2 million, multi-disciplinary artists’ organization, and from 1993-1999 served as managing director of the theatre company Junebug Productions. She has served on and chaired panels for the NEA, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Commission and the Cultural Arts Council of Houston. Wegmann serves on board of directors for Junebug Productions. Current committee work includes the Dance Working Group and the National Performing Arts Convention.

Tamara Alvarado
Director of Multicultural Leadership
1st Act Silicon Valley
34 Santa Clara Ave
San Jose, CA 95113
talvarado@1stact.org
tel: 408.200.2020

Tamara is the Director of Multicultural Leadership for 1stAct Silicon Valley; a cross-sector collaborative whose mission is to inspire leadership, participation and investment at the intersection of art and technology. From 2003 to 2008 she served as executive director of MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana in San Jose, California.  Starting in 1999 she served as program director for the newly opened Washington United Youth Center, a partnership between Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and the City of San Jose. She sits on the boards of directors of the National Performance Network and ACE Charter Elementary School in San Jose. Tamara sits on various regional and national funding panels including: the Arts Council Silicon Valley and Creative Capital. She is also a member and co-founder of San Jose based Movimiento Cosmico: Aztec Dance. Originally from Escondido, CA, Tamara holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish literature from Stanford University.

Yolanda Cesta Cursach
Associate Director of Performance Programs
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
ycursach@mcachicago.org
tel: 312.397.3843 fax: 312.397.4095

Yolanda Cesta Cursach is Associate Director of Performance Programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where she contributes dance, music, theater, and multimedia programming. She directs partnerships with government and cultural agencies for co-presentations, and directs Artists Up Close, a series of more than fifty artist-centered talks, roundtables, workshops, and multiple-week residencies each year. She is former Midwest Regional Desk and Performing Americas curator for National Performance Network (NPN). She is a founder of the League of Chicago Theaters Access Committee; and serves on the board of directors for Chicago’s Links Hall, the Mayor’s Office Festivals Committee; and the Instituto Cervantes Chicago Programming Committee. She is also a member of the University of Chicago Service League, Hyde Park Cultural Task Force, Judge of Election for Cook County, and the Mayor’s Office Council on Human Relations Task Force. She is a Paul Harris Fellow for Rotary International.  She is a native of Rome, Italy and was reared in Madrid, Spain. She has a BA from Syracuse University and was a member of Syracuse Ballet. She attended The University of Chicago for a Doctorate in Political Science, and remains active in public service in Chicago’s South Side community.

Erin Boberg Doughton
Performing Arts Program Director
Portland Institute for Contemporary Arts
234 NW 13th Avenue #305
Portland, OR 97209
erin@pica.org
tel: 503.242.1419 fax: 503.243.1167

Erin Boberg Doughton is the performing arts program director at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), working alongside Executive/Artistic Director Kristy Edmunds on PICA’s Performance and Residency Programs from their inception in 1995. In 1999 she was invited to participate in the National Association of Artist’s Organizations Co-Generate program, which identified and fostered new leaders in the arts. She was one of six U.S. delegates to the International Leadership Development
Forum, a multi-national platform for professional and artistic exchange in dance. Boberg has also served on several artist selection panels and awards juries for the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Creative Capital, and other local, regional and national organizations in the performing and visual arts.

Prior to joining PICA, Boberg served as the education outreach coordinator for the Northwest Film Center’s Video/Filmmaker-in-Schools program, where she directed the Young People’s Film and Video Festival. Boberg is an independent performance artist and has studied dance, music and theatre at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors in Theatre from Lewis & Clark College in 1994.

Gayle Isa
Executive Director
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
gayle@asianartsinitiative.org
tel: 215.557.0455 fax: 215.557.0457

Gregory Jackson
Artistic Director
Miami Dade College Dept. of Cultural Affairs
25 NE 2nd Street, Suite 5503
Miami, FL 33132
gjackson@mdc.edu
tel: 305.237.3010 fax: 305.237.7559

Gregory Jackson is interimd director and artistic director of the Cultural Affairs Department at Miami Dade College, Miami, FL. He served as program coordinator at Cambridge (MA) Multicultural Arts Center and director of Project SEARCH at the Boston Conservatory where he developed and implemented an arts curriculum for public high schools in three states, and directed a summer arts camp. Jackson taught vocal technique at Phillips Academy, Andover MA, and performed as soloist throughout the United States and Europe.

In 1994, Jackson relocated to Miami, FL to teach secondary music for Miami-Dade County Public Schools and jazz music at Miami-Dade College, Wolfson Campus. He served as president of the Miami-based Diaspora Arts Coalition, an arts advocacy group for African-influenced art forms that addresses issues concerning the African Diaspora. He has been with the Cultural Affairs Department at Miami Dade College since 1996.

A lyric tenor, Jackson maintains an active performance schedule as soloist and chorus member, most notably with Jubilate, a vocal ensemble dedicated to preserving Negro Spirituals and performing other works by African-American composers. He was also a featured soloist in tours and international music festivals in Spain and Armenia. Jackson received a master’s degree in music (vocal performance) from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and a B.S. degree (Summa Cum Laude) in music from Adelphi University, Garden City, NY.

Arnie Malina
Chief Programming Officer/Artistic Director
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
153 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
amalina@flynncenter.org
tel: 802.652.4503 fax: 802.863.8788

Arnie Malina, is the chief programming officer/ artistic director at the Flynn Center in Burlington, VT. He founded and developed nationally significant programs at Helena Presents in Montana. Profiled as “Montana’s Unsung Hero” in Newsweek Magazine (1988), he later received the Montana Governor’s Award in the Arts (1997). Malina is the recipient of the 1994 Fan Taylor Award from Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) and served on the APAP board of directors from 1997-2003. Malina is co-producer of the Blue Note recording, “Sacred Common Ground,” by pianist/composer Don Pullen and the African Brazilian Connection and the Chief Cliff Singers. Under his leadership, the Flynn received the first MET/Life Access Award for innovation in Access, 2004. He currently serves on the board of the National Performance Network.

Cynthia Oliver
Independent Artist and Associate Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
205 West Illinois Street
Urbana IL 61801
coliver@uiuc.edu
tel: 217.244.3154 cell: 217.649.0853

Thomas Reese
Executive Director
Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Tulane University
100 Joseph Mary Jones Hall
New Orleans, LA 70118
treese@tulane.edu
tel: 504.865.5164 fax: 504.865.6719

Thomas Reese is executive director of the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University. His scholarship and publications include studies of 18th-century Spanish art and politics, culture contact in 16th century Mexico, devotional space in Colonial Andean society, and contemporary architectural practice in Europe and the Americas. His most recent research focuses on images and identity in turn of the century Argentina, Mexico, and Panama. He has received many fellowships and awards for his scholarship.

Reese was appointed deputy director of the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities in Los Angeles, 1986, and served as acting director of the Getty Research Institute for three years. In addition, he was a member of the College Art Association board of directors, 2000-04 and Vice-President for External Affairs, 2002-04. In addition to serving on the board of NPN, Reese also currently serves on the boards of the Audubon Nature Institute, the Arts Council of New Orleans, Contemporary Arts Center, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. 

Mildred Ruiz
Managing Director
Universes
2038 Cicero Avenue #1
Bronx, New York 10472
ucitytheater@aol.com
cell: 646.406.7540

Maurice Turner
Independent Artist,
Turner World Around Productions
23710 Hwy 18
Raymond, MS 39154
mturner@turnerworldaround.org
cell: 662.312.5830 tel: 601.885.8926

Maurice Turner is co-founder of Turner World Around Productions, Inc. and one-half of the group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction), an artistic ensemble composing and performing a blend of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry, and soul music. M.U.G.A.B.E.E. tours nationally, from Blue Lake, California, to Putney, Vermont.

Turner has shared the stage with many great musicians, and has played on over a dozen CDs of various genres.  Most recently he composed music for and performed in the critically-acclaimed spoken-word theater collective, Universes’ Eye Witness Blues. He also served as musical director for Uprooted: The Katrina Project, a piece focusing on the displaced citizens of New Orleans and the various struggles faced during the catastrophe.

Turner is an arts educator in the Jackson Public School System where he has worked with the “My Mississippi Eye” program at Lanier High School in Jackson. He is currently board chair for the Highlander Center. Turner has been a member of Alternate ROOTS since 2001, and is an artist on the Mississippi Arts Commission roster.

Huong T. Vu
Senior Program Officer
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
505 5th Avenue South, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
HuongV@PGAfamilyfoundation.org
tel: 206.342.2539

Huong T. Vu is Senior Program Officer for Arts and Culture at  he Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in Seattle, WA.  She has worked in the arts for almost 20 years as an artist, curator, and grant maker. In 2002 she joined the Allen Family Foundation which makes grants in five program areas: Arts and Culture, Community Development and Social Change, Innovations in Science and Technology, Economic Relief, and Education-Youth Engagement. Prior to joining the Foundation, Huong was the guest curator at On the Boards, director of grants programs at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and organizer of visual arts exhibitions. She has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and other agencies. Huong is an alumna of the University of Washington where she studied Business Administration and Visual Arts. She is an active member of Philanthropy Northwest and Council on Foundations and is a board member for Grantmakers in the Arts.