Kathy
Brantigan received her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees
from the University of Michigan. She is the Executive Director of The Denver
Brass Inc, Treasurer of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association, and
Co-Chair of the Brass Department at the University of Denver’s Lamont
School of Music. Kathy is a performing musician, playing principal tuba with
The Denver Brass and Aries Brass Quintet. In 2004 Kathy received the Mayor’s
Award for Excellence in the Arts from Mayor John Hickenlooper.
Kathy, with her husband Charles Brantigan, is a founder of The Denver Brass Inc, a 501(c)3 organization which presents over 150 concerts annually in the Denver region, as well as national and international tours. The Denver Brass represents the 13-part symphonic brass ensemble "The Denver Brass," the "Aries Brass Quintet," and smaller chamber and jazz ensembles. The Denver Brass is committed to presenting the highest quality of brass performance and contributing to the brass ensemble literature through new commissions and arrangements. The Denver Brass programming is adventuresome, often taking advantage of collaborations with artists who offer new dimensions in sound and musical style.
Kathy’s greatest strength as an arts administrator lies in her long-range
vision and her ability to link present actions to eventual outcomes. Her ability
to bring artists, Board members, and community members together leads to the
development of creative programming and marketing plans which reach out to
increasingly diverse audiences. The success of any arts organization is directly
linked to its ability to speak to a broad audience, providing sustenance,
edification and inspiration at a variety of levels.
kathy@denverbrass.org
Susan Edmondson has served since 2003 as executive director of the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, a private foundation supporting the arts in the Pikes Peak region. Much of Susan’s work with the foundation involves direct capacity-building work with nonprofits, teaching and coaching. Susan also serves on a variety of community boards in her efforts to integrate the arts into many aspects of community life. Some of those boards of directors include Experience Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Colorado Springs Downtown Development Authority and the Colorado Springs World Arena/Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts.
Susan is a co-founder of COPPeR, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, the area’s first professionally staffed arts agency. Susan also is a guest lecturer in nonprofit communications at UCCS and has taught workshops for the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.
Prior to assuming her role with the foundation, Susan served for seven years as arts-and-entertainment editor at The Gazette in Colorado Springs, leading a staff of writers that garnered statewide and national awards for their arts journalism. Susan also has worked for daily newspapers in Nevada and California.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. She also serves on the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs Dean’s Advisory Board.
Susan is eager to assist others in areas of organizational development; board governance; strategic planning; financial management; fund development; and especially marketing/communications and audience development, to include social media.
Susan@BeeVradenburgFoundation.org
Wilma
Erven is currently the Director of Culture and Recreation for
the City of Delta. She is the Executive Director of Council Tree Pow Wow &
Cultural Festival, an American Indian event she developed and has produced
for the past 13 years. This activity is a coming home celebration for the
Ute Indians who were the original inhabitants of the Western Colorado Region.
Wilma is also responsible for Fort Uncompahgre the first Trading Post west of the Mississippi, which is now, ran as a History Museum; the City of Delta Public Arts program of murals and bronze sculptures and the programming and direction of the Recreation department events.
She currently serves on the Delta County Tourism Cabinet promoting Delta County; the Public Arts Committee; Historic Preservation Board; the Parks & Recreation Board and chairing the Executive Committee of Council Tree Pow Wow, which consist of coordinating with the three Ute Tribes and the City of Delta.
Wilma would be glad to assist with event planning/development and production;
fund raising; and general organization development.
wilma.erven@delta-co.gov
Tony
Garcia will celebrate his 35th year as a member of Su Teatro
where he is presently the Artistic Director and resident playwright. Garcia
has been recognized by the theater and Latino community for his tremendous
contributions to the field and community including the NEWSED Civil Rights
Award, Colorado Creative Industries Fellowship for excellence in play writing,
the NEA/Theater Communications Group Directing Fellowship, and Best New Play-Denver
Drama Critics Award. In 2006, he was named a recipient of the prestigious
United States Artist Fellowship Award. Garcia has written and directed numerous
productions; recent works include Papi, Me and Cesar Chavez (2003), which
tours through Colorado and the Southwest; The Westside Oratorio (2004), and
El Sol Que Tu Eres/The Sun That You Are (2005). The latter two represent successful
collaborations with composer Daniel Valdez. Garcia is an instructor in Chicano
Studies at Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the former Vice-Chair
of the Board of Directors for NALAC. He serves as trainer in the areas of
fundraising and organizational development for the Grassroots Institute for
Fundraising Training, the Colorado Creative Industries' Peer Assistance Network,
and NALAC's Leadership Institute. He is a member of Denver's Commission on
Cultural Affairs. He is currently engaged in the creation of the Su Teatro
Cultural and Performing Arts Center, a regional center for Chicano and Latino
artists.
Tony's areas of expertise include multicultural issues, grassroots fundraising,
performing arts, youth at risk, cultural policy, and marketing.
tony@suteatro.org
Jennifer Ito has experience in both not-for-profit and for-profit management. In her current position as Communications Manager for Fentress Architects – an internationally recognized firm known regionally for their designs of Denver International Airport and Invesco Field – she oversees all aspects of internal and external communications. Her work at Fentress includes public relations, branding, publications and website development, team building and event management.
For over 15 years Jenny was a not-for-profit professional, serving most recently as Executive Director of the Foothills Art Center in Golden. Prior to that, she served as both Associate Director and Curator of Visual Arts for the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo. During her time at the Foothills and Sangre de Cristo Arts Centers, Jenny worked extensively in strategic planning, fundraising, team building, program development, event management and public relations.
Throughout her career, Jenny has been extensively involved in advocacy and professional service, serving a two year term as Regional Representative to the American Association of Museums Council of Regions, a two year term as President of the ten-state Mountain-Plains Museums Association; and two terms as President of the Colorado-Wyoming Association of Museums. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Colorado College.
Jenny provides support in the areas of strategic planning, Board development, marketing and program evaluation.
Marne Jurgemeyer is the Director of the Fort Morgan Museum. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado. He has thirty years of museum experience as director and educator. As a director of a small museum he has experience with all facets of the operation of a museum including researching, designing and building museum exhibits, creating museum programming and caring for collections. During his tenure, he guided the museum through accreditation and subsequent reaccreditation by the American Association of Museum. He has evaluated grants for the Institute for Library and Museums Services. He has participated in a successful major capital campaign. Because of his position has worked closely with museum governing board a 501c3. He is a past member of the the Morgan County Tourism Council and has been board member of the Colorado Wyoming Association of Museums.
Marne is especially interested in working with clients on board relations and development, long range planning, museum exhibits, fundraising
mjurgemeyer@cityoffortmorgan.com
Ashley King a Colorado Native, moved to Gunnison to attend Western State College of Colorado. There, she received her BA in Organizational Communications & Theatre. Ashley stayed in Gunnison and served for five years as the Executive Director of the Gunnison Arts Center a non-profit community arts center that housed a multitude of arts community-based arts opportunities for adults and children alike. Additionally, Ashley worked actively with multiple non-profit organizations throughout Gunnison Valley. Through these experiences, Ashley's love for non-profit work, and especially the arts, flourished.
Ashley moved to the Vail Valley from Gunnison in 2006 and worked with multiple non-profits and government agencies during her tenure there. First, with the Steadman Hawkins Research Foundation (development and education departments) and also as the Economic Development and Community Events Director for the Town of Minturn, the Special Events and Public Relations Coordinator for the Town of Gypsum, a Co-Founder of Eagle Valley Artists Alliance, and the Executive Director of the Minturn Community Fund.
In early 2008, Ashley made an exciting move to Ouray County in Southwest Colorado where she is working as the Executive Director of Weehawken Creative Arts (a non-profit arts organization focused on education, with programs based in both Ouray and Ridgway).
Ashley has a passion for exploring means to build community and community participation through the arts. She enjoys consulting small-to-medium-sized organizations and may be able to assist in the areas of organizational development/structure, small arts organziations and start-ups, organizational promotions and marketing, organizational goal-setting, development and fundraising, communication, and team-building.
Nancy
Kramer arrived in Steamboat Springs in 1975, a registered nurse,
and for several years, nursing was her focus, as well as a bakery business
which she developed and managed. In 1993, she became Executive Director of
the Steamboat Springs Arts Council, a community arts agency serving as the
pivotal cultural organization in Steamboat Springs and the Yampa Valley. Under
Nancy's leadership, the arts council implemented major goals of a broad-based
cultural plan, offered technical assistance, cooperative marketing services
and advocacy leadership for 30+ affiliate arts and cultural organizations.
She describes herself as a "zealot" for technical assistance and
collaborative planning and programming. Nancy was a member of the City Council
from 2001-05. In 2004 she participated in Stanford University's National Arts
Strategies Executive Program. Now retired from the arts council, she serves
as the project coordinator for the Northwest Colorado Products program, an
initiative of the Community Agriculture Alliance to promote local and added
valued products of NW Colorado.
Nancy can assist in the areas of organizational and arts council development,
management, public/private and non-profit partnership development, tourism
planning, public art, and non-profit leadership.
Maurice LaMee has been the Executive/Artistic Director of the Creede Repertory Theatre (CRT) for ten years. He has overseen the production of over eighty plays for CRT and he has directed twenty productions since 1997.
In the past several years the Creede Repertory Theatre has received regional and national attention for its theatrical productions, including the Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Theatre Conference in 2007; previous winners have included The Public, Steppenwolf and American Repertory Theatre. The Denver Post named CRT its Reader’s Choice Award for Best Year by a Colorado theatre company in 2006, 2007 and 2008. USA TODAY called CRT “one of the top ten place to see the lights way off Broadway.”
The Creede Repertory is the largest employer in a town of less than 400 people and a county of less than 1000. It is a major arts attraction in the southwest and the major economic driver in the community. 35,000 to 40,000 people are served by CRT’s programs annually.
Maurice completed the three-year National Arts Strategies program last year. He can provide assistance in strategic governance, organizational strategy, performing arts and facilities development.
For 12 years, Tanya Mote has served as the development director at El Centro Su Teatro, a multidisciplinary Latino/ Chicano cultural arts organization that produces theater, arts education, and music, poetry and film festivals.Tanya self-identifies as a cultural worker. Her interest is in building an engaged, invested, participatory community that utilizes Su Teatro as its core. She volunteers regularly for local social justice and arts organizations and has served twice on National Endowment for the Arts grant making panels.
Tanya is the secretary of the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) board of directors. GIFT promotes the connection between fundraising, social justice and movement building and promotes the leadership of people of color in fundraising as an essential component of social justice work. Tanya has been involved with GIFT since 1999 as an intern site supervisor, consultant and trainer. She serves as the treasurer of the National Performance Network board of directors – an organization dedicated to bolstering meaningful partnerships between independent artists, arts organizations and communities. Finally, she serves on the advisory board of the Veterans of Hope Project – a democratic educational initiative.
Tanya recently completed a Ph.D in international studies. Her research examined the role community based arts organizations play in building civil society. She is interested in continuing to learn from experienced practitioners in the community based arts field and contributing to a field wide dialogue. Tanya is available to consult on all aspects of individual donor campaigns, development planning, time management, building sustainable grassroots marketing programs and working successfully with interns.
Mike
Perry serves as the Executive Director of the Museum of Western
Colorado, a multi-site history/natural history museum that includes the Museum
of the West, Cross Orchards Historic Farm, Dinosaur Journey, Whitman Education
Center, and co-manages with the Bureau of Land Management the Rabbit Valley
Research Natural Area, Dinosaur Hill, Riggs Hill, and the Fruita Paleontological
Area. Mike earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biology at the University
of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah and there taught courses in biology, anatomy,
and ornithology. Mike has also served as the Director of the Utah Field House
of Natural History in Vernal, Utah, the Idaho Museum of Natural History at
Idaho State University, and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum
in The Dalles, Oregon. From 1990 to 1999 he was Executive Director of Dinamation
International Society and established award winning participant-funded research
programs worldwide.
He has been instrumental in designing and promoting numerous major dinosaur programs and projects in the west including Dinosaur Valley, the Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Fruita, and the Dinosaur Gardens exhibit in Vernal, Utah. He has worked closely with federal and state agencies including the Bureau of Land Management since 1985 and with them created the nation’s first public/private cooperative management agreement in 1986 to mange fossil resources on public lands. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards for his work in the conservation of cultural resources and his leadership in developing scientific and cultural programs in the United States and Mexico. The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), and the Governor of the State of Coahuila, Mexico recognized him for his leadership in developing and promoting Mexico’s fossil resources.
Mike’s years of experience managing museums and developing public programs makes him especially helpful when contemplating strategies for change. He understands the balance of “bottom line” and mission fulfillment. His background in creating meaningful public/private partnerships will assist organizations who look to build their collaborative relationships. Areas of expertise include museum management, public program development, balancing “bottom line” with mission, development of collaborative programs.
David
R. Pinson has been a special events professional and arts administrator
for more than 20 years. He has served as President and Executive Director
of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, CO, an event which was widely
acclaimed as the best of its kind in the world; under his leadership the International
Festivals and Events Association awarded the 1998 Arts Festival the coveted
Grand Gold Pinnacle Award as the top special event of more than 2,000 events
worldwide.
He is founder of the Saint Louis Art Fair (MO), a festival of the visual and performing arts which is also considered one of the top five outdoor arts festivals in America. He has served as assistant director for performing arts and as manager of corporate enterprise for the Mid-America Arts Alliance, as director of both the Kansas City Arts Council and the Springfield Area Arts Council (MO) and as a community arts development administrator for the Missouri Arts Council.
David is accredited as a Certified Festival Executive (CFE) by Purdue University and the International Festivals and Events Association; and is a graduate of the New York Commercial Theatre Institute.
As founder of EVENTPRO™, he has served as a consultant to municipal governments, foundations, arts organizations and education institutions across the nation. His expertise includes organizational assessment and planning; strategic policy development and organizational visioning, special event and festival production; results oriented marketing; audience development and participation building.
Allison Sarmo is the former director of the City of Grand Junction’s Commission on Arts and Culture and coordinator of the downtown Art on the Corner sculpture program. A charter member of the Arts Commission in 1990, she became the Commission's first director/Cultural Arts Coordinator and managed the Commission from 1994 - 2009. The Commission is a service agency supporting local cultural organizations, artists, and cultural activities, and acts as a clearinghouse of arts and cultural information for the community. The Commission also administers the City's extensive public art collection and 1% for the Arts program.
As coordinator of the Art on the Corner sculpture exhibit program, Allison managed Colorado’s oldest and largest annually rotating outdoor sculpture exhibit. Begun in 1984, Art on the Corner was one of the very first temporary Main Street sculpture exhibits of its kind, and has helped spawn many similar sculpture display programs throughout the state and the nation. Allison has served on the Avalon Theater Committee and the Art Center Community Theater board, and is a member of the Art on the Corner Committee.
asarmos@sanjuanlive.net
Bettina Swigger is currently the Executive Director of COPPeR, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, a nonprofit umbrella arts organization serving El Paso and Teller counties. She works with arts organizations, artists, businesses and municipal governments to ensure that arts and creativity are strategically positioned in all areas of the community. COPPeR operates PeakRadar.com, a Web calendar that is part of the San Jose-based Artsopolis network. She is a fierce champion of community arts development and is an active member of several local strategic initiatives, including a cultural planning process for the Pikes Peak region. Prior to her work at COPPeR, she was Summer Arts Festival Manager at Colorado College, overseeing all facets of a multi-disciplinary performing arts festival, including music, dance, and vocal intensive programs. As a musician (she considers herself a rank amateur), she has performed in community orchestras, string quartets and rock’n’roll bands. For many years she worked as a freelance writer for the Colorado Springs Independent, Bon Vivant and other publications, providing a supportive voice for the arts. She serves on several local arts boards and frequently volunteers with community festivals. Bettina is an active member of Americans for the Arts' Emerging Leaders Network and the U.S. Urban Arts Federation. Other national arts affiliations include the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and Chamber Music America. She has keen interest in collaborations, interdisciplinary arts partnerships, pilot community ventures, and new media and technology. She has a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Colorado College. She is an avid reader and she plays the viola.
Especially interested in consulting about technology/websites and social networking/new media/blogging, as well as generating brainstorming for pilot programs.
Deborah
Thornton is the Resource Development and Outreach Coordinator
for the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration in Colorado Springs. She has
25 years experience in organizational development, arts administration, fundraising
and program development. Her work is rooted in a heritage of growing up in
southern Louisiana - a rich mix of cultures, ethnicities, lifestyles, aesthetics,
dialects, music, and stories. Twenty-four years ago, armed with a Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree in Visual Art, she moved to Manitou Springs. Encounters
with artists around the country revealed that arts graduates all over the
nation were getting an aesthetic education but little business training to
prepare them for an arts career. With a conviction to improve this condition
and enhance the community, she helped found and manage the Business of Art
Center in Manitou Springs as a new concept in arts facilities. This arts incubator
promotes the business skill development and career development of individual
artists as well as a range of arts organizations serving the Pikes Peak region.
Deborah served as an Associate Director with the Colorado Creative Industries
running grants funding programs for over 400 arts organizations throughout
the state of Colorado and then, served as a CCI Field Representative for Eastern
Plains, Front Range and Southern Colorado.
With Imagination Celebration, she currently runs a Teachers Institute helping classroom teachers integrate the arts into the curriculum and a Tour Program for connecting artists and arts resources with schools and communities throughout the southern half of the state. Over 300 programs in visual art, dance, music, folk art, literary art, and performing arts have served 70 small towns in this region.
Deborah enjoys working with organizations in the areas of organizational development, program planning, fundraising, grantwriting, community relations, facility development and making dreams come true.
deborah@imaginationcelebration.com
A. Richard
Turbiak is an accomplished stained glass artist. When he’s not cutting glass, Richard consults on building participation in cultural arts organizations.
Currently, Richard has signed on with the Boulder County Arts Alliance to design, implement and coordinate their new Cultural Arts Assessment Program (“CAAP”). The program will provide cultural arts organizations in Boulder County with a comprehensive tool to conduct an organizational self-evaluation, which will lead to greater capacity building and sustainability, thereby providing the means to increase participation in their organizations.
Previously, Richard has been the coordinator of the Boulder County Arts Alliance’s Audience Development Initiative, a project that has focused on facilitating Boulder County cultural arts organizations in the development of strategies to increase audience participation, helping them realize an increase in earned income and thus help stabilize these organizations further.
In addition to his work with BCAA, Richard is the group sales coordinator for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Richard also serves on the Advisory Board of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and has served in previous years as President of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival Guild, the Festival’s primary volunteer arm.
Richard lives in Boulder, CO, a transplant from New York City, (via Taos, NM) where he served as Vice President, Director of Human Resources at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.
Richard is interested in assisting others in the areas of building participation in the arts, and volunteer development and management.
Catherine
Underhill holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government as well as a Masters in Art History
from the University of Colorado. Catherine has worked in arts administration
for more than 20 years including positions at the local, state, regional and
national level.
Catherine is currently Executive Director of the Colorado Music Festival.
Prior to that she was the Executive Director at The Dairy Center for the Arts
in Boulder and Director of Boulder's local arts agency, the Arts and Humanities
Assembly of Boulder County, which provides both grant support and technical
assistance to artists and arts organizations. In addition, Catherine has experience
working with state legislators on arts related public policy issues at the
National Conference of State Legislatures; with state arts agencies during
her tenure as Deputy Director of the Southern Arts Federation; and with arts
organizations nationwide as Fellow in the Office of Public Partnership at
the NEA.
Through her involvement with the Peer Assistance Network, Catherine hopes
to share her experience in grant writing (which she has taught), capital campaign
design and implementation, board development and facilities development, and
to learn more about arts organizations operating across the state.
underhill@coloradomusicfest.org
Dan
Wecks has a broad background of experience including government,
non profit, and private business. Before deciding to follow his heart to do
what mattered to him, he was President of a large real estate and development
company. He was elected to the Manitou City Council and later as its Mayor.
During this time he became the Executive Director of the Business of Art Center,
a business incubator for artists and arts organizations in Manitou Springs..
Dan’s twin loves are assisting arts/community organizations, schools
and government in looking to creative solutions to community issues and helping
build Strength Based organizations through the development of their people.
Areas of expertise are collaborations and partnerships between the public, private and non-profit sectors, planning, crisis management, organizational development, facility development and anything to do with people development.
Ginger
White is the Senior Economic Development Specialist for the
Denver Office of Cultural Affairs. Prior to joining the staff, she acted as
a consultant to the office managing the inaugural Doors Open Denver project.
She previously served as the program and marketing manager for the Cherry
Creek Arts Festival. White received her bachelor's degree from Xavier University
with a major in Political Science, and a master's degree in Urban Policy and
Planning with an emphasis in economic development from the University of Illinois
at Chicago. She currently serves on the board of the Colorado Festival and
Events Association.
Ginger is glad to work with arts organizations on marketing, and on their
business plans, especially as they relate to economic development.
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