Operating Support

Kimberly Clement: Clement is a retired nonprofit executive, who now writes mystery books and paints landscapes for her home. Starting as a volunteer in a local domestic violence program, she spent thirty-five years working in various causes. Her career expanded from working as the state lobbyist for the Minnesota women?s movement, to raising money nationwide for American Indian elders, to spending nine years as the executive director of an at-risk youth program, to being the executive director of a national renewable energy nonprofit organization.; Kimberley Hines: Hines is a professional theater artist, a playwright, director, and actor. She has a coaching business, mentoring artists at any and all levels of their work and business. She spent part of her career as an artist in commercial graphics as a typesetter and designer/illustrator. Hines has a BA degree from Macalester College in speech and theater and in visual art. She is a speech coach for Edina schools and will be working with the theater department at the University of Northern Iowa in 2021.; David Kang: Kang has over 20 years of experience as a media director, producer, and creative consultant. Currently, he is the executive director of The DIAL Group?a nonprofit organization with the mission of leveraging the talents of artists for social good and to improve the lives of underserved and underrepresented people. He is a member of the Northside Arts Leadership Group, Asian Economic Development Association, as well as several other professional groups. He graduated summa cum laude from Metropolitan State University, with a BA in media and communications.; Kathleen Maurer: Maurer is a professor of English for Anoka-Ramsey Community College; she also spent nine years teaching at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She earned a PhD in English from Marquette University and has served on the boards of two Minnesota's regional arts councils for a total of eight years. She is author of A Guide to Professional Writing in the Arts, and during her 30-year career has served as an Operating Support panelist, an Artist Initiative panelist, and an artistic evaluator for the Arts Board. She is also a master dyer and fiber artist.; Aryca Myers: Myers has been involved in the arts and nonprofit world throughout her entire career. From stage managing to serving on the board of a theater company, her work in various capacities provides a holistic view of how organizational leadership and vision shape the magic that happens onstage, in the gallery, or in community. Currently a neighborhood support specialist for the City of Minneapolis, Myers received her MA in international and intercultural management from the School for International Training.; Sean Ryan: Ryan is the development manager at Prepare + Prosper (P+P), an economic justice focused nonprofit in Saint Paul, where he coordinates P+P?s foundation, corporate, and government grant related activities. He recently returned to the Twin Cities after four years in Boston working as an admission officer and project coordinator for EXPLO, an internationally renowned education nonprofit that emphasizes creativity and design thinking. A (formerly) frequent concertgoer, he was previously a development assistant at the Cedar Cultural Center. He graduated from Macalester College with a BA in English.; Sierra Scheet: Scheet is currently the financial and accounting systems manager at the Science Museum of Minnesota. She studied history and film at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and earned her BA in history in 2007. She continued her education and earned another BA in accounting from the College of St. Scholastica in 2011. Scheet has spent most of her career in nonprofit accounting working at the Science Museum of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians. She has volunteered and serviced on the board of MNFashion.; Chris Schellinger: Schellinger is the founder and executive director of Avon Hills Folk School, a nonprofit in its third year, located in central Stearns County. Avon Hills Folk School is dedicated to creating and growing community by providing the opportunity for people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds to gather together to learn and create within the natural beauty of the Avon Hills. Schellinger is also currently the director of advancement for a local private school system. He has lived in the area his entire life, graduating from St. John's University in 1992.; Aamera Siddiqui: Siddiqui was going to be a doctor, but plans changed, and she settled into a life as a multidisciplinary artist in Saint Paul. Her plays include, Freedom Daze, CLOTH, American as Curry Pie, CHUP, Log Kya Kahenge, and Please Don?t Feed the Children. Her work has been produced at Southern Theater, History Theatre, Illusion Theater, Intermedia Arts, Dreamland Arts, and Pillsbury House Theatre. Siddiqui has received a Naked Stages Fellowship and two Many Voices Fellowships. She was a featured playwright at the Asian American Theater Conference in Minneapolis and at the Women Playwrights International Conference in Mumbai, India. Siddiqui is also the coartistic director of Exposed Brick Theatre, an organization dedicated to telling untold stories through theater and performance art. She also teaches yoga and has been known to bake the occasional wedding cake.; Sachidanandhan Venkatakrishnan, Venkatakrishnan is a senior project and program manager, managing information technology projects at Cognizant Technology Solutions. He has a bachelor?s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras in India. He serves on the executive board of Minnesota Tamil Sangam (MNTS), a nonprofit devoted to promoting Tamil culture in the state of Minnesota and played a key role in the accreditation of the organization?s language school. Venkatakrishnan has written poems and articles about nature, culture, tradition, and society for the magazine Panippookkal. He writes and directs stage programs and directed two of MNTS?s Fringe Festival productions. He was the program committee chair for the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America thirtieth annual Tamil language convention, held in 2017, in Minneapolis.