Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2
Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2
The Lyric Center for the Arts will, for the first time, employ a part-time paid director who will advance the goals and mission of the organization and maintain engagement through a gallery, theater programs, classes, outreach, and youth activities.
Peggy Burnet: entrepreneur, art collector, and community volunteer; Uri Camarena: director of business consulting with Metroplitan Economic Development Association (MEDA); Michael Charron: arts educator and an arts and civic leader; Richard Cohen: attorney in private practice and a former state legislator; Sean Dowse: arts advocate, arts practitioner, and civic leader; Emily Galusha, arts and civic leader, former arts administrator; Anthony Gardner: vice president, marketing and communications at CentraCare; Philip McKenzie: team lead with Boutique Air, founder and owner of Bluedoor 74, adjunct college faculty; Mary McReynolds-Pellinen: executive director, Lyric Center for the Arts; Dobson West: retired attorney; Christina Widdess: nonprofit consultant; former managing director, Penumbra Theatre
Marit Anderson: Anderson has a BA in art history from the University of Minnesota, an MA in art history, and a certificate in museum studies from the University of Saint Thomas. She currently works full-time in funeral transport and accounting for Dunn Livery in Minneapolis. She has worked in arts and arts administration, having interned in arts programming at Franconia Sculpture Park (FSP), worked as an art instructor at Adventures in Cardboard, and interning as the collections assistant at Hennepin History Museum (HHM). She volunteered at both FSP and HHM after her internships ended.; Connie Lanphear: Lanphear is a communications and graphic design consultant for nonprofit environmental organizations in the Twin Cities area, She has volunteered with the Arts Board since 2018 as a grant program panelist. She holds a BA in journalism from the University of Minnesota and an MA in liberal studies with an arts and literature concentration from Hamline University.; Brighton McCormick: McCormick is a sculptor and installation artist living and working in south Minneapolis. Her interdisciplinary practice focuses on sculpture, gallery installation, and public art primarily utilizing metal casting, fabrication, and reinterpreted found objects. McCormick has a BFA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA from the University of Washington. From 2015-2017, she worked as the program director of Caponi Art Park. Her recent exhibitions and residencies include working with the Sloss Metal Arts Museum, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, the Henry Art Gallery, and the Burke Natural History Museum. McCormick is a regular volunteer at the Chicago Fire Arts Center and works as a sculptor/ fabricator throughout the Twin Cities.; Richard Robbins: Robbins earned an MFA from the University of Montana and has since published six books, most recently Body Turn to Rain: New & Selected Poems. He has received awards from The Loft, The McKnight Foundation, the Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Society of America; and received residencies from the Anderson Center, Willapa Bay AiR, and Hawthorden Castle International Retreat for Writers. From 1986-2014, Robbins directed the Good Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he taught until his retirement in 2021. He has served on panels for the Prairie Lakes Regional Art Council, the Arts Board, and the Jerome Foundation.; Ronald Salazar: Salazar was the executive director of Studio Academy, an arts charter high school in Rochester; principal of Folwell School for the Performing Arts, a preK-9th grade school in Minneapolis; and presently is the principal of an art magnet preK-5th grade at Osseo Public Schools. He has experience with budgets, planning, staffing, evaluating, and has been a reader for candidates to the Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship. He is involved at the local, district, and state central committee level of a state wide organization.; Michelle Walka: Walka is a visual artist and the director of Beloved Art and Practice where they lead workshops based on creative process and contemplative practices. Having facilitated many large communal art projects, Walka finds joy in creative practices with community. They find these spaces beautifully acknowledge of our collective humanity and are a powerful act of narrative sharing, healing, and restoration. Walka has previously worked and volunteered in several religious organizations, outdoor camping programs, and as artist in residence with the Minnesota Institute of Contemplation and Healing. They have a MA from Luther Seminary and a BSW from University of South Florida.
ACHF Arts Access
The organization will continue to employ its first paid executive director, who will lead the organization into a new era of long-term viability Through increased partnerships, sponsorships, and ticket sales the organization will grow in program and board participation, fundraising activity, membership and sales and advance the restoration of its historic home.
We continued to employ our first paid executive director, Investing in long-term viability of our organization and mission. A few methods were used in evaluating the progress this grant allowed for: including registration numbers, surveys, increased ticket sales, sponsorships. Enhanced relationships with other area non-profits, schools and government entities.