Creative Individuals-Round 2

Richard Andrews: Andrews is currently the executive director of the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota, a founding member of PrimeLife Arts Learning, and for eighteen years, was the chief learning officer at the Minnesota Opera. Other nonprofit experiences include Lakeshore Players Theatre and the University of St. Thomas. After earning a bachelor?s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Andrews started his career teaching music in Forest Lake and in Lester Prairie. Later he earned a master?s degree from St. Mary?s University of Minnesota and served on the board of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts.; Elizabeth Bell: Bell is currently the assistant director at the Wirth Center for the Performing Arts. Her role in the organization focuses primarily on development and marketing. She also is the director of the School of Rock program. Bell was previously part of the teaching faculty at the Wirth Center as a piano instructor. She graduated from Luther College with a bachelor?s degree in music education.; Gillian Constable: Constable is the development associate and accessibility coordinator for Theater Latte Da in northeast Minneapolis. She is also a freelance dialect coach and actor, passionate about all facets of theater making. Constable has worked in theater administration for the last six years, since graduating from Luther College with a BA in theater.; Karen McDonald: Born in Chicago, McDonald?s family relocated to Washington, DC just as she began high school as the first art major. She graduated college as a photography major at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She discovered yoga in New York City, and became a teacher/director of a Paris studio. She's traveled the world as a trainer in education and holistic health. A passion for writing led her to pursue a MFA. She greatly values unity, equity, diversity, and all people thriving. Her most recent work has been with the Peace Corps and other service agencies involving politically displaced persons.; Cortez Owens: Owens has been doing art all his life since the age of three years old. He wanted to be a cartoonist when he grew up but ended up studying a lot more than just drawing. His craft turned into painting, pottery, graphic design, music, theater, and film. Cortez believes that expressing yourself with art is important. Growing up, he has seen many schools, due to budget cuts, pick art programs as the first thing to go. The high school, the after-school programs, and the colleges he attended shut down due to lack of funding. He now is the founder of Mighty Empowered Arts where he wants to help bring back the creativity, the dream, and the spark in someone?s life. Creating is a passion.; Kathryn Peckham: Lenz has been a self-employed visual artist in Duluth for nine years. She makes two-dimensional paintings and three-dimensional sculptures. She previously raised three children with her husband while she was also a mathematics professor, primarily at the University of Minnesota Duluth. As a mathematical scientist, she received grants, advised students on master?s degree projects, and refereed and published research papers. She has a bachelor?s degree from St. Olaf College, a master?s degree in applied mathematics from the University of Illinois, and a PhD in dynamical systems and control theory from the University of Minnesota.; Sarah Weinman: Weinman is a public interest attorney who has spent her professional career working in government and nonprofit sectors as a public defender and immigrant rights advocate. She is currently a managing attorney at Immigrant Legal Defense, a nonprofit based in California (Sarah resides in and works fully remotely from Saint Paul). After graduating from UC-Berkeley School of Law in 2009, Weinman applied for and received several competitive fellowships to support her public interest legal work. Prior to law school, Weinman spent six years working as a grant writer for an international humanitarian aid organization and an immigrant rights organization. Weinman has been a lifelong lover of the arts and pursued fine arts education in high school, college, and as an adult. She is a hobbyist figurative oil painter. She is a current recipient of an arts project support grant through the Rimon fund of the Jewish Federations of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.