Creative Support for Individuals-Round 2

Amber Burns: Burns is the artistic director for the Duluth Playhouse Family Theatre and education programming. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 2011 with a bachelor of fine arts in arts education and taught visual art for six years for fourth through eighth grade students. In 2018, she received a master's degree in liberal studies with an emphasis in arts development and program management from the University of Denver. She has served on the board for the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council for four years reviewing grant applications. Along with being a visual artist, Burns is a choreographer, director, actor, educator, and dancer.; Mee Chomet: Sun Mee Chomet is a Twin Cities based actor, director, dancer, and playwright. Chomet has worked at theaters locally and nationally including Lincoln Center's LCT3, Hartford Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things Theater, and many more. She is a recipient of the 2019 McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship, TCG Fox Fellowship, and an Arts Board Artist Initiative grant. Chomet received her MFA in acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and BA in sociology and anthropology from Earlham College.; Emily Derke: Derke is a northern Minnesota basketry artist who works with willow, birch bark, and other local materials. She shares her art through teaching workshops throughout Minnesota and has received a number of grants from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, including the Fellowship grant in 2017 and the Community Arts Learning grant in 2019. Derke has spent time learning from basketmakers around the country and participated in North House Folk School's(Grand Marais) internship program in 2014.; Cecily Harris: Cecily Harris, MBA, has proven fund and program development abilities, developed from forty years of community service and employment with nonprofit organizations and municipalities as marketing coordinator of the Nonprofit Development Center, managing director of Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society, landscape architecture specialist for the City of San Mateo's Park Planning and Development Division, and financial services manager/senior management analyst at the County of San Mateo Parks Department. She served on numerous nonprofit boards of directors, city and state appointed committees, and two elected positions.; Heidi Holtan: Heidi Holtan is news and public affairs director at KAXE/KBXE in Grand Rapids and Bemidji. Minnesota arts programming is integral to the local Morning Edition from NPR that Heidi produces every weekday morning. She also produces a monthly program and podcast pairing a liberal with a conservative called Dig Deep, and hosts focus groups across the region for the Strong Women project. Holtan's educational and professional background includes women's studies and media studies at the University of Minnesota, research assistant at the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, and many writing courses at The Loft.; Sharika Kurumathur: Kurumathur has a master's degree in English from India and a graduate certificate in instructional design from the University of Wisconsin. She began her dance journey by learning Bharatanatyam for thirteen years in South India and is currently learning Kathak at Katha Dance Theatre. Kurumathur has been a volunteer with Art of Living Foundation and has taught several stress relief workshops for youth and adults. She works as a technical training specialist for Allina Health.; Miriam-Rachel Oxenhandler Newman: Miriam-Rachel Oxenhandler Newman (formerly Margie Newman) writes primarily creative nonfiction. She is a freelance writer and has served as the editor of City South Magazine, Plymouth Magazine, and White Bear Lake Magazine. She is particularly interested in the topic of historical trauma and how it impacts communities. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. Her work has appeared in the Pioneer Press, Forward, Tablet, Currents, Dislocate, along with other publications, and has been recognized with grants from Rimon, the Jerome Foundation/SASE, and the Arts Board.; Rebecca Petersen: Petersen is the director of development for West Central Initiative. She was previously the executive director of A Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls, and partnered with Artspace Projects to renovate the Kaddatz Hotel. She also was executive director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra for seven consecutive seasons. Petersen performs with Fargo Moorhead Symphony, Fargo Moorhead Opera, NDSU Baroque, Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Itasca Symphony Orchestra, and Fergus Falls Civic Orchestra. Petersen has a BA in music from the University of Vermont. She currently serves on the board of Pioneer Public Television and Kaddatz Galleries.; Mary Reichert: Reichert is a professional felt maker who runs her own small business and is a dedicated teacher of the craft. Her felt making studies have brought her to Central Asia a handful of times to live with a family who are working hard to see that his craft continues to hold meaning and value to the people of Central Asia today and into the future. She brings this same dedication to her work and teaching in Minnesota. She received a 2019 Artist Initiative Grant to do three community felt rug making projects in three Minnesota communities. It was some of the most satisfying work of her career.; Scott Reynolds, Scotty Reynolds is a stage director, producer, and performer with a passion for theatrical events and social connectivity. His theater company, Mixed Precipitation, has been producing work since 2008, including eleven seasons of the Picnic Operetta, touring to community gardens, orchards, and farms throughout Minnesota. Since 2015, he has performed with TigerLion Arts in Nature: A Walking Play. For 15 years he was a staff artist at the Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts creating original theater work with adults with disabilities. He is a 2017 recipient of the Arts Board Artist Initiative grant.