Operating Support

Catherine Belleveau: Belleveau is a theater director and has directed theatrical productions for the following: The Paul Bunyan Playhouse, the Long Lake Theater, Bemidji Minnesota High School, various regional schools, and the Mask and Rose Theater for whom she serves as artistic director and co-founded with Patty Lester. Her husband, Al, together are building a multi-use arts space and founded an artist residency space in rural Puposky, MN called Belle Thalia which will house artists in yurts/cabins) and offer retreat for artists as well as classes for those who would like to refine skills or learn in a rural setting. She has enjoyed training in ensemble style theater when she studied a summer in California with Delle Arte' International through a recently awarded McKnight Fellowship, with Robert Rosen of the former Tony award winning Theater de La Jeune Lune in Minneapolis as well as with Julian Boal of Theater of the Oppressed in Austin, TX.; Charise Canales: Canales is the manager of placemaking and activation at Lake Street Council. She is responsible for developing our new placemaking program, which seeks to strengthen the connection between Lake Street businesses, community members, and the places they share. She uses her background in community development and public art to work collaboratively with our creative sector to harness and support the vitality of Lake Street. She graduated with a MA in community development and planning from Clark University and has spent her career in local government and nonprofit roles.; Judith Gay: Gay earned a certificate in nonprofit governance from the University of St. Thomas in 2002. She served on several nonprofit boards and is presently serving as secretary for the Annandale Improvement Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gay was the director of a youth broadcast camp pilot using the resources of KVSC Radio at St Cloud State University, with boys and girls of the St. Cloud Southside Boys and Girls Club. Gay won a Women in the Director's Chair award from the Guthrie Theater in 1998 for the American Sojourn women's history radio program. She wrote, was the voice talent, produced, and distributed that program to fourteen stations, including one in Japan, where the instructor used it to teach English. Gay earned a master's degree in business administrative management from the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, attending night school while working full-time at Anna Marie's Alliance, a nonprofit in Saint Cloud. ; Daniel Kaplan-Goland: Kaplan-Goland is the program manager for career pathways at East Side Neighborhood Services and president at Twin Cities Maker, a volunteer-run makerspace in Minneapolis. They have previously served as finance and operations coordinator at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and as a freelance grant writer. When not at a nonprofit, they pursue a variety of crafts including woodworking and sewing. They graduated from Grinnell College with a BA in physics, where they also founded a makerspace as part of a partnership with the Grinnell Area Arts Council.; Margaret Kelly: Kelly was born and raised in International Falls, MN. She returned to the community in 2021 after living in MI, WI, Minneapolis, and KS from more than forty-seven years. Kelly is a retired Social Worker and not-for-profit executive. She worked in healthcare, state government and with the Kansas Head Start Association over her career. She is a vocalist, plays the violin and guitar. Kelly curates and hosts the Open Range Concerts - up north concert series in International Falls. The series brings professional acoustic performers to the community for intimate, listening room style concerts.; Jacqueline Markevitch Paulsen: Paulsen lives and works in the Winona area as an educator and movement artist. She is the managing director of the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts and mission integration specialist for Cotter Schools. Her credentials include a BS in elementary education, a BA in theater with an emphasis in dance, a MS in educational leadership, and Montessori certification. Paulsen has been working in arts and education since 1993. Her recent volunteer work includes serving as a board member on the Winona Community Education Advisory Council, the Winona Historical Society education panel, and for Families First of Minnesota.; Sarah Stephens: Stephens is president and co-founder of Stephens Nicolson Artists Management (SNAM), an international management agency in New York City representing opera singers, stage directors, composers, and conductors. Stephens began her first agency in Bremen, Germany, and moved to New York in 2008. She acquired licenses as a recognized artist manager in Germany and the European Union. She has taught seminars at Middlebury College German for Singers, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, the Juilliard School, and Hunter College. Stephens serves on the board of three nonprofits: Opera Managers Association International (Germany), Freiburg University Alumni (New York), and the Greater Lake Sylvia Association (Minnesota). Her studies were at the University of Vermont, Universitat Freiburg (Germany) for her BA, and at the University of Minnesota for her MA in German literature. Stephens is a native Minnesotan who grew up in south Minneapolis.; Sachidanandhan Venkatakrishnan: Venkatakrishnan has been a strong community leader representing Tamil community for more than a Decade. He has played various executive roles at Tamil Association of Minnesota (MN Tamil Sangam AKA MNTS). This includes being the president of MNTS from Feb 2022 to Jan 2024. He has been instrumental on nurturing and reviving various Tamil Folk and traditional arts here in twin cities. Since 2012, he has scripted and staged a few indigenous folk/folklore Tamil art forms like Villupattu and Therukkoothu. Staging 3 productions at MN Fringe is another testimony for his passion towards theaters. Has been working with arts board since 2015, as an applicant and reviewer-operating support grants. He has created a sustainable arts roadmap for MNTS and continuing to promote the arts and Tamil Cultural Heritage. Other end of the spectrum, he is a program manager working for Cargill and he manages and governs their global manufacturing execution system deployments.; Michelle Wolfe: Wolfe is currently the city manager for Blaine, MN. She has served in city management positions in multiple cities in three states since the late 1980's. Wolfe is a former member of the Aurora Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees, and is an amateur musician (piano, bass guitar, guitar). She has been a regular attendee of concerts, performances, and art exhibits for the past 3 decades, and a season ticket holder at the Goodman and Steppenwolf theaters in Chicogo, Ordway and Hennepin Theatre district, and Aurora Fox theater. She has also been a member of the Chicago Art Institute, Minneaplis Institute of Art, and Denver Art Museum.