Experienced Artist and Administrator offering expertise in education and program management.

Areas of Expertise

• Color shadow puppetry
• Program Development & Leadership
• Large puppet construction
• Curriculum Development
• Stilt-walking
• Marketing & Social Media
• Costume & surface design
• Grant writing & fundraising
• Creative Writing
• Fluent in Spanish

Highlights:

Artistic Director, Kalevala Puppet Pageant, NY Mills Cultural Center, MN (2011-present)
Write all scripts, lead puppet build, run rehearsals and teach stilting for annual performances.

Executive Director, ArtStart (July 2023-present)
Create an oversee the continuation and expansion of arts educational programs and ArtScraps store. Engage involvement in a variety of stakeholders, including the board of directors, staff, contract artists, volunteers, funders, participants in programs, schools, and partnering organiza-tions. Fundraise from a variety of sources, including grants, individual donations, and earned revenue.

Artist, Artstart (2007-2023)
Develop art curriculum and teach residencies and camps that embody Artstart’s mission of cul-tural and environmental literacy. Work with children and adults in person and in virtual formats.

Founder, Artistic Director, Magic Lantern Puppet Theatre (2000-present)
Created 11 original shows, including Nalah and the Pink Tiger, Ala Dean and the Marvelous Lamp, Children and Other Optical Illusions, and Three Tales, One World. Have led all phases of projects: conceptualization, grant writing, fundraising, budget creation, communicating with clients and collaborators, contracts, publicity, running events, evaluation, tracking income.

Leadership Team, Hijinks Stilts (formerly Chicks on Sticks, Stilt Troupe (1999-present)
Shape policies and envision artistic season. Write successful grants for organizational develop-ment. Design costumes, perform. Facilitate dialogue about impending name change based on the expanding understanding of gender. Coordinate gigs for clients like Cirque Du Soleil, MN State Fair, Ordway Children’s Festival, Edina Art Fair, Mia and Walker Art Museum.

Teatro del Pueblo de Minnesota, Production Coordinator, 2022-2023
Coordinate productions and events, from volunteer and artist management, to event planning. Create rehearsal schedules, identify and hire designers. Collaborate with team on grant writing, marketing and publicity, and strategic planning for theater.

Art Facilitator, Lifeworks, a non-profit for adults with disabilities (2017-2020)
Developed and taught tailored visual arts curriculum for clients with varying abilities, and creat-ed a popular gallery program for them to show and sell their work.

Associate Artist, Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater (2006-present)
May Day Parade Artist and Pageant Narrator, Main Stage and Sat Mat Performer, Educator.

Co-Artistic Director, Bagley Area Arts Collaborative Puppet Pageant (2022-2023)
Collaborate with Julie Boada to create shows based on Norwegian and Anishinaabe culture.

Galumph Interactive Theater, Artist, Producer, Educator (1996-2003).
Work with other two lead artists on strategic planning, fundraising, managing other staff and volunteers, developing curriculum, teaching. Responsible for publicity and marketing. Artistic collaborator for the creation of seven years of original works, including The Parsnip County Shindig, Séance, Success! Now It’s Your Turn! and Madame Freux-Freux’s Café of Love.

Other Experience

• Free-lance arts residencies: Bancroft, Metro Deaf, Four Seasons, Richard Green, Mississippi Creative Arts, International Spanish Language Academy. Have taught in at-risk communities, children and adults with disabilities, seniors, college, and ELL classrooms
• Created eight virtual Science and Art programs for Hennepin County Libraries (2020-2021).
• Director, short film for Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Advice from Chicks on Sticks (2020).
• Hennepin County Libraries, in-person art, STEAM and writing workshops (2006-2019).
• Silverwood Park Arts Education Programmer, Library Outreach Program (2015-2016).

Author and Illustrator

• The Pollinator’s Gift, (ML Press, 2024).
• Editor of A Nest in My Heart, (Memoir project of SE Seniors, 2024).
• Mars on Life, a picture book for grown-ups, teens and tweens. (ML Press, 2020).
• Nalah Goes to Mad Mouse City, (ML Press, 2014). Made touring puppet show of same.
• Nalah & the Pink Tiger (Scarletta Press, 2012). Created touring puppet show of same.
• Illustrator of May Lee Yang’s Imaginary Day (MN Humanities Press, 2012).

Education

University of Arizona, Tucson M.F.A. Courses in Creative Writing. GPA: 4.0. (1992-1993).

University of Wisconsin, Madison B.A. in Latin American Studies. Graduated with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa (1991).

Grants and Awards

• Creative Individuals Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board, 2023, for new children’s book The Pollinator’s Gift.
• Flexible Support, MRAC, 2023, in collaboration with SE Seniors, for Memoir Writing project
• Arts Impact Grant, MRAC, 2022, for Creative Writing Residencies
• Springboard for the Arts, Battling Social Isolation grant (2020).
• Thirteen MRAC Awards: Arts Learning, Community Arts, & Arts Activities grants for Magic Lantern (2000, 2002, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017).
• Tofte Lake Center Artist Residency (2013).
• MN State Arts Board Arts Tour Grant (2013).
• Next Step Grants for Artists from MRAC (2012 & 2016).
• Jim Henson Foundation Award (2011).
• Puppeteers of America Endowment Awards (2005 & 2011).
• VSA Arts of MN Artist Award, (2010 & 2013).
• New York Mills Artist Residency (2010).
• MN State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant (2005).
• Jerome Travel Study Grant, (1999): to perform at National Puppetry Festival.