October 28th: Art Facility and Community Economic Development Symposium

Participating Organizations and Agencies

Presenters/Speakers

A native Chicagoan, Juana Guzman, an arts activist for over thirty years, has been serving as the Vice-President for the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) since 1999. With a budget of approximately $5.6 million, the Museum is the largest Latino arts institution in the nation. Prior to her position with the NMMA Ms. Guzman was the Director of Community Cultural Development for the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) where she served for twenty years. At DCA, she was responsible for a multi-cultural effort that created awareness and enhanced economic opportunities for Chicago's diverse communities through the creation of the Chicago Coalition of Community Cultural Centers, a partnership of sixty non-profit arts organizations. Ms. Guzman also served on the City's team researching artist-live work zoning laws in U.S. This includes successfully securing $8.1 million dollars from the Empowerment Zone fund for the support of non-profit arts organizations in Chicago. Funds were used for capital improvements and the creation of new cultural facilities. She is the founder and creator of the award winning Chicago Neighborhood Tours. A program considered to me a national model.

In addition, Ms. Guzman served as a team technical advisor and consultant for the Ford Foundation‘s Building Access and Community Capacity Initiative under the leadership of Partners for Livable Communities, between 2004 to 2008. In 2009 to present, Ms. Guzman was hired as consultant by Leveraging Investments in Creativity, a nonprofit organization located in New York City dedicated to artists and artists run organizations for the "Open Spaces" project funded by MET LIFE and Ford Foundation.

In 2009, Ms. Guzman started her own company, "I Juana Know:" which focuses on economic initiatives and organizational development for the arts and she has also developed cultural facility plans for museums, cultural facilities and theater companies. Ms. Guzman's expertise includes fundraising, organizational and capacity building, business planning, earned income and online ventures, community tourism, retailing, product development, cultural facility development, artist's live-work space, and marketing. Ms. Guzman has gained national attention for her skills in developing innovative entrepreneurships, along with her deep understanding and support of community-based arts organizations. She has created a viable market for community cultural tourism and retailing, involving a unique partnership with local arts organizations, community business leaders, artisans, and city government fundraising, organizational development and on-line retail/marketing development, earned income ventures, community tourism, retailing, business and cultural facility development, artist's live-work space and marketing. She is a ceramic artist, a free-lance consultant and curator, the co-founder and former Chair of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the co-founder and former chairperson of the Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Festival, which was also co-founded and hosted by the National Museum of Mexican Arts in Chicago 1995 which continues with satellites in seven cities.

Ms. Guzman currently serves on the following Boards: The Association of Midwest Museums, President of the Board for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago Tourism Fund for the City of Chicago, Advisory Member for Nuestro Raices Fund for the Chicago Community Trust and 3Arts Artists Awards Program for the City of Chicago.

Roy Priest

Roy Priest has had a distinguished 40 year career in the private business, government and the non-profit sectors included executive positions in community economic development and finance at both the local, state and federal level. His exemplary leadership and accomplishments reflects his steadfast commitment to serving the social and economic needs of our nation's families and communities.

Mr. Priest is currently the Executive Director/CEO of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority in Alexandria, VA. He is directly responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Agency. This includes planning and directing the operation of the Authority's low-income, and Section 8 Programs. He also provides consultancy to the Ford Foundation on a number of innovative projects that are impacting communities in the midst of significant demographic and socio-economic changes.

Prior to his current engagements, Roy Priest served a seven-year tenure as the President and CEO of the National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED). As Chief Executive to the nation's trade association representing more than 4,300 community development corporations (CDCs) nationwide.

Roy completed a seventeen year tenure with the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the Director of the Office of Economic Development, Director of the UDAG Program and CDP Director in the Buffalo Field Office. During his tenure with HUD, he administered programs UDAG, EZ, Youthbuild and etc that provided more then $5.8B of funding to cities, states and non-profit organizations and for-profit developers.

Roy began his career in Washington in 1967. He worked for the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) as the Project Director for a large urban renewal project responsible for the development of 1,800 units of new and rehabilitated housing, 25,000 square feet of retail space and 40,000 of community service space.

All of these positions over the last forty years have given Roy a keen insight and experience dealing with the redevelopment of some of our most difficult urban places and have given him a perspective of how to shape the urban policy landscape as we move the housing and community discussion forward for 40 more years.

A native Washingtonian, he attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. He is also the recipient of a Masters of Public Administration from The American University and a Masters of City & Regional Planning from the Catholic University of America.

Roy Priest serves as the Board Chairman of Youthbuild USA as well being on a myriad of National Advisory Boards that include the following: Commercial Lending, LLC; Intrust, LLC; ILSR; Southern New Hampshire University; and HDR Advisory Board.

Ginny LouLoudes

Virginia (Ginny) Louloudes has served as A.R.T./New York's Executive Director since 1991. Since her arrival at A.R.T./New York, the organization's budget and membership have grown considerably. Ginny conceived and developed many of A.R.T./New York's signature programs, including the Nancy Quinn Fund, the Bridge Loan Fund, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Theatre Leadership Institute and their most recent project, Theatres Leading Change. In early 2009 the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust commissioned her to study and write a White Paper on the impact the Fiscal Crisis of 2008 had on A.R.T./New York's member theaters.

Erika Feldman

Erika Feldman has been a part of New York's Theatre community for over 17 years, working in both the commercial theatre as well as the non-profit world. Erika was general manger of the award winning off-Broadway theatre company Theatre for a New Audience for six years. Since 2004 Erika Feldman has been the general manger of Theatre Row, an off-Broadway theatre complex on 42nd Street. With six theatres, rehearsal space and office suites, Theatre Row is home to several non-profit theatre companies including Keen Company, The New Group and The Actors Company Theatre (TACT).

Ernie Vasquez

Far from begrudging the political process attendant to urban revitalization, Vasquez embraces interaction with tenant groups, voters and homeowners, housing and transportation authorities, redevelopment agencies and school districts, to bring the goals of the community to fruition and improve the final product. Vasquez deeply honors the principles of smart growth, promoting the use of public transit, sidewalk communities and mixed-use developments. He creates environments that are socially and environmentally responsible, as well as economically viable - and his enthusiasm is usually the best ambassador from developers to community.

Since joining with firm founder Carl McLarand in 1976, Vasquez has led design teams on more than 900 projects, many of which have won national or regional design and planning awards. Vasquez and MVE & Partners have been active internationally as well, with projects in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, Australia, United Arab Emirates, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Korea.

Phil Tagami (See also Fox Oakland Theater Restoration Project)

Phil Tagami is the Managing Partner of California Capital and Investment Group, a commercial brokerage, political consulting, and development firm located in downtown Oakland. Mr. Tagami has worked tirelessly on the restoration of Oakland over the past 20 years. His work includes the Rotunda Building, Rotunda Garage, Fox Theater, Oakland School for the Arts, and currently the Oakland Army Base. Today, the school is one of the highest-performing in the region and a model for the marrying of mixed-use development, historic rehabilitation, and innovative charter school funding. Mr. Tagami currently resides in Oakland with his wife and two children.

Cathryn Vandenbrink

Cathryn Vandenbrink is a nationally acclaimed artist whose focus is metals such as copper and steel. For the past decade Cathryn has been an urban planner and neighborhood advocate. Alarmed by the displacement of artists in her neighborhood in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square, Cathryn sought the assistance of Artspace to create permanent affordable artist live/work housing for Seattle's creative community. The Tashiro Kaplan project in Pioneer Square and Artspace Hiawatha Lofts in the Central District are the result of her dedication and experience. Cathryn is currently Regional Director with Artspace Projects Inc. in Seattle.

Joe Chan

Joe Chan was appointed the inaugural President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in September 2006. Joe works closely with City agencies, local elected officials, developers, the business community and cultural organizations to spur new investment towards continuing Downtown Brooklyn's growth as the City's third largest central business district and an emerging 24-hour community. As President of the Partnership, Joe oversees the revitalization of Downtown Brooklyn's core including the development of new office and retail space, mixed-income housing, cultural facilities and public open space and streetscape improvements.

Before joining the Partnership, Joe served as Senior Policy Advisor to New York City Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff. In this capacity Joe was the Deputy Mayor's liaison for Brooklyn and long-term strategic land use and infrastructure planning issues. During the first term of the Bloomberg Administration, Joe also served as the Deputy Mayor's liaison to the Department of Small Business Services and NYC 2012, New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympics.

Prior to working at City Hall, Joe served as Director of Real Estate and Business Services for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and Director of Economic Development for the Local Development Corporation of East New York. He also taught public school in the South Bronx for three years as part of the Teach for America Program.

Currently, Joe chairs the Board of Directors for the student enrichment program,
Horizons at Brooklyn Friends School, and serves on the Board of Horizons National. He was a recipient of Crain's New York Business' "40 Under 40" award in 2008, which selects individuals who have made a major impact in their respective industries before the age of 40. He also received the 2009 Distinguished Alumni award from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service.

Joe is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of New York University's Metropolitan Studies

Program and holds a Master's Degree in Urban Planning from NYU's Wagner School of Public Service. He lives in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn and has two daughters, Liv and Isela.

Deborah Frieden

Deborah Frieden is a cultural planning consultant assisting organizations and municipalities in planning for the creation of new museums, cultural centers, district initiatives or the re-envisioning of existing institutions. Her work is local as well as international and often goes beyond the walls of the institutions and explores the contextual issues of cultural organizations in their specific communities, who they serve, and how their development will enhance their community. Deborah's work in San rancisco includes the Mint Project, a National Historic Landmark museum onversion, SFJAZZ's development of a major performing arts venue, and the new de Young museum, among others.

Marsha Murrington

Marsha Murrington joined Bay Area LISC in April 2010. Prior to joining LISC, she was employed for 15 years by the Unity Council in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, California where she instituted a comprehensive approach to developing programs and community partnerships. Marsha's economic development accomplishments include developing a LISC sponsored urban neighborhood Main Street program that transitioned to a business improvement district; establishing social enterprise businesses to create jobs for low-income residents; developing micro-enterprise opportunities through a public market business incubator; building a workforce development program with a One Stop Career Center and an industry sector partnership with educators and employers; addressing quality of life issues through engaging residents in the development of parks, open space and youth recreation; fostering youth leadership through an award winning AmeriCorps program; addressing the education and social development of families through quality programs such as Head Start, Early Head Start, Family Literacy and Senior Services. Marsha has a wide range of business experience in marketing, corporate management, human resources, and small business ownership. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Carey Perloff

CAREY PERLOFF is celebrating her 19th season as artistic director of A.C.T., where she most recently directed The Tosca Project (cocreated with choreographer Val Caniparoli) and Racine's Phèdre.Known for directing innovative productions of classics and championing new writing for the theater, Perloff has also directed for A.C.T. José Rivera's Boleros for the Disenchanted; the world premieres of Philip Kan Gotanda'sAfter the War (A.C.T. commission) and her own adaptation (with Paul Walsh) of A Christmas Carol; the American premieres of Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Loveand Indian Ink and Harold Pinter's Celebration; A.C.T.-commissioned translations/adaptations of Hecuba, The Misanthrope, Enrico IV, Mary Stuart, Uncle Vanya, and A Mother; The Voysey Inheritance (adapted by David Mamet); the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian's Singer's Boy; and major revivals of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, The Government Inspector, Happy End (including a critically acclaimed cast album recording), A Doll's House, Waiting for Godot, The Three Sisters, The Threepenny Opera, Old Times, The Rose Tattoo, Antigone, Creditors,The Room, Home, The Tempest, and Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll,Travesties, The Real Thing, Night and Day, and Arcadia. Perloff's work for A.C.T. also includes Marie Ndiaye's Hilda, the world premieres of Marc Blitzstein's No for an Answer and David Lang/Mac Wellman's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, and the West Coast premiere of her own play The Colossus of Rhodes (Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist). Her play Luminescence Dating premiered in New York at The Ensemble Studio Theatre, was coproduced by A.C.T. and Magic Theatre, and is published by Dramatists Play Service. Her play Waiting for the Flood has received workshops at A.C.T., New York Stage & Film, and Roundabout Theatre Company; her latest play, Higher, was developed at New York Stage and Film and will be presented at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum in November. Her one-actThe Morning After was a finalist for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Perloff has collaborated as a director on new plays by many notable writers, including Gotanda, Nilo Cruz, and Robert O'Hara. She most recently directed a new Elektra for the Getty Villa in Los Angeles.

Before joining A.C.T., Perloff was artistic director of Classic Stage Company in New York, where she directed the world premiere of Ezra Pound's Elektra, the American premiere of Pinter's Mountain Language, and many classic works. Under Perloff's leadership, CSC won numerous OBIE Awards, including the 1988 OBIE for artistic excellence. In 1993, she directed the world premiere of Steve Reich and Beryl Korot's opera The Cave at the Vienna Festival and Brooklyn Academy of Music.

A recipient of France's Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the National Corporate Theatre Fund's 2007 Artistic Achievement Award, Perloff received a B.A. Phi Beta Kappa in classics and comparative literature from Stanford University and was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford. She was on the faculty of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University for seven years and teaches and directs in the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program. She is the proud mother of Lexie and Nicholas.

Ellen Richard

From 1983 to 2005, Ellen Richard enjoyed a rich and varied career with Roundabout Theatre Company. As Managing Director at Roundabout, Ellen was responsible for more than $50 million of theater construction for 11 projects. She conceptualized the three permanent Roundabout stages-Studio 54, the American Airlines Theatre, and the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre-and had final approval of the design and finishes. She is now leading the feasibility analysis of a new A.C.T. performing arts/education facility developed in collaboration with the Tenderloin Economic Development Project.

Brad Erickson

Brad Erickson serves as executive director of Theatre Bay Area, the nation's largest regional performing arts service organization, with 420 theatre and dance company members, and nearly 3,000 individual members. He leads the organization's efforts to support, promote and advocate for the region's vibrant theatre community. Erickson also serves as the president of the California Arts Advocates, the statewide advocacy organization for all the arts, and as the California State Captain for Americans for the Arts. Previously, Erickson served as executive director of the Northern California Supplier Development Council, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting and strengthening ethnic minority-owned businesses.

Amy Cohen

Joshua Simon

Joshua Simon joined NCCLF as Director of Consulting and Grants in May of 2006. He has worked over the past 20 years with several nonprofit community development corporations to develop and manage affordable housing and community facilities, including the past 12 years with East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) and prior work with Chinatown Community Development Corporation and the artist's live work and theater facility Project Artaud. His completed developments include half a dozen mixed-use complexes that combine affordable rental apartments with community and educational uses, including Swan's Marketplace in Oakland.

Joshua is in his second term as an elected member of Emeryville Unified School District's School Board, "where partners power student success." The District is working to combine its facilities with City Recreation Facilities, public safety and facilities for other community services to become a new "Center for Community Life" for local residents.

He received a master's degree in Real Estate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990 and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture degree in 1983 from the University of California at Berkeley.

John Clawson

With 20 years of experience as a developer, architect and real estate advisor, John offers a broad range of expertise in all phases of the development process. He has particularly strong skills in real estate finance, design and project management and has established working relationships with landowners, non-profit organizations, public agencies, lenders and investors on projects ranging from residential condominiums to complex mixed-use developments.

Many of John's recent and current projects - Oxford Plaza and David Brower Center, the Bay School of San Francisco, and 301 Bryant Street - integrate environmentally responsible design and complex financing structures that combine bank financing, investor equity and additional funding secured through historic, new market or low income housing tax credits.

From 1985-1991, John was a regional vice president with Halcyon Ltd, a national development advisory firm specializing in urban mixed use and redevelopment. He managed Halcyon's west coast offices and was responsible for the firm's expansion into Asia. He also directed the opening of Halcyon's new regional office in Los Angeles.

John earned a Masters Degree from the MIT Center for Real Estate Development in 1985 and a Bachelor of Architecture from Arizona State University in 1981.

He is vice chairman of the board of trustees and chair of the site committee of the Bay School of San Francisco.

Deborah Cullinan

Deborah is Executive Director of Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. She co-founded and co-directs Arts Forum SF, a local arts advocacy and networking organization. She serves on the Board of the California Arts Advocates and the Diabetic Youth Foundation. She has served on many committees, panels, and task forces including the San Francisco Arts Task Force, the Art in the California Governor's Race Steering Committee, and Arena Stage's Defining Diversity Task Force. She is recently a recipient of National Philanthropy Day Award and a 2010 Wallace Alexander Gerbode Fellowship.