professional history
selected
2018 - Present
Executive Director, Sustainable Seattle
Community-based organization est. 1991 specializing in participatory research and applied sustainability practice.
Achievements (to date): Diversified staff and board by 450% and oversaw protocols and bylaws updates to ensure long-term equity, diversity, and inclusion. Implemented accelerator program providing technical and fundraising support to twenty-five sustainability initiatives, over 80% representing Frontline communities. Oversaw rebrand. Implemented dozens of operational standards and protocols. Diversified revenues, streamlined expenses, and increased new donor giving by 200%. Implemented membership program and community market.
2017 - 2018
UX Experience Designer, Displacements
Core organizer for the Society for Visual Anthropology and the American Anthropology Association’s biennial convening, taking place remotely for the first time.
Responsibilities: multi-modal participatory engagement across multiple languages, world-wide. Created technology solutions, conducted surveys, provided instruction.
2011 - 2016
Co-Founder and Executive Director, St Lou Fringe
Performing arts incubator dedicated to building the capacity of the regional performance ecosystem. Produced major regional theatre festival, professional development, cross-sector collaboration, and publication of a multi-media magazine.
Achievements: Increased participation of underrepresented artists by over 300% in one year; ASL for 100% of programming; consistent attendance growth rate 100% per year; budgetary growth 700% over five years. Awards: “Best Theatre Festival,” “Best Theatre Surprise” (Riverfront Times) “Best Theatre Festival” (GO! Magazine) “Unique Contribution to Theatre” (St Louis Theatre Circle) intriguing Fringe Festival in the US (CNN) “Essential Summer Festivals” (New York Times). Member: World Fringe, USAFF, sister festival: Rome, Italy.
2015 - 2016
Manager of Theatre Operations, True/False Film Festival
Manage operations for nine screening theatres at internationally top-ranked documentary film/music/art festival, attendance: 35,000.
Responsibilities: logistical planning, worst-case scenarios, attendee traffic flow solutions, stage flow and rapid turnover with live bands/guest speakers/film screenings/theatrical events/art installations. Hired, trained and managed 50 staff from across the U.S. and 300 volunteers.
Achievements: Introduced ASL and specialized audience services for Deaf patrons, revised operational systems and training for staff and volunteers.
2012 - 2013
Community Engagement Manager, Metro Theater Company
Strategize patron and stakeholder engagement. Managed communications strategy, digital media and PR, donor and stakeholder cultivation.
Achievements: Established over fifty new community partners, ranging from former members of the Negro League to area transgender leadership; key role in organizational rebrand.
2008-2012
Case Manager, St Patrick Center
Community Resource Counselor, Intensive Case Management Program. Mentor Coordinator (promotion), Employment Specialist, Project REACH.
Network community orgs and leaders to serve adults transitioning from incarceration, homelessness and recovery; manage caseload of 100-200 clients.
Achievements: Lead case manager for nationally acclaimed project with Pulitzer Foundation, Prison Performing Arts. Designed six new programs, doubled volunteer participation, initiated 30 community partnerships. Increased employer contact database by 100% within one year. Developed model supplementing traditional case management with non-linear, praxis-based treatment approaches.
performance
curatorial interests
Emergent, transdisciplinarity + xgenre, performative media, accessibility, multilingual, Deaf/ASL, site-specific, environmental, immersive, placemaking, direct address + idea stimulators.
performance interests
Immersive audio nonfiction; participatory; neoliberalism and contemporary socioeconomics; ecology; affective materials and the politics of things and routines; gender; feminist and queer performance.
theatres
St Louis: Upstream Theater (AEA), New Jewish Theatre (AEA), Sudden View Productions (AEA), Blue Rose Stage Collective, The Midnight Company, SATE, OnSite Theater, CityLine, Hydeware, Gateway Opera, Forever an Astronaut, The Theatre Lab, Glass Monsters, POW! Project, Metro Theater Company. Columbia: Greenhouse Theatre Project. Hannibal: Bluff City Theatre (AEA). Toronto: Seven Siblings Theatre, Commonplace Theatre Company.
venues + galleries
New York: The Between (NYU). Seattle: Kin of the Moon, BASE Arts. Montreal: Infringement. Toronto: Younger Than Beyoncé Gallery, The Theatre Centre, York University. St Louis: Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Artica, Firecracker Press, Rue Lafayette.
awards
Talkin’ Broadway for Acting 2015, Judy Award for Acting 2015 + 2014, Theatre Lab for Directing 2014, Lotties for Acting 2014, Kevin Klines for Producing 2014, Riverfront Times Best of St Louis for Producing 2012, St Louis Kickass Award 2012, Visionary Award 2008, Kevin Kline Award for Ensemble 2008.
training
Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, British American Drama Academy, Young Actor Institute.
Quote Unquote Collective (Toronto), Carpetbag Brigade (San Francisco), Bumbershoot Aerial Arts (St Louis), Viewpoints/Suzuki (St Louis)
degree qualifications
York University
2016-2017
M.A., Performance Studies.
Research Specialties: Place and Performance, public space, ecology and performance, technology and virtual landscapes, hemispheric memory, politics and performance, sustainable practice in business theory and leadership.
Activities and Societies: CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees/Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique) 3903 Theatre + Performance Studies Graduate Student Assocation.
Saint Louis University
2004-2007
B.A., Sociology and International Studies
Research Interests: Primatology, Corporate & White Collar Crime, Gender Performance.
Activities and Societies: Honor Societies: Alpha Sigma Nu (Jesuit), Alpha Kappa Delta (Sociology), Alpha Phi Omega (Theatre). Vice President of Finance, Association for Sociology and Criminal Justice; Historian, Beyond All Reason A Capella Ensemble; UNA Saint Louis University Feminist Organization; Publications Director, KSLU Saint Louis University Radio; Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The AMP Magazine
additional credentials
affiliations
American Planning Association – Colorado Chapter
Canadian Union of Public Employees 3903
Actors Equity Association (EMC)
Theatre Communications Group
Metropolitan Volunteer Management Association
St. Louis Alliance for Re-Entry
Recognized Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor (RASAC II)
Certified Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS)
accolades
Cohort Member: Creative Climate Leadership Summit (Biosphere II) 2020
Delegate: Allied Media Conference (Detroit/Remote) 2020
Delegate: Conference on Creative Placemaking (Los Angeles, Phoenix) 2019
Working Group: Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics (Mexico City) 2019
Presenter: Geek Girl Con (Seattle) 2018
Presenter: Political Ecology Research Center (New Zealand) 2018
Presenter: Stockholm Resilience (Stockholm) 2017
Presenter: Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics (Toronto) 2017
Presenter: Canadian Association for Theatre Research (Toronto) 2017
Presenter: International Urban Planning and Environment Association (Lisbon) 2016
Featured Speaker: “La Bohème –Artists on the Fringe” Opera Theatre St Louis 2016
Presenter: “Business Unusual: Disruptive Innovation in Practice” SPARK Conference 2015
Featured: Top 20 Artists in St Louis Catching Our Eye, ALIVE Magazine 2015
Delegate: World Fringe Congress (Edinburgh) 2012 + 2014
Delegate: International Urban Planning and Environment Association (Buenos Aires) 2014
Featured: Innovation and the Arts, Nine Network of Public Media 2014
Featured: Top five impresarios putting St Louis on the map, ALIVE Magazine 2013
Panelist: American Theatre Critics Association Conference (Indianapolis) 2013
Panelist: A Community Arts & Development Convening (St Louis) 2010 + 2012
Delegate: Lutheran World Relief (Tanzania) 2006
publications
Canadian Theatre Review:
“Silenciosas Figuras: Mobile Heterotopia in Counter-Colonial Pop-Up Public Performance” (2018)
HowlRound Journal of the Theatre Commons:
“Looking Backward to Move Forward with Paleo Theatre” (2017)
“Cross the Edge: A Guide to Successfully Breaking Genres” (2015)
“Life After #Ferguson: Continue the Conversation” (with Tara Daniels, 2015)
“PRIMED FOR FRINGE” (2012)