Kerry Adams-Hapner, secretary
Kerry Adams-Hapner was recently named director of the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs where she will oversee a 19-member
staff working in four primary areas: public art, special events, arts grants and arts education. At her former post as the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Ventura, Kerry led Ventura’s cultural programming in the areas of cultural funding, arts education, cultural heritage, technical assistance, tourism, public art, community outreach and special events as well as special initiatives including the implementation of the 2005 Cultural Plan: Creating California's New Art City. Prior to joining the City of Ventura, Kerry held a variety of positions in the non-profit and commercial arts fields. Her background ranges from public relations at the J. Paul Getty Trust to fine art gallery administration to art appraisal services. Kerry graduated with honors from UCLA with a degree in Art History and a specialization in Business Administration. She has a certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts through UC Irvine Extension awarded in collaboration with the American Society of Appraisers.
Deborah Cullinan
Deborah M. Cullinan has been the executive director of Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco's oldest alternative arts space, since 1996. Under her direction, Intersection has achieved extraordinary success and a strong national reputation for its inclusive models for the support and development of new contemporary art and performance. She is also a co-founder of Arts Forum SF – an inclusive forum committed to bringing people together to share ideas and resources and creating sustainable and forward-thinking arts programming, partnerships and civic policies in the city of San Francisco. Previous to Intersection, Deborah served as Interim Executive Director and Development Director for Dolores Street Community Services in San Francisco. She has also worked in Development at Twin Cities Public Television Corporation in Saint Paul, MN and at the University of Chicago in Illinois. She has 20 years of non-profit management, fundraising, and organizing experience.
Brad Erickson, president
Brad Erickson serves as the executive director of Theatre Bay Area (TBA), the nation’s largest performing arts service organization, with 420 theatre and dance company members and some 3,000 individual members. At Theatre Bay Area, Erickson leads the organization’s efforts to support, promote and advocate for the Bay Area’s vibrant theatre community. In addition, he is the co-chair of Arts Forum San Francisco, advocating for the arts locally. Erickson came to TBA from the Northern California Supplier Development Council, a private nonprofit dedicated to promoting ethnic minority-owned businesses. Erickson also served as a co-artistic director of First Seen, a playwright-led theatre collective that develops and presents new work in the Bay Area. As a playwright, his works have been produced locally and nationally. His latest play, The War at Home, was premiered at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center last fall, and was awarded Best New Script by the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Erickson is a graduate of the Goodman School of Drama, now the Theatre School of DePaul University. Erickson also serves CAA's designate as the official Americans for the Arts State Arts Advocacy Captain.
John Gallogly, treasurer
John Gallogly is the executive director of Theatre West, the oldest continually performing theater company in Los Angeles. In addition to his work at Theatre West, Gallogly recently led the incorporation of Arts for LA, a new 501 (c) 3 not for profit, dedicated to furthering the needs of the Los Angeles arts community and the quality of life of its audiences. Gallogly is also a renowned activist in the Democratic Party. He won the Bob Mack Award in 2004 as the Democratic Volunteer of the Year, and is currently an officer on the United Democratic Headquarters of Pasadena, serving Assembly districts 43, 44, 45 and 49. He was also instrumental in developing the Northeast Democratic Rapid Response team, an email advocacy network for NE Los Angeles and the West San Gabriel Valley.
Terence McFarland
Terence McFarland is executive director of LA Stage Alliance (formerly Theatre LA), serving the performing arts community in the Los Angeles region through the Ovation Awards – the peer evaluated awards program honoring excellence in theatre, LA Stage Times -- the discount advertising program with the Los Angeles Times, LA Stage -- a bi-monthly magazine covering the performing arts, www.LAStageAlliance.com -- the online home of the Alliance including LAStageTIX – a comprehensive listing of shows playing on all of our 230 organizational members’ stages and the 1/2 price ticket program, and SRO – the business conference for the performing arts. McFarland also serves on the board of Arts for LA, an organization that advocates for the arts in the Los Angeles region.
Rachel Osajima
Rachel Osajima has worked in the arts administration field for the past fifteen years. Osajima began her position as the executive director of the Alameda County Arts Commission in 2004. Osajima’s former positions include curator of exhibitions for the Museum of Craft & Folk Art in San Francisco, corporate art coordinator for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and curator and director of exhibitions for the Richmond Art Center. She served as arts education coordinator for the Alameda County Art Commission, managing the Art IS Education 2002 program, a project of the Alameda County Office of Education’s Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership, presented in collaboration with numerous public schools and arts organizations. Beginning a four-year term in 1998, Osajima served as the founding chairperson of the Richmond Public Art Advisory Committee and later joined the Alameda County Public Art Advisory Committee. Osajima received a master of fine arts degree at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, after completing her undergraduate work at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Dalouge Smith, vice-president
Dalouge Smith is the president and CEO of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, the sixth oldest continuously operating youth orchestra in the United States. The organization trains more than 450 musicians each session and has represented San Diego in 13 foreign concert tours, performing in 18 countries. Smith previously served as associate director of Mainly Mozart in San Diego and production stage manager at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado. Smith currently serves on the San Diego Performing Arts League’s National Arts Marketing Project Committee and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Arts, Business, and Culture Committee. He received the 1st Annual Herbert G. Klein Visionary Award for Exemplary Leadership from LEAD San Diego and was also named one of San Diego Metropolitan Magazines 2006 “40 Under 40” young leaders.
Richard Stein
Richard Stein is the former Executive Director of the Laguna Playhouse, an institution he headed for seventeen years. Stein is credited with having transformed Laguna Playhouse from an amateur company into one of the west coast’s most successful professional resident theatre companies. Well-known within Orange County’s arts and philanthropic communities, Stein has been Chairman of the John Wayne Airport Arts Commission, President of the Orange County Chapter of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals, President of the Alliance for the Arts of Laguna Beach, and served twice as Co-Chair of Orange County’s National Philanthropy Day Celebration. A nationally recognized arts leader, Stein has served on the Executive Committee of the League of Resident Theatres and as a speaker, grants panelist and consultant
Melinda Wagner
Melinda Wagner is a professional musician, former president of Musicians Union Local 6, American Federation of Musicians, trustee of the American Federation of Musicians and Employers' Pension Fund and legislative liaison for the Professional Musicians of California, the organization that represents all members of the American Federation of Musicians in California. AMF, Local 6 currently has a membership of 2,000 musicians and has collective bargaining agreements with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Ballet.
Founding California Arts Advocates Board Members (1996)
Michael Alexander, executive director, Grand Performances and former member of the California Arts Council Board
Leni Isaacs Boorstin, director of public affairs, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Barry Hessenius, arts management consultant, former director, California Arts Council and former CEO, California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies
Arthur Jacobus, president, COPIA, former director, San Francisco Ballet
Teri Knoll, former executive director, California Association of Museums
Nancy Mims, consultant, former director Human Resources, San Francisco Symphony
Patricia Mitchell, former executive director, Los Angeles Opera
Larry A. Oviatt, assistant professor, Department of Art, California State University, Northridge, former director, Legislation Action Coalition for Arts Education
Alma Robinson, executive director, California Lawyers for the Arts
Kris Sinclair, executive director, Association of California Symphony Orchestras
Anne Smith, director, Arts Administration Department, Golden Gate University and arts consultant
Alan Ziter, president and CEO, Naval Training Center Foundation and former executive director, San Diego Performing Arts League
California Arts Advocates Legislative Advocate
Kathryn A. Lynch
Kathryn Lynch, principal of Lynch & Associates is an advocacy firm providing governmental and consulting services in California
for more than 20 years. Clients include California Arts Advocates, California Alliance for Arts Education, California Association of Museums, California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, California Association of Nonprofits, California Society of Association Executives.
Lynch was instrumental in the following legislation significant to the arts: AB1895 (Polanco) Arts Council: License Plate Fees (1993); SB1480 (Mello) Arts Education, extending the Local Arts Education Partnership Program whereby local arts agencies were able to apply for grants, and authorized financing for the arts through the general fund and federal funds (1996) and its extension, AB2807 (Firebaugh) in 2002; SB1213 (Scott) Vehicles: special interest license plates, California Arts Council, increasing fees to fund arts education and local arts programming (2004); AB 1512 (Cohn) Arts education, establishing the Arts Work Visual and Performing Arts Education Program (2003) and most recently, the historic funding from the general fund FY 2006-07 for the arts in schools (2006).
Lynch has a long-standing bipartisan reputation for professional work among legislators and staff. Legislators never hesitate to contact her regarding her client’s position on an issue and they are candid regarding their own legislative district concerns.
She is considered the primary resource at the State Capitol for arts and nonprofit issues.
Lynch & Associates
1127 11th Street, Suite 610, Sacramento, CA 95814
T (916) 443-0202 F (916) 443-7353
