Shanna (she/her) is the Director of Community Programs at Pacific Center, where she works to create a safe environment where community can thrive. She holds a B.A. in Africana Studies from Brown University. After moving to the Bay Area over 15 years ago, Shanna has worked with young people through arts programs including Youth Art Exchange, Oakland School for the Arts, and most recently, Destiny Arts Center.

In addition to her work in arts, education, and advocacy, Shanna is a podcaster and writer. Through shelter-in-place, she put those skills to work hosting the Creating Connections panel series to discuss a range of community issues including equity, consent and bodily autonomy, and youth leadership around the globe. 

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Shanna loves museums, dance parties, and superheroes (not necessarily in that order).

Aimee Espiritu, M. Ed (she/they) launched Espiritu Consulting in October 2017 based on her 10 years of experience providing Management in the Arts as well as Strategic Planning and Partnerships, for non-profit organizations and school districts. Prior to this, Aimee was an Arts Educator and Administrator for 14 years with a primary focus of engaging young people in classrooms, museums and arts programs through creative youth development, curriculum design, exhibit development, and peer-to-peer training.

Ashleigh Worley (she/her) currently serves as the Director of Education & Community Engagement at Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, sitting on DEI, Marketing, and Strategic Board committees. In addition to her work at LBC, she is the co-chair of the Sonoma County Arts Education Alliance Steering Committee. Ashleigh specializes in arts integration, curriculum creation, and program development, also holding teaching credentials in California and North Carolina. In April 2020 she started Education Leaders of Arts Organizations (ELAO) of Sonoma County and is a co-author of 2019 Sonoma County Arts Education Framework. The North Bay Business Journal highlighted Ashleigh in April 2021 as one of their 40 Business Leaders Under 40.

Natalie (she/her) is a high school senior from San Francisco. She lives with her family, her dog Frankie, and her snake Tina. She loves getting out to enjoy nature, and makes sculptures, prints, drawings, and paintings. She has always loved taking art classes and has benefitted greatly from arts education, so she is excited to help contribute to that.

Chinchin (she/her/她), was born and raised in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She has trained in modern, contemporary, Chinese martial art, Chinese ballet, Tai-chi, improvisation ballet, and dance composition. In 2008, Chinchin moved to San Francisco and has danced with many local and international dance makers. Chinchin joined Performing Arts Workshop in 2008 as a teaching artist teaching movement arts like Kong Fu, Tai Chi and creative movements, and later became an artist mentor supporting other teaching artists; in 2020, Chinchin became the artist mentor manager assisting the structural development, artist learning and growth events, and as part of anti-racist committee; Chinchin is currently the program manager at Performing Arts Workshop. With the rounded experience from being in the studio,  classroom to administrative work, Chinchin shares the voice and knowledge of an active dance maker, a teaching artist and a program manager. Chinchin is a foodaholic, karaoke hugger, and family lover when she is not working. 

Anthony Jackson (he/him) currently serves as the Director of the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre. In this role he oversees all of Berkeley Rep's educational programming. Before coming to Berkeley Rep, he worked in the community engagement department at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., teaching in all of its education programs and managing community partnerships and training programs. Anthony is a multi disciplinary theatre artist. As an actor he has toured the U.S. and has performed with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre, Arena Stage, and other regional theatres. As director and theatre deviser, he has traveled to India and Croatia as a guest artist with the U.S. Department of State. Anthony has also presented workshops at the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Theatre Communications Group Conference, as well as the Southeastern Theatre Conference. In 2019 he was selected to be a member of the artEquity cohort.

Tara Malik (she/her) is committed to the development of spaces that center youth leadership, racial justice, and leverage the power of creativity to drive social transformation, healing, and liberation. For over the last twenty years, Tara has worked in community in Rochester, NY; New Orleans, LA; Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, CA; and Carrefour, Haiti. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master in Arts Management in Arts in Youth and Community Development from Columbia College Chicago. Tara is the Media, Arts, & Culture Director at The RYSE Center in Richmond, CA and a member of the Creative Youth Development National Collective.

Mina Mangewala (she/her) is a Visual and Performing Art Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA)  in the Hayward Unified School District.  Prior to work as a VAPA TOSA, Mina was an elementary classroom teacher for 19 years. Her primary focus as the Visual and Performing Arts TOSA for  Hayward Unified is working towards creating more equitable arts opportunities for all of Hayward students. Mina also works with elementary school teachers on ways to more deeply integrate arts into their curriculum.  She has passion for all things dance, especially dances and music of the African Diaspora, and brings that into her work as an educator and leader for arts education.

Juan Manzo (he/him) is an Arts Education professional & advocate with over 15 years of experience in the field. Currently the Director of Education & Community Programs at American Conservatory Theater, Juan has led arts education programs and professional development workshops in Arts Integration for teachers and young people in New York and California. Juan has worked as a Teaching Artist and Arts Education Consultant for multiple organizations including StageWrite, The Old Globe, San Francisco Opera, Young Audiences of the Bay Area, La Jolla Playhouse and Center Theater Group. As a member of the Board of Directors for the Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area, he has worked for a stronger and more equitable arts education community in the Bay Area. A strong believer in using the arts for creative engagement and problem solving, he is deeply committed to ensuring access to the arts to all students regardless of socioeconomic status or race.

Kadin Nutt (he/him), is an artist, entrepreneur, and arts advocate from American Canyon. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dream Art Industries, a community-driven resource where emerging artists come to network, get discovered, and find opportunities. As an artist, his focus is on literary arts and spends a large chunk of his time working on narratives, novels, and screenplays. He sees art as a gift and is humbled at the opportunity to serve and pay it forward through advocacy, creativity, and innovation. 

Nadine Rambeau (she/her), Executive Director of EPACENTER, has spent the past 20 years
activating creativity as a catalyst for youth empowerment, economic equity and
social change in multiple communities across the United States. Previously, she served as
the managing director of the arts and education division at the California Institute
of the Arts, and played key leadership roles in establishing accessible arts education programs for vulnerable youth at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago Chernin’s Center for the Arts and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs’ award-winning job-training-in-the-arts program for youth, Gallery 37. She holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA from Northwestern University.

Kelsey Rieger (she/her) is an educator and arts advocate. In 2022, she joined Community School of Music and Arts as the Senior Arts Program Manager. Prior to this role, Kelsey worked with the North Bay organization Youth in Arts as the Program Director, and has spent over a decade cultivating educational resources and accessibility initiatives in arts nonprofits, museums and community gallery settings for visitors and contemporary artists of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. She is dedicated to co-constructing infrastructure for equitable arts access in schools and in the community, prioritizing the ongoing need for creativity as a developmental tool to advance youth and adult agency in the classroom, at home, and in shared civic spaces.

Lauren Tannous (she/her) grew up on the San Francisco Bay Peninsula. Lauren serves as the Program Director for Leap Arts in Education where she utilizes her passion for educational equity, social justice, and arts education to keeps students at the center of her work. Additionally, Lauren has worked as a professional theatre technician, stage director and teaching artist with YPTMTC, Bay Area ETC, the San Mateo Union High School District, and various other companies for over ten years. Bringing with her years of experience working with Special Education, after school programs, recreational arts programs, and educational theatre, Lauren is excited to be joining the Arts Education Alliance (AEA) of the Bay Area. Lauren currently resides in Oakland with her husband and two dachshunds. 

Kimberly Vernon (she/they) is an artist, arts educator, and arts advocate born and raised in the south bay area.  A magna cum laude graduate from California State University Fullerton, Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Theatre Arts and Cinema Television Arts as well as a minor in American Studies. She’s worked for numerous performing arts organizations throughout California including Vanguard Music and Performing Arts, Audacity Performing Arts Project, Starting Arts, Center Theatre Group LA, and Children’s Musical Theatre San Jose. Currently, Kimberly works as a Performer Educator with Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre, where she helps serve hundreds of schools throughout Northern California through utilizing theatre as a medium to educate youth about their health. 

Jasmine Yep Huynh (she/her) is the Associate Director of Youth and Community Programs at San Francisco Ballet. In this role, she oversees SF Ballet’s education and community engagement programs for PreK-12 schools, youth, families, and community partners. Jasmine developed SF Ballet’s programs for neurodiverse audiences, sensory-friendly programming, early education residencies, and a citywide partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences, and has an extensive background in dance and theatre for young audiences. She previously served as the director of arts education programs at Lawrence University where she taught courses in arts education, dance, and theatre. She also served as the national coordinator of ArtsBridge America, a network of 22 universities in 14 states that partnered teaching artists with school districts to develop and implement interdisciplinary visual and performing arts residencies. She has over 20 years of experience as an arts educator and arts administrator. Jasmine joined the AEABA Board of Directors in 2019.

Patricia (she/her)
As a Community Artist, I honor my traditions, culture, family, and community, as part of my creative social practice. My aspiration is for personal, collective, and ancestral healing that leads to larger systemic change. I am a Circle-Keeper and Founded the first Restorative Based Peer Jury Program for the Chicago Public Schools. My previous experience includes: Director of Citywide Creative Arts at Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco; Advisory Board - Arts Education Alliance for the Bay Area; and Community Artist Intern for Southern Exposure and Mission Girls. I currently work for the Community Arts Stabilization Trust as a Community Engagement Specialist in the Bay Area and am the Lead Staff for SF Dreaming Spaces. Currently, I am an Alumni and Facilitator for A PLACE OF HER OWN (PLACE) in the Bay Area and in the Central Valley @7 Generations Coming Home Art & cultural space for families and community.