Executive Experience

Executive Director

Telluride Arts | Telluride, Colorado | 2010–2024

Led the transformation of Telluride Arts into a regional cultural infrastructure leader while advancing long-range capital strategy, district planning, and a major historic preservation project.

  • Directed the acquisition, stabilization, and activation of the Telluride Transfer Warehouse, a National Historic Landmark, coordinating public process, preservation planning, partnerships, and funding.

  • Negotiated complex public-private agreements and assembled interdisciplinary teams of architects, engineers, preservation specialists, and civic partners.

  • Secured major investments from local government, state agencies, national foundations, and individual donors to support long-term cultural infrastructure.

  • Increased organizational assets from $45K to over $13M and annual budget from $120K to $1.28M through diversified capital and operating revenue strategies.

  • Led the Telluride Cultural Master Plan and helped establish the Telluride Arts District, shaping regional cultural policy and aligning infrastructure investment with community priorities.

  • Activated new artist studios, galleries, and temporary cultural spaces that demonstrated demand, built public trust, and strengthened the case for permanent facilities.

  • Produced hundreds of events annually in partnership with festivals, schools, nonprofits, and artists, building sustained community participation that supported capital investment.

  • During the pandemic, mobilized artist employment initiatives and opened the Transfer Warehouse as a safe public venue, reinforcing the organization’s role as essential civic infrastructure.

Executive Director

Methow Arts | Twisp, Washington | 2001–2010

Advanced local art and culture programming, and arts education across rural Okanogan County.

  • Served as a founding strategist and fundraiser for TwispWorks, a 6.5-acre adaptive reuse campus created from a former Forest Service complex.

  • Led early visioning, partnership development, acquisition strategy, and community engagement that positioned the site for long-term investment.

  • Built cross-sector collaborations among schools, local government, regional agencies, and community organizations to support infrastructure investment in rural cultural space.

  • Established a countywide public art program integrating artwork into schools, parks, hospitals, and civic settings—expanding public access while strengthening regional identity.

  • Developed performing arts and visiting artist programs that brought national and international artists into rural schools and community venues.

  • Expanded arts education partnerships across Okanogan County, including collaboration with underserved communities and tribal partners.

  • Created communications platforms that unified the regional arts ecosystem and strengthened visibility for artists, organizations, and shared facilities.