Amy Aquino is an American television, film, and stage actress. She is a graduate of Harvard and Yale University, and has for 30 years appeared on stage, film and in dozens of television series such as Amazon’s current Bosch, Brooklyn Bridge, ER, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Drew McCoy where they have actively supported many arts and education institutions, including Inner City Arts (including the establishment of the Eamon Cannon Comedy Class), the Virginia Avenue Project (a free after-school performing arts and arts mentoring program in Santa Monica), the Cornerstone Theater Company, the Boston Court Theater, and Arts for LA. Amy is also Vice-President of her neighborhood association and an active strategist and spokesperson in the historic preservation movement in her neighborhood and LA as a whole, was a founding board member of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, and a member of the Hollywood Community Police Advisory Board. Since 1994 Amy has been a strong force in the Screen Actors Guild’s – and later SAG-AFTRA’s - executive leadership. She has served as vice president, national secretary-treasurer, chair of the finance committee, and as a member of multiple negotiating, strategic planning and national executive committees. She shepherded the revamping of SAG’s communications and outreach, and was critical to the achievement and implementation of the SAG-AFTRA merger. Amy is intrigued with taking her volunteerism to the next level with Arts for LA. She is interested in developing broad arts policy and learning more about our government relations efforts and interactions with the schools. She has a wide and strong network of friends and colleagues in the creative industries and looks forward to including that network in the Arts for LA family.
Jennifer Cuevas (she/ella) is a cultural arts producer and Founder/CEO of Jenerate Media (Jennifer Cuevas Consulting), a Los Angeles-based boutique communications agency that specializes in the arts, social impact and non-profit organizations. She's a communications and digital marketing expert, and leadership advisor, who works closely with her clients' senior leadership and staff to support institutional and programmatic communications, as well as special projects. At the core of her work is a passion for producing, the arts, and cultural preservation; and connecting people and sharing unique places, while documenting the experiences.
Her agency currently represents Self Help Graphics & Art, the Vincent Price Art Museum and Cultural Treasures of South LA (in partnership with LA Commons and DCA). Jennifer has worked previously with clients such as Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Metro Art, Academia Avance Charter School, California Native Vote Project, Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge and Services, and many international performing artists, cultural organizations and collective’s spanning more than 20 years. Jennifer has a B.A. in Communications, with a concentration in Public Affairs/Information, from the University of La Verne. She is a member of Arts for LA’s Board of Directors and former ACTIVATE program fellow.
Fabian Fuertes (he/him), holds the position of Senior Manager, YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is a board member with Arts for LA, and is a Delegate for Assembly District 53 with the CA Democratic Party. His passion for equitable education, the arts, and social justice inspires his work in creating a profound societal renewal in our generation and the next. As a native Angeleno and first-generation Latinx, he is proud to be a part of an organization that engages more than 1,300 young people from historically marginalized communities across LA County through free music experiences and creative youth development to inspire belonging and membership, autonomy, civic and social abilities, and stronger lifelong learners. Fabian is excited to continuously explore personal blind spots, enable transformation, and continue his pursuit in creating a world in which access to equitable education, for all, inspires any person to fulfill their greatest potential.
Fred Goldstein, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, joined LACMA in February of 2005. Prior to joining LACMA, Mr. Goldstein served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the Phoenix House Foundation in New York and previously as a partner in the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. Mr. Goldstein received his JD from Yale Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. He has taught Art and Museum Law at Southwestern University School of Law and has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and as a Trustee of the Los Angeles Copyright Society. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Arts for LA, and sits on the Government Affairs Committee of the Board of Directors of the California Association of Museums. He has also served on the Planning Committee and as a faculty member for several years for the annual Legal Issues in Museum Administration course, organized by the American Law Institute and the Smithsonian Institution.
Annette Johnson has more than 30 years of experience in the cultural arts field specializing in project design/management, marketing, grant writing and event planning. She has curated contemporary art exhibits, initiated arts education programs, produced festivals, music and dance performances, public humanities programs, and large scale fundraising and community events. Museum exhibition experience includes the Wignall Museum in Rancho Cucamonga; as a Senior Manager with the City of Pico Rivera she directed six divisions. She has developed marketing materials, special events and education programs that have earned state and national awards. Annette has served as a grant reviewer for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and was a District Co-Chair for the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies. She is an activist, has been an active volunteer in K-12 education and community organizations, is a performing musician, and previously served on the Board of the Museum of Neon Art. Annette holds a BA in Art History from CSU Fullerton and an MPA from CSU San Bernardino. She also earned certificates in Non-Profit Management from Cal-Poly Pomona and Marketing Management from UC Riverside. Since 2005 she has worked as an independent consultant for marketing and development in southern California.
Cary J. Lefton is Chief Executive Officer of Agora Realty & Management, which he founded in 1986. Agora Realty is a full service commercial real estate company holding income producing assets in California, Hawaii and Nevada. Since 2001, Agora has been listed as the 3rd largest private developer in the San Fernando Valley and been listed in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the top 25 developers in Los Angeles County. His firm has joint ventured with private and publicly traded companies such as Kimco Realty and Alexander and Baldwin. Agora is a family-owned business that has an investment strategy that especially benefits small businesses, assisting them in navigating the complexities of starting a new business. Agora’s team prides itself on developing socially responsible projects with the objective to add value to communities in which it invests in. Agora currently owns and operates a commercial real estate portfolio of approximately 1.9 million square feet.
Lefton began his career in 1980 as a real estate broker, specializing in commercial real estate, with Arthur Rubloff and Company of Southern California. He earned the “Rookie of the Year” award during his first year with the company, representing such companies as Westinghouse and Huffy Bicycles, and leased more than 1,500,000 square feet during his two-year tenure. In 1982, Lefton joined Westwood Properties as vice president of acquisitions, where he successfully negotiated for commercial and industrial real estate throughout the Southern California region. His responsibilities also included project analysis, loan packaging and general office administration.
Lefton attended the University of Southern California where he majored in Political Science. He has been married to his wife Marla for over 40 years. Marla is an artist who enjoys painting with oils on canvass. Cary and his wife have two sons Ryan and Aaron who also work for Agora.
Hobbies include, collecting wine, tennis, skiing, traveling, sailing and playing with his grandchildren…….not necessarily in that order.
Gail Lopes is a retired lawyer with specialties in corporate, employment, technology, and nonprofit law. She has served as Chair of the Boards of Directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) in New York City, and Students Rising Above in the California Bay Area. She is also a member of Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) National Advisory Council and former Chair of its Governance Task Force. After earning a JD at Harvard Law School, she spent ten years at the law firm of Morrison & Forester. Gail was also Vice President of Product Development for two start-up software companies serving legal and HR professionals. Through a consulting firm she co-founded, she has led numerous strategic planning and business development initiatives at both profit and nonprofit organizations. Gail is prioritizing equity and social justice through her nonprofit work and has participated in equity and anti-racism trainings from TCG’s EDI Institute, artEquity, The Interaction Institute for Social Change, and The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (Undoing Racism). As the Chair of three nonprofits’ Governance & Nominating Committees, she has designed equity-based Board recruitment strategies, EDI Committees, codes of conduct, and governance structures. Gail and her husband Jim have two daughters: one a theatrical director in Los Angeles and the other a sommelier.
Shana Mathur has dedicated her career to music and the arts. She joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association as Vice President, Marketing & Communications in 2008, where she oversees marketing, sales and customer experience at Los Angeles’ most iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. Since Shana joined the LA Phil, she has spearheaded major, multi-faceted campaigns, including the introduction of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, the 10th Anniversary of Walt Disney Concert Hall, key festivals and record-breaking seasons at the Hollywood Bowl. Prior to the LA Phil, Shana was Director of Marketing at UCLA Live (performing arts at University of California, Los Angeles), from 2002-07. She moved to Los Angeles in 2002 from New York City, where she was Director of Marketing at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) from 1998-2002. Before performing arts, Shana ran her own boutique entertainment PR and marketing firm, and spent several years working in the music business. Shana holds her B.A. in Anthropology from University of Wisconsin, Madison and her M.B.A. from CUNY’s Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. She lives with her husband, two children and dog in West Hollywood, California.
Rochelle Mills is President and CEO of Innovative Housing Opportunities (IHO) where she is responsible for implementing the organization’s vision and growing its portfolio of high-quality affordable housing. Prior to joining IHO, she and her husband founded mills studio. Their high-end designs were featured on FineLiving, Homes Across American and other television and publications. Ms. Mills also founded architours, a boutique art and architecture tour and symposia company. Her diverse background includes UCLA and Otis extension instructor, editor of LA Architect, community planning, construction administrator, and lecturer and writer on art, design, and culture. Ms. Mills was appointed to two terms on the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission and the Crenshaw Community Design Review Board. She has served on the California Cultural Tourism and LA Metro Expo Art advisory committees, as well as the boards of the SoCal Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, Association of Women in Architecture (now AWA+D), Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH), and Fellows of Contemporary Art. She presently serves on the boards of Kennedy Commission and the California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies.
Winifred White Neisser’s extensive and successful career in development of television programming evolved from a passion for education and the arts. Her 34-year journey in Hollywood, where she served for 14 years as an executive at NBC, and another 20 years at Sony Pictures Television, ending in 2014 as Senior Vice President of Television Movies and Mini-series, followed a strategic recognition of the impact that television can have on young lives and learning. She is passionate about music and is the Executive Director of the Angel City Chorale, a large community choir that seeks to represent Los Angeles in membership and music. In addition to her professional life, White Neisser has served on many non-profit boards focusing primarily on education and the arts, including the Otis College of Art and Design; the Harvard University Board of Overseers, and Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles. Still intrigued by the power of messages and storytelling in popular culture, she continues to explore ways to share the stories that seldom get told, and demonstrate how art can be used as a vehicle to unite people and promote social justice.
Felicia Rosenfeld, through FARconnector, serves as thought partner, organizational catalyst, infrastructure architect and creative strategist, working with artists and creative organizations to define and attain success.
Felicia has been involved in the not-for-profit world for most of her working life. After graduating with honors from Swarthmore College, she worked at Pentacle (in New York) and also for David Gordon Pick Up Company. Receiving a J.D. from Fordham Law School, Felicia practiced for five years, concentrating in entertainment, copyright and trademark law. Felicia returned to Pentacle as Director of Educational Programming in 2002, then became Director of Programming, and ultimately Co-Director.Felicia served as Executive Director of Dance Resource Center, the service organization for dance in the Greater Los Angeles Area from 2015-2018, professionalizing a 30 year-old all-volunteer organization and making it a leading example of arts service. Since relocating to Los Angeles in 2006, Felicia also has worked and consulted with many arts individuals/organizations and social service organizations.
Felicia sits on the Boards of Directors of Arts for L.A., Dance Resource Center and Koreatown Youth & Community Center. She is a member of the Ford Theatre Connector Council, Americans for the Arts and Californians for the Arts. Felicia was a member Dance/USA Board of Trustees for six years; the Co-Chair of Dance/USA 2018 Conference Host Committee; and served on Pentacle’s Board of Directors; the Advisory Board of Show Box LA, as a Trustee of New Roads School, and on the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Karsh Social Service Center Steering Committee.
Amy Schiffman has been a literary agent and manager in the film and television fields for over twenty five years. After graduating from Hamilton College, she worked in New York, first at the CBS News Broadcast Center, and then in magazines, including the award winning American Photographer Magazine, where she eventually became an editor and columnist, and later at GQ and Diversion magazines. Her Hollywood career began in the Literary Properties division of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, where she was Vice President. There she sold the books “Friday Night Lights,” “Apollo 13,” “Sleepers,” “Permanent Midnight” and “Primal Fear,” all of which were produced as feature films during her tenure at the agency.
Schiffman later became a partner in the literary management firm Intellectual Property Group before joining Echo Lake. She represents Dennis Lehane, (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island, The Drop), Don DeLillo (Cosmopolis) and Daniel Woodrell (Winter’s Bone) among many others. Among her recently released book to film projects are the international best seller “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” by Mary Anne Shaeffer and Annie Barrows. The film, starring Lilly James and directed by Mike Newell, is streaming on Netflix, as is the film “Nappily Ever After” based on the novel by Trisha R. Thomas.
Schiffman recently joined Echo Lake Entertainment, to build and run the intellectual property department.
Cliff has garnered a reputation for being one of the top producers of award-winning experiences including Universal Studios’ WaterWorld Stunt Show, FiestaAventura’s Templo Del Fuego, Bollywood Park and Motiongate including the THEA Award-winning DreamWorks Animation Zone.
Having earned his MFA at the Yale School of Drama, Cliff has collaborated with some of the most creative people in the entertainment industry (notably as producer on Tokyo DisneySea and DisneyFest Asia). Cliff was one of the original founders of Thinkwell Group for which he served as CEO and Chairman for over a decade. Cliff produced notable projects including Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter; Sesame Presents: The Body touring exhibit and many more projects for Universal Studios, Walt Disney Entertainment, Harrah’s Entertainment and MGM Studios. In 2011, Cliff founded the entertainment development company Mycotoo, Inc., which was designated a top media company by Inc. 500 in 2017.
As chairman, Cliff has continued to build on his reputation of delivering compelling experiences. Mycotoo’s design collaborations have resulted in the opening of two theme parks (Motiongate and Bollywood Parks) for which Cliff oversaw the production development, strategic planning and team staffing. He built the award-winning creative team and served as liaison to facilitate master planning, production design, engineering and management of the specialty groups involved with the both parks. Cliff has been an invited speaker on multiple industry panels. His roots in theatre keep him anchored to like-minded organizations. He serves as board member for the Yale Global Alumni Leadership Exchange (YaleGALE) – an international leadership exchange with China, France, United Kingdom, South Africa and Mexico; And Ojai Valley Playwrights Association – a non-profit group that champions the introduction of new, aspiring playwrights to wider audiences off
and on Broadway.
