State of the Arts Summit

Josiah Bruny

Josiah Bruny is a visionary leader dedicated to systemic change through arts, culture, and community empowerment. As CEO and Founder of Music Changing Lives, he has spent 27 years building innovative programs for at-promise youth, including the Urban Garden Project, Know Justice, Know Peace Mural Tour, Uptown San Bernardino Urban Garden and Concerts Under the Stars.

He also leads State of The Youth, a summit empowering young leaders to drive change. As Vice President of California Arts Advocates, Josiah champions economic empowerment through the arts, proving that creativity is not just an outlet—it’s a movement transforming communities worldwide.

Ann Burroughs

Ann Burroughs is the President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum. She is an internationally recognized leader in the field of human rights and social justice. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA and was formerly Chair of Amnesty International’s Global Assembly.

Her life-long commitment to racial and social justice was shaped by her experience as a young activist in her native South Africa where she was jailed as a political prisoner for her opposition to apartheid. For over 25 years, she has worked with leaders, organizations, and networks in the US and abroad to promote diversity, racial justice and a rights-based culture. She has previously served as Executive Director of the Taproot Foundation and as the Executive Director of LA Works, and has worked as a consultant to the Omidyar Network, the Rockefeller Foundation and the government of South Africa.

Jennifer Cuevas

Jennifer M. Cuevas (she/her/ella) is a Los Angeles-based arts executive, entrepreneur, arts advocate and cultural producer with a passion for storytelling, connecting people, and a 20+ year history of advancing the arts in Los Angeles. For more than two decades she has been dedicated to supporting visual and performing artists, developing campaigns for social impact and amplifying the missions, artists and programmatic work of non-profit institutions.

She recently served as Executive Director of Self Help Graphics & Art and prior to her role as ED, contributed since 2017 as a consulting strategic advisor, cultural producer, and communications executive, bolstering the organization’s visibility locally and nationally. Jennifer is a multifaceted leader who brings with her diverse experiences in the non-profit sector and has previously worked with the Vincent Price Art Museum, LA Commons in collaboration with the City of LA’s Department of Arts and Culture (DCA), Academia Avance Charter School (Avance), California Native Vote Project (CNVP), Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge and Services (WORKS), Metro Arts, Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), and many others.

Jennifer received a B.A. in Communications, with a concentration in Public Affairs/Information, from the University of La Verne. She currently serves on the Board of Arts of LA.

Allison Dayka

Allison Dayka is an artist and muralist who uses public art and storytelling to spark climate action. Her large scale murals, community projects, and mixed media works invite kids and families to imagine a healthier future.

Inspired by extreme weather and community resilience, Allison created The Adventures of Future, an educational art series led by Future the Pizzly Bear, a time traveling scientist who shares STEM lessons about nature. The Adventures of Future will be released in 2026.

Through murals, music, and short form animation, she partners with schools and nonprofits to bring environmental themes to life in neighborhoods. Allison has created murals in Orlando and beyond and serves as a TimePieces community council member. Her mission is to lead a global movement that engages kids and families everywhere to protect ecosystems and reimagine the future through creativity.

Desiree Gutierrez

Desiree Gutierrez is responsible for developing strategies and implementing campaigns that maximize social impact and audience engagement with PBS SoCal’s multi-platform content and services. Her business and communications experience spans 20+ years and has previously included roles for The City of Long Beach where she created and managed public awareness and communications initiatives.

One of the founders of Impact Media Partners LLC, Desiree built strategic audience engagement campaigns for nationally recognized brands, independent films, nonprofits, and public media entities. Desiree began her career in public media working previously at the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and KCET. Desiree holds a BA in Journalism and a Masters of Public Policy from California State University, Northridge.

Erin Harkey

Erin Harkey (she/her/hers) has over 20+ years experience helping individuals and communities succeed through the arts. Erin was the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

Harkey served the City of Chicago as Projects Administrator, then Deputy Commissioner for Programming and First Deputy Commissioner. In her dual role as Senior Policy Advisor for Arts in Culture in the Mayor’s Office, she advised on cultural policy and arts strategy across all City departments and agencies. She previously managed public art programs at Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Arts Council for Long Beach.

Harkey holds two master’s degrees in Public Art Administration and Urban Planning from the University of Southern California (USC) and a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Howard University.

Carrie Harlow

Carrie Harlow is founder and principal consultant for Harlow Consulting, a boutique consulting firm that supports collaborative philanthropy practices for greater impact. She currently serves as the Director of Programs & Partnerships for the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, as well as a consultant to the national Sustained Collaboration Network and to the LA Arts Recovery Fund.

Carrie previously served as a Program Officer at The Ahmanson Foundation where she worked with nonprofit partners in the areas of Health and Human Services, Education, and the Arts.

She earned a master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s from Occidental College. Carrie currently serves on the Advisory Board of TeenTixLA and is a partner with Social Justice Partners, Los Angeles.

Gustavo Herrera

Gustavo was appointed as Arts for LA’s Executive Director in December 2018. Prior to working with us, he was the Western Regional Director for Young Invincibles (YI), where he was responsible for leading YI’s California offices, including its West Coast expansion. As director, he set strategic direction and advanced YI’s policy priorities on health care, higher education, jobs, and civic engagement for the region.

Before starting at Young Invincibles, Gustavo was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of L.A. Plaza de Cultura y Artes (LAPCA), overseeing the day-to-day operation of a county museum, including the oversight of a master plan committee responsible for strategically developing three acres of additional museum campus. From 2010-2012, Gustavo led the Maestro Foundation, a classical music and performance arts foundation, as the Director of Organizational Development. Between 2007-2010, he assessed and recommended business growth strategies in the US marketplace for the global Fortune 500 Company, American Honda Motors, Co.

Gustavo holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from American Jewish University and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with an emphasis in socio-politics and economics and Art History from the University of California Santa Barbara. Gustavo served on the Board of Directors of the Create: Fixate Arts Organization (2006-2010). He is a current Strong Workforce Implementation Advisory Board Member for the California Community Colleges, Advisory Board Member for the California Physician’s Alliance and founding Board Member of Silverlake Forward.

Kimberly Hurtarte

Kimberly Hurtarte is a social impact leader whose career bridges the arts, philanthropy, and community-centered change. Committed to equity and inclusion, she has developed and scaled programs that mobilize resources for mental health, education access, disaster relief, food insecurity, social justice, and environmental
conservation—often through creative collaborations with artists such as Linkin Park, Incubus, and industry partners like Live Nation.

She has advised on arts and culture grantmaking through the Latino Community Foundation’s PoderArte council and designed tour-based give-back programs that engage fans in supporting grassroots causes worldwide.

Her work includes partnerships with organizations like WILDCOAST, where she helped protect 61 miles of mangrove forest in Mexico with Linkin Park and GoPro, creating a natural barrier against hurricanes for coastal communities.

Today, Kimberly serves as a Social Impact Advisor to entertainers and brands, advancing partnerships that harness creativity, celebrate diversity, and amplify purpose-centered voices.

Nahal Jalali

Nahal Jalali is a visual artist, writer, and strategy consultant focused on advancing social change through the arts. She is a Manager within the Monitor Institute by Deloitte, a social change consultancy that provides strategic support and services to nonprofit organizations, corporate foundations, and other entities seeking to create social change. Currently, Nahal manages strategy and sourcing for Deloitte’s Purpose Office. In this role, she helps source equity-focused investment opportunities in the areas of education/workforce development, health equity, and financial inclusion to fulfill Deloitte’s 10-year, $1.5B social impact investment. Nahal also spent five years in Deloitte’s Government and Public Services practice where she supported dozens of public, private, and social sector organizations with strategic services focused on growth and innovation.

Nahal has been involved with Arts for LA since 2020 – including as a Laura Zucker fellow, ACTIVATE Delegate, and most recently, as a member of AFLA’s Policy Committee. Nahal earned her Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University where she wrote her graduate thesis on individual preferences for public funding of the arts in the United States. She also has a personal ceramic arts practice and is a member of the CLAY CA studio in Chinatown.

Liana Krupp

Liana Krupp (she/her) is the President, Trustee and Board Member of the Krupp Family Foundation. Her work focuses on building economic, political and cultural power for people who are most directly affected by systems of oppression. Krupp actively organizes with other funders to challenge the status quo of philanthropy. Her role has empowered her to step beyond the traditional role of a grant maker, to become an active ally and advocate to the partners the Foundations support.

Outside of her work, Krupp is deeply engaged in the arts, serving as a supporter, steward and advocate for socially engaged visual and performative work across North America. Krupp lives between Los Angeles and the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts with her husband and daughter.

Philip Labes

Some people emerged from the stay-at-home orders with a plant collection, others with a six-pack. Philip Labes emerged with folk songs capturing some of the chaos, loss, and humor of the last four years. Philip continues the storytelling tradition of American folk with a theatricality and sense of humor that is distinctly modern. Philip gained quick viral fame on TikTok, where he was spotted by Jason Mraz and invited to open on the Grammy-winner’s North American tour. That experience was captured by a documentarian to create the new documentary-musical “THE OPENER” set to a soundtrack of Labes’ songs and executive produced by Mraz.

In 2022, Philip released an album for each season (four albums, forty-two songs), inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, all within one year! He then headlined a sold-out US + Europe tour and sold $40,000 of vinyl directly to fans, shipping every single order himself. IN 2023, Philip was a SXSW showcase selection and released an EP called SORRY STATE, with songs celebrating childhood while also challenging the status quo of the red state he grew up in. He announced his new duology-set of albums LOVE and FEAR to release in early 2026. His original musical GOOD GUY WITH A GUN, a satirical comedy featuring an all-star Broadway cast, will release Summer 2026.

Gail Lopes

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 past 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, Race Forward, 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.

Los Jornaleros

The day laborer band was created after an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raid that took place in City of Industry in 1995 while a mobile health clinic of the Los Angeles County Health Department was providing health services. Omar Sierra, one of the main vocalists of the band was present during the raid and decided to write a Corrido (ballad) about the incident. As time went on, the Day Laborer Band expanded and became a fundamental tool in the organizing effort. The band’s purpose is to inform, educate, organize, and mobilize day workers, sensitize the general community about day labor related issues, and denounce the abuses committed against them. The band has performed for day laborers at corners and centers, for local unions, for students, for activists, for teachers, etc.

Charlotte Nguyen

Charlotte Nguyen is a Buddhist coach, artist, activist & speaker bridging the worlds of love, justice and healing. She is the founder & spiritual director of Get Free!, a community healing practice dedicated to helping BIPOC, women & queer folks heal from oppression & cultivate truly liberated lives.

Drawing on her deep knowledge of Buddhist spiritual traditions & a lifetime commitment to community, healing & activism, her work invites us to imagine & nurture the transformative potential of this moment – towards human wholeness. She currently works as an intimacy coordinator & mental health coordinator, advocating for the wellbeing of artists & performers across the film & entertainment industry.

Rick Noguchi

Rick Noguchi is the President and CEO of California Humanities. Previously, Rick was the Chief Operating Officer at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), where he led the strategic direction of the museum. He was a senior program officer in the arts at The James Irvine Foundation and a program officer in arts and human development at the California Community Foundation.

He is a board member of the California Association of Museums and a member of the Los Angeles Leadership Team of Arizona State University. He also serves as a Board of Governor for the Japanese American National Museum. Rick earned an MFA from Arizona State University and an MBA from Pepperdine University. Noguchi is a writer with two collections of poetry, The Ocean Inside Kenji Takezo, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996, and The Wave He Caught, Pearl Editions, 1995, and as well as a children’s book Flowers from Mariko, Lee & Low Publishing, 2001.

Adam Odsess-Rubin

Adam Odsess-Rubin (He/Him) is the Founding Artistic Director of the Obie Award Winning National Queer Theater (NQT) in Brooklyn, New York. At NQT, Odsess-Rubin has presented work with Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, MCC Theater, and PAC NYC. His work has been featured by NBC News, The New York Times, American Theater, and Time Out New York.

He has published writing in Yale’s Theater Magazine and The Gay & Lesbian Review, and was a 2022 PoliticsNY LGBTQ+ Power Player. BA: UC Santa Cruz MA: New York University. NQT is currently a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the National Endowment for the Arts to protect government funding for LGBTQ+ artists.

Nicole M. Parra

Born and raised in Bakersfield, California, Nicole M. Parra has spent most of her life in public service. Parra has more than 35 years of extensive legislative and political experience, including ten years working for U.S. Congressman Cal Dooley (retired), and a high-level appointment within the Business, Transportation and Housing agency by Governor Schwarzenegger.

Parra graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Economics, and a J.D. from the Catholic University School of Law in Washington D.C. In 2014, Parra was hired as an Adjunct Professor at California State University Bakersfield where she was an instructor for American Government and Politics, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties courses for two years. In 2016, Parra was hired as the campaign manager for the Measure J Campaign for the Kern Community College District, a $500M school bond that passed with a 2/3 vote. In 2017, Parra
was hired as the State Government Affairs Manager for Marathon Petroleum Corporation. In 2020, Parra was nominated (and later elected) to the Women in California Politics (WICP) Board by California Treasurer Fiona Ma.

In 2022, Parra was hired by former Kern Community College District Chancellor
Sonya Christian to be the Director of the California Renewable Energy Laboratory
(CREL) at the Kern Community College District. In 2023, Parra was hired as Vice President,  Community Affairs, for California Resources Corporation (CRC) and its carbon management business Carbon TerraVault (CTV).

Mollie Quinlan-Hayes

Mollie, based in Atlanta, GA, works with two institutions committed to the readiness and recovery of artists and arts organizations. For NCAPER, the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response, she serves as Executive Director. NCAPER addresses policy and practice to build resiliency in the national arts sector and serves as a clearinghouse and responder. NCAPER manages the BAARN/Bay Area Arts Readiness Network project. For the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), she is a Program
Officer leading Emergency Grants for individual artists.

Previously, as Deputy Director and Accessibility Coordinator of South Arts, Mollie designed and guided programs including ArtsReady, South Arts State Fellowships and Southern Prize, Jazz Road, and the Dance Touring Initiative. Mollie also served as Assistant Director and Accessibility Coordinator of the Arizona Commission on the Arts. She is a graduate of the Executive in Arts and Culture Strategy program, University of Pennsylvania/National Arts Strategies.

Daniel Reid

Daniel Reid is the Associate Director of the Getty Foundation, where he leads the grants programming team in developing and implementing funding initiatives to advance the visual arts and heritage around the world. He joined Getty in August 2024 from the Whiting Foundation; as Whiting’s first executive director, he oversaw the launch of multiple programs in support of the humanities and literary arts and co-founded an international network of cultural heritage preservation funders.

Prior to joining Whiting, Daniel was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company; helped create the CUNY Institute for Education Policy (now at Johns Hopkins); and provided strategic consulting to nonprofits such as UNESCO, the Gates Foundation, and Illinois Humanities. He holds a JD from Yale Law School and a BA from the University of Virginia.

Kristin Sakoda

Kristin Sakoda is Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the local arts agency with a mission to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout the most populous county in the U.S. The Department’s programs include grants and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations; creative career pathways including the nation’s largest arts internship program; public-private arts education initiatives; commissioning artists for the LA County Civic Art Collection; professional development; research and evaluation; and cross-sector arts strategies to address civic issues—all with a lens of cultural equity and inclusion. Ms. Sakoda is an arts executive, attorney, and performing artist with over 25 years in the field.

As an artist she appeared on stages around the world including with dance and social justice company Urban Bush Women, in Rent and Mamma Mia! on Broadway. Prior to her work at LA County, she served at New York City Department of Cultural Affairs overseeing a $200M portfolio of strategic, programmatic, policy, and legislative projects on diversity and inclusion; public art; creative aging; cultural facilities; grants; and affordable workspace for artists. She holds a J.D. NYU School of Law with honors in Entertainment Law, and B.A. Stanford University with a specialization in Race and Ethnicity and secondary major in Feminist Studies.

Angelica Salas

Angelica Salas is an immigrant from Durango, Mexico. She came to the US as a child to reunite with her parents, who came to provide a better life for their family. Angelica comes to her understanding of immigration first hand, she and her entire family lived in the country undocumented, experienced deportation, and were able to legalize their status. In 2008, Angelica became a U.S. citizen. She makes Pasadena, California her home, the first city she arrived at as a child. 

Angelica joined CHIRLA in 1995 and became CHIRLA’s Executive Director in 1999. In her role, she has transformed CHIRLA into a mass membership immigrant-led organization that empowers immigrants and their families to win local, state, and national policies to advance human, civil, and labor rights. She has grown CHIRLA into one of the nation’s largest and most effective immigrant rights organizations. She has spearheaded ambitious statewide and national campaigns to expand immigrant rights. She has helped found organizations and coalitions to advocate for immigrant workers, youth, and families. 

Among her achievements include winning in-state, financial aid and grant programs for California’s undocumented students, establishing day-laborer centers, winning drivers’ licenses for undocumented drivers, decoupling local police departments from immigration enforcement, expanding access to immigrant legal services and winning DACA.

Debra Scacco

Interdisciplinary artist Debra Scacco studies ecological and cultural impacts of anthropogenic change. By blending academic research with firsthand narratives, her work highlights histories of land and water and the beings most affected, creating pathways and platforms for public engagement and action.

She is the first civic-appointed artist-in-residence for City of Santa Monica Public Works, Water and Waste Divisions (2023-25); was awarded a City of Los Angeles Individual Master Artist Project (2023-34); and was the inaugural artist-in-residence at Ellis Island Museum (New York, 2012).

Scacco is co-founder of a first of its kind Climate Impact Program for Getty as part of the landmark PST Art series across Southern California (2022-25); and founder of research-based climate-focussed residency program AIR Projects (2016-20). Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Honor Fraser Gallery (Los Angeles), Los Angeles Public Library, MOAH (Lancaster), Marin MoCA, Royal Academy of the Arts (London), and Jerwood Gallery (London).

Way-Ting Chen

Way-Ting is passionate about problem solving and generating breakthrough insights that spark greater impact. She brings cross-sector know-how to partner with fellow changemakers and articulate strategic challenges, understand fundamental causes, and spotlight or devise effective and practical solutions.

Since co-founding Blue Garnet 23 years ago, Way-Ting has worked to address issues related to social impact, organizational performance, and the persistent dynamic tensions of our sector.

Currently, she co-leads the LA effort for the Arts & Climate California Initiative, bridging arts and sustainability for more resilient frontline communities.

When not out to make the world a better place, she delights in spending time with her family and feeding her curiosity and creativity, ideally at the same time!

Alisha Tonsic

Alisha Tonsic (she/her) joined Theatre Communications Group (TCG) as Co-Executive Director: National Operations & Business Development in January 2025 with 35 years of arts service organization and nonprofit theatre experience.

From 2015-2024, she served as Executive Director of the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) after nine years in other staff and Board roles, championing shared leadership structures and collaborative artmaking practices field-wide.

Previously, as the first Managing Director for Sojourn Theatre, Alisha worked for nearly a decade in partnership with the ensemble and founding Artistic Director Michael Rohd. Earlier work includes positions at American Repertory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter, and TCG, and as an independent non-profit arts consultant focusing on small- and mid-sized companies.

A first-generation college graduate, she’s an alumna of Barnard College/Columbia University, the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute, and the inaugural round of the TCG New Generations Program. Recent Board service includes the Performing Arts Alliance, and Portland Center Stage.

Tony Valenzuela

Tony Valenzuela is the Executive Director of One Institute, the longest continuously operating LGBTQ+ organization in the country, founded in Los Angeles in 1952.

Prior to joining One Institute, he served as Executive Director of the Foundation for The AIDS Monument (FAM), a nonprofit dedicated to memorializing lost loved ones and educating about the historic achievements of HIV/AIDS activist communities. Before FAM, he served as the Executive Director of Lambda Literary, the nation’s premier queer literary arts nonprofit, leading the organization through years of sustained growth.

A leading activist and thought leader in HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+, and arts communities for over three decades, Valenzuela has been listed twice (1997, 2023) among the OUT100, representing the country’s most influential LGBTQ leaders.

Valenzuela and his husband Rob Ferrante live in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles where they care for a small menagerie of rescue cats.

Socks Whitmore

Socks Whitmore is a neuroqueer producer, director, actor, voice artist, writer, composer, educator, and self-described “professional overachiever” rooted in voice, text, & accessibility. Their artistic practice spans from live performance to digital media to print, including music theater, choral music, audio dramas, video games, poetry, short fiction, op-eds, and more.

Socks has been produced by New Musicals Inc, Overtone Industries, & Feminist Fairytales, and published by American Composers Forum, Sappho Small Talk, Translash Media, Queer Quarterly, & more. On fancier occasions, they’ve performed in renowned spaces such as the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall, and Sydney Opera House.

To top it all off, Socks is the company manager of trans vocal group 8TPS, the communications lead at the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA), a staff member at the gender-expansive Bolero Game Studio, and recipient of Celebration Theatre’s 2024 Vibrant Voice award.