State of the Arts Summit

Samanta Theisen

Samantha Theisen (she/her) has been in public education for over 30 years, and has served as an administrator in the San Gabriel Unified School District since 2015, currently as the Sr. Program Administrator – Arts, CTE, and Dual Enrollment. Previously, she taught music at Moorpark High, Mesa Verde Middle, and La Canada Elementary Schools, and was the Director of Education for the New West Symphony. Samantha holds degrees or certificates from Cal State Northridge, Southern Oregon University, and the UCLA Principal Leadership Institute, and holds a Masters degree in Conducting. She is a professional saxophonist and jazz musician who performed and recorded extensively in a past life, and periodically in this one. She is a mother of three and wife of a high school music teacher.

Lindsey Tomiko Kunisaki

Lindsey Tomiko Kunisaki (she/her) is a researcher, evaluator, and curriculum designer exploring the intersection of cultural sustainability, educational equity, and creativity development.

Lindsey is Arts for LA’s 2024 Laura Zucker Fellow for Policy & Research. She also works as Research & Evaluation Specialist with the UCLA Visual and Performing Arts Education (VAPAE) program and an independent evaluator and curriculum designer. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University, Lindsey previously earned a Master’s degree (Ed.M.) in arts education at Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) at UCLA.

Since 2010, Lindsey has been working in arts education with local and international organizations (including UNESCO, Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, Sustainable Little Tokyo, and local governments, among others). For her work she has also been awarded Gates Millennium Scholarship, Gilman International Scholarship, Gluck Fellowship, and others.

Larry Laboe

Larry Laboe (he/him) is Co-Founder and Executive Director of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), an organization championing filmmakers and storytellers worldwide. Larry is a member of the Producers Guild of America and previously served as a Faculty Member at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). He is a Board Member of the BRIC Foundation and Film Festival Alliance (FFA) and is a Committee Member of SAGindie. He has served as a Peer Group Leader for the LA County Department of Arts and Culture Arts Internship Program, and participated multiple times as a grants panelist for the California Arts Council and LA County Department of Arts and Culture.

Larry has produced content directed by talent including James Franco and Joseph Gordon Levitt for some of the world’s leading brands, networks and studios, including Disney, NBC, VEVO, Dailymotion, MTV, DEFY Media, Comedy Central, Verizon, Amazon, Complex Media, Mountain Dew, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Verizon and Smuckers. Many of these productions have been official selections at top festivals such as South by Southwest (SXSW) and have won major awards including a BANFF World Media Festival Rockie Award.

Kristin Sakoda

Kristin Sakoda (she/her) 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. 

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.