OFFSITE PROGRAM @ CAAM: POINTS OF ACCESS: SPEED MENTORING MIXER

Karen Atkinson is an artist living and working in Los Angeles and Lone Pine, CA. She has a wide range of experience as an artist, but also as a nonprofit founder, curator, instigator, and collaborator. She founded GYST/Getting Your Sh*t Together officially in 2005, creating an art project that works to make life better for artists by providing relevant information and resources, software to manage your art career, support services and reviews, and individual consultations and public and group workshops. She has shown in multiple countries and has an extensive curatorial history. She has taught at CalArts for 31 years and has run multiple businesses as an artist. She will share her knowledge, open up your ideas of what being an artist means, and answer any questions you may have about being an artist on your own terms.

Karen Mack is the founder and Executive Director of LA Commons, an organization dedicated to promoting Los Angeles’ diverse neighborhoods through locally based, interactive, artistic, and cultural programming. Headquartered in Leimert Park, LA Commons has implemented cultural development initiatives, art projects, festivals, and tours in communities across Los Angeles in partnership with a wide range of organizations She holds an MPA from Harvard University and an MBA from the John Anderson School of Management at UCLA. She is currently a member of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission.

Letitia Fernandez Ivins is a Senior Manager of Transportation Planning (Arts & Design) with Los Angeles Metro. She works with artists and collaborates across disciplines and communities to produce art experiences that amplify the texture of the place, enhance the transit experience and support mobility for people. Projects within her portfolio range from large-scale integrated permanent artwork installations to community-based creative placemaking/keeping initiatives. As an educator and culture worker, she supports new platforms for artistic practice at the intersection of art, social engagement, health, and urbanism.

Pauline Kanako Kamiyama is the Director of the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission which provides leadership by and for the City to support arts and cultural affairs; recommends policies and programs that develop and promote artistic excellence in the community. Under her purview are four focus areas: Youth Arts, Economic Growth, Creative Spaces and Engagement with programs including grants, art in public places, community gallery, youth and adult poet laureates, city historian, Mayor’s Awards in the Arts through the Culture Connects lens of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusivity. Most recently, Pauline is the former Deputy Director of Civic Art for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission where she was responsible for planning, developing, and implementing what is becoming one of the largest public art programs in the country. She created and managed the Creative Strategist Initiative that embeds artists in County Departments as part of the Arts Commission’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative.

Ms. Kamiyama has 20 years of experience in the arts and culture sector, primarily in civic and community-based institutions. Ms. Kamiyama is a strong advocate for community engagement with innovative problem solving and collaborative strategies. She has a particular interest in creative place keeping that brings artists, residents, business owners, civic and community stakeholders together to assess and build upon the unique physical and social character of a place through creative activities. She has worked on community development initiatives around issues of homelessness, racial diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability. Ms. Kamiyama is a public speaker and presenter. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from CSU, Fullerton, post-graduate studies in public administration.

Rosalyn Escobar is the Grants Manager for the L.A. County Department of Arts and Culture where she oversees the Organizational Grant Program, which provides general operating support to nonprofit arts organizations throughout the region. Prior to her work with the Department of Arts and Culture, Ms. Escobar worked with various community-based organizations including the Ford Theatres, LA Commons, Venice Arts, and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy. As an advocate and passionate arts administrator, she is also a former board member of the Las Fotos Project and is a graduate of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute. She holds a BA in Latin American and Latin@ Studies and a Master of Urban Planning.