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Eleanor Academia
Ken Atchity
Thomas E. Backer, Ph.D.
Molly Barnes
Stephen Benjamin,
CPA, MBA, CFP
Tarabu Betserai Kirkland
Phil Borden, Ph.D.
Marcy Hinand Cady
Sarah S. Conley, LLP
Yolanda Davis Overstreet
Jill Dominguez
Patrick Ela
Ashley Emenegger
Debra Esparza
Dudley W. "Skip" Gill
Charlotte Gusay
Thomas B. Harris
D. Jean Hester
Nancy Hytone Leb
Charmaine Jefferson
Jackie Kain
Luc Leestemaker
Titus Levi, Ph.D.
Lisa Lynne
Jay W. MacIntosh
Gail Matsu
Gil Moralesi
Marilyn Payne, C.P.A.
David Perry
David Plettner, J.D.
Faith Raiguel, C.P.A.
Mari Riddle
Frank Romero
Katherine Ruiz
Gregory Rutchik
Michael Sakamoto
Allison Sampson
Hope Tschopik Schneider
Peter Schneider
Patrick Scott
Judith Teitelman
Linda Vallejo
Greg Victoroff
Nancy Walch
Morrie Warshawski
Judith Luther Wilder
Jan Williamson
Terry Wolverton
SanSan Wong
Jerry Yoshitomi

CCI TRAINERS & COUNSELORS
 

Eleanor Academia is an ethnomusicologist and the founder of the World Kulintang Institute. She is also a producer, an engineer, a composer, a radio host, and the founder of the heavy metal rock band, Black Swan. A former Sony and Columbia recording artist, Eleanor reached the top of the Billboard charts for her recording of “Adventure”. Her latest CD is called “When You Live” and features an All Star list of artists such as Rikki Rocket from Poison, Steve Smith from Journey, Carmine Appice from Rod Stewart’s band and Chicago drummer Oscar Seaton. Eleanor also teaches “The History of Rock & Roll” for the Los Angeles Unified School District and for the Music Center Education Program. She both trains and counsels for CCI.

Ken Atchity is a former professor of comparative literature (UCLA, Occidental), the author of “Writing Treatments That Sell” and “Publish Your Novel: A Complete Guide to Making the Right Publisher Say Yes”. He is also the founder of Atchity Entertainment International, Inc. (AEI), a full-service publishing and production agency currently producing “Ripley”, a film slated to be directed by Tim Burton and to star Jim Carrey. Other AEI projects include a television series with Joe Montana and Tom Mitchell based on Montana-Mitchell’s best seller, “The Winning Spirit” and “Higher Ground” for Arts & Entertainment, a movie based on Hurricane Katrina and Charity Hospital experiences. Ken’s CCI workshop is called “Getting Your Work Read, Published and Produced”.

Thomas E. Backer, PhD is a licensed psychologist who has worked with artists for more than 30 years, concentrating on challenges like stress management and balancing work and personal life. He also consults with arts organizations, ranging from the Directors Guild of America, the union for film directors, to Pacific Northwest Ballet, which he recently helped lead through a year-long organizational transformation. He is president of the nonprofit Human Interaction Research Institute, which for 46 years has studied innovation and change in the nonprofit sector, and he is Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology at UCLA Medical School. In his own creative life Tom writes and produces educational films, and has had one play published, as well as many books and scientific articles.

Molly Barnes has had multiple careers as an art dealer, art critic, curator, radio and TV personality and as a gallery owner on both the East and West Coasts. She has represented and / or exhibited artists Willem de Kooning, John Baldessari, Les Levine, Gronk, Mark Kostabi and dozens of other contemporary artists. Molly is also the author of “How to Get Hung: A Guide for Emerging Artists”. Molly offers workshops for CCI artists through the Arts Boot Camps, Arts Tune Ups, and the regular CCI class schedule.
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Stephen Benjamin, CPA, MBA, CFP, teaches “Tax Tips for Artists”. He is currently a sole practitioner whose financial services practice focuses on self-employed clients and those in the arts and entertainment world. However, his philosophy embraces the concept that financial planning is necessary for everyone, not just the wealthy. He believes that everyone should have a basic understanding of their tax responsibilities and a healthy relationship with their money. In addition to his business credentials, Stephen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Dramatic Arts from York University in Toronto and has experience as a stand-up comic, improve artist, actor and writer.
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Tarabu Betserai Kirkland is an arts consultant who has worked in the nonprofit, media and management sectors for the past thirty years. He possesses a wide range of skills, including planning, organizational development, fund raising, facilitation, and writing. He has been a producer, a public broadcaster, and has served as General Manager for KPFK, as a mentor for the Festival Encouragement Project, and as a consultant for the California Arts Council, the World Festival of Sacred Music, the Flintridge Foundation, Cal Tech Presents, the Public Corporation for the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs. Tarabu supports CCI as a Business Mentor.
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Phil Borden, Ph.D., has been a professor at UCLA USC, and the University of the West, and has published widely on management and finance topics.  He has designed tools still in use for financing micro and small businesses.  He has founded and built arts and high technology businesses, served as CEO for an entrepreneurial women's nonprofit, an association of Asian American Business owners, and a company for entrepreneurs seeking private capital.  He sits on several for- and nonprofit boards.  Dr. Borden teaches CCI's “Financing Your Project” workshop.
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Marcy Hinand Cady, has worked for 18 years in the arts and foundation fields. She is an independent consultant and has worked as a facilitator and workshop leader on a wide range of planning and evaluation projects. She co-authored, with Paul Connolly, a handbook on cultural participation planning, Increasing Cultural Participation: An Audience Development Planning Handbook for Presenters, Producers, and their Collaborators and a guide to performing arts documentation, For the Record: Documenting Performing Arts Audience Development Initiative. Marcy was formerly Program director for the Arts at the James Irvine Foundation in San Francisco. Prior to that she worked as a Senior Consultant for the TCC Group in New York City, working with John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. She has also directed national projects for the Ford Foundation and Lila Wallace-reader's Digest Fund.
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Sarah S. Conley, LLP, is the managing partner for Rosen Feig Golland & Lunn LLP, a law practice that emphasizes business, entertainment, art law and intellectual property. She has taught classes on “Business and the Law” for artists at CCI and leads a regular weekend series of lectures at the California Institute of the Arts. She frequently publishes articles on intellectual property protection and general business concepts for arts and legal journals. Most recently her article “The Relevance of Authenticity in the Art Market: A Survey of Claims and a Proposed Solution” appeared in the Art and Museum Law Journal. Sarah served as President of the Board of the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions from 2003 - 2005 and prior to that, as a Board Member for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. She was a Board Member of the Northwest Lawyers and Artists, and is an Art Law Attorney Member of Legal Counsel International. She is licensed to practice law in California, New York, the District of Columbia, Oregon and Washington.
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Yolanda Davis Overstreet is the Principal of The WestWork Group, a design and graphics consultancy firm based in Culver City. Her clients range from self-employed businesses to LAX. She provides one-on-one counseling for arts groups and artists struggling with branding and marketing issues. Working with Yolanda helps artists and arts businesses put together effective printed materials to represent their work. She has offered Cluster Counseling sessions at CCI.
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Jill Dominguez is an expert in community investment. Through her company, the WRJ Group Inc., she has earned more than $60 million dollars in capital and investments for business development in communities across the United States. Most recently she spearheaded the development of the Rancho Santiago Community college District's (RSCCD) Digital Media Center (DMC. The 28,000 square foot facility combines education and business in the digital media arts industry. Additionally, Ms. Dominguez worked on the development of the University of Southern California iLab at the School of Engineering Technology Transfer. The iLab is a vision of what things such as manufacturing, office buildings and digital media arts can be if smarter technologies and processes are used. Her clients include; the Enterprise Foundation, University of California Irvine, Santa Barbara Community college District, South Louisiana Community College District, State of Louisiana Board of Regents & the Louisiana Recovery Authority, NASA Regional Technology Transfer Center, California State University Fullerton, School of Business and Economics Merced County Department of Business-Economic Opportunities.
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Patrick Ela is an arts consultant, an appraiser, and a sought after speaker at conferences and on arts panels around the country. He is the former Director of the Craft and Folk Arts Museum as well as the institution’s former Board President. Patrick serves on numerous grants panels and represents both corporate and private art collectors. He recently curated “Conversations”, an exhibition at the Museum of Natural History that featured the work of Tony Berlant, Paul McCarthy, Ed Moses, Lita Albuquerque, John Valadez, and Kim Abeles. Patrick serves on CCI’s Trainers Advisory Committee and is a trainer / co-host for the Arts Boot Camps.
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Ashley Emenegger teaches “An Artist’s Place is Everywhere” for CCI and also provides one-on-one counseling for visual artists. Ashley has been an active leader in the arts community for over eight years and in 2004, founded McLean Fine Art. As the former executive director of Gallery 825, she presented hundreds of critically recognized exhibitions and educational programs. Ashley is an exhibiting visual artist, a free lance curator, and a lecturer at MOCA, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, The Japanese American National Museum, Fullerton College, Pasadena City College, and at the Orange County Center for the Arts. She also organizes and runs regular and extremely popular tours to Downtown Art Galleries.
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Debra Esparza is a small business consultant with an expertise in non profit management. A former banker, she served as the Director of the Entrepreneurial Training Program for the University of Southern California and has consulted for the Los Angeles Times, Women’s Enterprise Development Corporation, Cal State Long Beach, and for SBDCs throughout Southern California. Debbie is currently the Executive Director for Girl Scouts of Greater Long Beach and teaches classes on “Finance and Business Planning” for CCI. She also serves as a CCI Counselor on issues related to Financial Planning.
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Dudley W. "Skip" Gill is the founder and President of Strategic Impact Marketing, helps organizations enhance performance through effective strategy development, business planning and innovative marketing programs. Prior to starting Strategic Impact Marketing, Skip held executive and management positions at premier Fortune 200 companies including PacfiCare, Express Scripts, Cendant and American Express. He received his MBA in marketing and finance from the University of Chicago and holds a BA in economics from Dartmouth College. Skip serves on the Executive Committee of the Long Beach City College Foundation and is a board member of the Council on Aging - Orange County.
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Charlotte Gusay is a trainer and counselor for aspiring and early to mid-career writers. She is the founder / owner of The Charlotte Gusay Literary Agency, a signatory to the Writers Guild. A former bookstore owner (George Sand, Books on Melrose), Charlotte’s agency represents both fiction and nonfiction books, selected children’s books with movie potential, and screenplays. Her literary areas of interest include adventure, contemporary fiction, feminist fiction, historical fiction, literary fiction, humor, travel, sports and multicultural fiction.
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Thomas B. Harris teaches a two-day seminar called “Managing Facilities, Managing Growth, and Managing Success” for CCI. He spent over twenty years with J.P. Morgan and Company in London and New York, rising to the position of vice president before he was thirty years old. As a financial planning expert, his seminars and workshops are in demand across the country. His clients include the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The James Irvine Foundation, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the National Association of Arts Funders.
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D. Jean Hester is the owner of Dive Studios, a graduate student at California Institute of the Arts, and a multi-media installation artist who has shown her work throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada. Formerly employed as a programmer for Jet Propulsion Lab, Toyota, and other large corporations located in California, Jean has acquired an extensive body of knowledge about marketing on the web. She is an early graduate of “Business of Art” and has been teaching “Marketing on the Web for Artists and Arts Organizations” for over three years.  Recent exhibitions and installations have been included in the inaugural show at LAAA's satellite gallery in Hermosa Beach (juried by Jeremy Strickland); the Aiden Riley Taylor Gallery; the Armory; and the 13th Annual International Symposium of Electronic Art, in San Jose.
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Nancy Hytone Leb is an arts management consultant and is currently the Director of Training at the Center for Cultural Innovation. Other clients include Theatre Bay Area, LA Stage Alliance and Syzygy Theatre. In addition to providing marketing and management guidance, Nancy develops and presents workshops on marketing concerns for artists and arts organizations. She entered the non-profit world in 1998 as a marketing consultant for the Business Volunteer for the Arts program in San Francisco. From 2000 - 2004, Nancy was the Director of Marketing and Development for Playhouse West in Walnut Creek. Her for profit years were spent in senior account management positions at three of the West Coast's largest advertising agencies.
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Charmaine Jefferson is the former Deputy and Acting Commissioner for the City of New York’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the former Executive Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem. She is the founder/owner of Kelan Resources and is currently the Executive Director of the California African American Museum of Art in Los Angeles. Charmaine is currently on the Board of Directors of the California State Alliance, on the Executive Committee of ArtsLA, and recently co-chaired the Mayor’s Arts Council Facilities Committee, a body that produced the report “Arts and Culture Priorities for the City of Los Angeles”. Her workshop for CCI was entitled “Get Visible, Sell Tickets”, and was designed to help artists think strategically, get focused, track customers, and reach new audiences. She was also a keynote speaker at CCI’s REDCAT “Business of Art” program.
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Jackie Kain is the Vice President of New Media for public television station KCET. She is an Emmy Award winner, a national grants panelist and a speaker on new media at conferences in the United States, Europe and China. A former consultant to the ground-breaking Video Annex at the Long Beach Museum of Art, Jackie has also worked on cutting edge new media projects in Paris, London, and New York. Her workshop, “Anatomy of a Website and DVD”, is designed to help independent producers “think smart” about outreach, intellectual property, insurance and other issues of critical importance to producers of both fiction and documentary film.
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Luc Leestemaker is a highly successful visual artist whose work is exhibited nationally and internationally. Two retrospective museum exhibitions of Luc’s work were held in the US and Europe in 2004. During this same year, “Swimming Through the Clouds”, a documentary about his life and work, was screened at a number of film festivals around the world and was broadcast on LINK TV, an arts and culture network. Luc became a U.S. citizen in 2003 and in 2005 decided to pay back a society that had been so generous to him by establishing the Art Fund Corporation to assist other artists create sustainable careers.
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Titus Levi, Ph.D., is an economist and an arts consultant whose clients include musicians, writers, and visual artists. He is a member of the Donald Brinegar Singers, has been an Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, produced many jazz and ethnic music concerts including A Day of Music in Long Beach, was the director of the Music Program for the Los Angeles Festival, has served as a Board Member for the Jazz Bakery, a consultant for the Getty Institute, and a radio host for KUSC and KPFK. He is a Counselor for CCI.
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Lisa Lynne is a veteran musician and performer who has sold over half a million albums of original music featuring her Celtic harp. From humble beginnings she has ascended the ladder of success to starting her own production company and recording studio.  Having signed with the prestigious Windham Hill and New Earth Record labels, she simultaneously launched her own label Lavender Sky Music.  Her last four album releases have placed in the top 20 Billboard music chart, ("Hopes & Dreams" reaching #6) as well as holding top spots in the Celtic, New Age, and world music radio airplay charts.  She supports CCI as both a trainer and counselor.
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Jay W. MacIntosh is a Los Angeles attorney practicing in the areas of Entertainment and the Arts, Music Law, Intellectual Property, Corporate Formation, Contracts, Real Estate; Bankruptcy and Employment Law.  The former President of the Board of Directors for Women in Film and a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel of the Academy of Television Arts & Science, Ms. MacIntosh is also a former actress of Film, Television, Commercials and Theater and a member of SAG, AFTRA and ASCAP.
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Gail Matsui has worked at Japan America Theatre for over twenty years in positions ranging from Director of Marketing and Community Relations to Senior Program Manager of Performing Arts. She previously worked for the UCLA Center for Performing Arts as their Marketing Director, and as the Marketing / Public Relations Director for the Music Center Operating Company. Over the years, Gail has presented Hiroshima, KODO, Bella Lewitzky’s Dance Company, Rosanna Gamson’s Dance Company, Daniel Ho, Darlene Ahuna, Ravi Shankar, Loretta Livingston and Dancers, and hundreds of other performing artists. She has provided a number of marketing and press relations workshops as a CCI trainer and also serves as an Arts Tune Up trainer.
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Gil Morales engineer/producer, has helped recording artists bring their creative vision to fruition for over twenty five years.  In addition to his work with Grammy winning artists such as B.B. King, Lyle Lovett, Linda Ronstadt and Nati Cano, he has worked extensively with independent artists in the World Music, New Age and Gospel markets.  Mr. Morales shares his vast experience in many areas of the music industry
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Marilyn Payne, C.P.A., is the CFO for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Prior to assuming the CFO role at the Museum, she consulted for nonprofit organizations such as Deaf West Theater, Art Center College of Design, The California Endowment, the Colburn Foundation, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. She previously worked as an audit manager in the nonprofit division for Grant Thornton LLP. She is a Counselor for CCI artists interested in creating realistic budgets and financial plans.
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David Perry has generated extensive media coverage - print, online, TV and radio - for a variety of clients. He introduced many clients to the Internet and developed their online communication strategies. As a writer he has contributed to a number of national publications and written on textbook, The Media How-To Guide for Nonprofits. David developed an original and international media database, including Internet addresses, with more than 10,000 contacts and his clients have been featured on national and international media. Current clients include Bay Area National Dance Week, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Lighthouse for the Blind, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, SF Girls Chorus, San Francisco International Arts Festival and Theatre of Yugen. David lectures at San Francisco State and the California Institute of Arts. In 2006, he was asked by Grants for the Arts and the SF Visitors Bureau to teach a series of PR basics to the arts community.
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David Plettner, J.D. is Co-Founder of The Cultural+Planning Group, a consulting firm based in Los Angeles and Honolulu.  C+PG works with leading arts and cultural organizations, philanthropic foundations, and government agencies to strengthen arts and cultural communities and economies.  Clients include Hawaii Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.  A retired modern dancer, David toured internationally with the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company and Loretta Livingston & Dancers.  He hold a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law, a B.A. from Wesleyan University, and was a special student in dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

"I am inspired by the creativity of arts and cultural communities that I have worked with around the country.  I find that communities that value and support their arts and cultural economies have greater vitality; citizens of these communities better understand the uniqueness of their lives and they celebrate their sense of place."
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Faith Raiguel, C.P.A., is Chief Operating Officer of the Autry National Center, and oversees all aspects of operations, including finance, facilities, security, maintenance and retail. Prior to her work with the Autry, her clients included the Los Angeles Opera, The Music Center of Los Angeles County, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Monica has also served as Vice President of Operations for Disney Animation and as CFO for the Center Theater Group of Los Angeles. Her workshop for CCI is titled “Converting Your Planning Into Real Budgets”.
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Mari Riddle, is Regional Director of Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) Los Angeles Services. PCV, provides resources and capital to businesses that have the potential to bring significant economic gains to low/moderate income communities. She is a committee member of VEDC's SBA Microloan credit Committee and the Los Angeles Arts Loan Fund. Prior to joining, PCV, Mari was Executive Director of TELACU Community Capital (TCC). There she was responsible for the strategic development, management, and capitalization of a $6.5+ million dollar CDF that provided small business loans, business management workshops, and resources and referrals to small businesses operating in the low-to-moderate income communities of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Mari is also the former Executive Director of the Coalition for Women's Economic Development (CWED), a pioneer microenterprise development organization.
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Frank Romero is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work appears in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Carnegie Museum and in other museums throughout Europe and Mexico. A well-known muralist, Frank was one of the founders of Los Four, and has painted murals for clients as varied as the Olympic Arts Festival and the Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County. He teaches a studio class for CCI artists on photographing art work.
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Katherine Ruiz received her B.S. in Accounting in 1983 and worked in the private sector until 1995. At that time, she went to work for Williams and Tucker CPA and for the past eleven years has performed a wide range of accounting services in the nonprofit sector, including the arts and entertainment industries. Katie participates in CCI’s Arts Tune Up programs and also counsels individual artists on tax issues.
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Gregory Rutchik is the founding lawyer of The Arts and Technology Law Group. The firm represent creators, technologists and businesses in business and infringement litigation and in negotiations of the business agreements. Greg received a J.D. in 1992 from Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Dean's List. He received a B.A. in American Studies from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1987. Greg was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Tokyo Graduate of Law from 1992 - 1993. His focus was the Licensing of technology by Japanese information technology companies. Greg has traveled throughout the world, lived in Tokyo for four years after college and law school and speaks fluent Japanese and is also conversant in French. In 2005, Gregory received his LLM in Taxation with honors from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California.
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Michael Sakamoto has been Program Coordinator of 18th Street Arts Center since 2000 and a freelance arts publicist since 1996 whose past clients include the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Cal State Los Angeles, Rachel Rosenthal, Oguri, and others. Michael is also a dance theater and interdisciplinary performance artist whose solo and ensemble works have toured to Europe, Mexico, and throughout the USA.
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Allison Sampson’s career has spanned the worlds of banking, finance and the arts. She has served as both the Development Director and the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Festival, as the Assistant Managing Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and as the Director of the Colburn Foundation. She has her own consulting company with a clientele that includes Plaza de la Raza, Deaf West Theatre, United Cambodian Community, the Department of Water and Power, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Women Incorporated, and arts organizations throughout California. Allison currently is the Coordinator for CCI’s Arts Loan Fund and also offers workshops to CCI artists on “Financing Your Project”.
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Hope Tschopik Schneider teaches “Planning, Plain and Simple”, the workshop that always kicks off CCI’s flagship series, “The Business of Art”. Her skills as a planning strategist have been employed and enjoyed by Grand Performances, California Institute of the Arts, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, The Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and The Pacific Asia Museum. In a previous incarnation, Hope served as the Associate Director of the Olympic Arts Festival during the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles. More recently, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and made it to the Base Camp of Mount Everest. She has also traveled to the Galapagos Islands, to Patagonia, and to most of Nova Scotia’s bays and coves. She is dedicated to her family, explorations of the spirit, her Book Club, good food and good friends, not necessarily in that order.
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Peter Schneider has been involved in theater for over thirty years. After leaving the Olympic Arts Festival in 1984, he went to work for Disney where he ultimately served as Chair of Disney Studios. A Tony Award winner for the stage production of “Lion King”, Peter is currently involved in directing and producing live theater in venues from Los Angeles to New York. He is also an avid Bridge player and recently won a Gold Medal at the World Bridge Championship in Poland. Peter is also dedicated to his family, explorations of the spirit, Hope’s Book Club, good food and good friends, necessarily not in that order.
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Patrick Scott studied fine art with artists Robert Irwin, Vija Celmins, Ed Moses, Tony Delap, and Kenneth Price at the University of California at Irvine, where he received the Chancellor’s Award, a President’s Fellowship for Painting and graduated cum laude. He currently is vice president of business development for Invent Now, a division of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. Previously, he was the development director for LA’s BEST, and has held key positions with Independent Feature Project West, with Humanitas and with the Los Angeles Festival. In his spare time, he produces the innovative concert series, “Jacaranda, Music at the Edge of Santa Monica”. He is a counselor for CCI.
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Judith Teitelman teaches “Best Foot Forward” for CCI. She brings more than twenty years experience in planning, revenue generation and management strategies for grassroots, mid-size and large arts organizations to her consulting practice. She has been a Planning Consultant to the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Technical Assistance Specialist to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Her other clients include PEN Center USA West, SCI-Arc, Japanese American National Museum, LA Freewaves New Media Festival, and Collage Dance Theatre. She is a dedicated world traveler and is currently working on a novel about India.
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Linda Vallejo has received numerous fellowships, awards and commissions including the Brody Arts Fund Fellowship, Outstanding Young Woman of America, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Artist Award and the Comision Femenil de Los Angeles Latinas Making History Award. She has had solo exhibitions at the Carnegie Art Museum, the Latino Museum in Pomona, the Patricia Correia Gallery, SPARC and the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Carnegie Art Museum, the US Santa Barbara Library, and Self-Help Graphics. Linda has owned and managed her own grantswriting business for over twenty years and currently offers grantswriting seminars throughout the country.
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Greg Victoroff, a partner at Rohde and Victoroff, literally wrote the book on “Poetic Justice” and co-authored “The Visual Artists’ Business and Legal Guide”. As a lawyer and as an author of legal guides for both visual and performing artists, Greg teaches workshops on copyright, collections, trademarks, and contracts for clients in Honolulu, Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. When not protecting artists in the courtroom, Greg plays the role of Super Dad to his two young sons and their giant dog. A trained orchestra musician, he also sits in with numerous bands and musical groups, including Santana, Huey Lewis and the News, and Bobby McFerrin. He is a member of California Lawyers for the Arts. His workshop for CCI is called “Copyright, Collections and Contracts’.
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Nancy Walch founded Walch Consulting, LLC in 1973. Walch Consulting provides executive coaching and strategic planning services to corporate giving programs, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations. She enjoys the creativity involved in responding to the diversity of her clients' needs, including: coaching nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs to take their vision to the next level; refocusing the efforts of well-established corporate foundations and nonprofit organizations, and guiding the development of new organizations. Previously, Walch was Founder of an Experimental Education Program at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Director, Los Angeles Junior Arts Center Gallery (curating interactive art exhibits for youth and families), and Co-Founder of Museum Educators of Southern California. Nancy has served on the Corporate Committee of Southern California Grantmakers, and the Executive Committee of ArtTable (a national organization of professional women in leadership positions in the visual arts).
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Morrie Warshawski has worked in the nonprofit arts sector for over thirty years as an administrator, consultant, facilitator, teacher and writer. His practice has included work with State and Regional Government Agencies (South Carolina, Missouri, Michigan, California), Foundations (Bush, MacArthur, Pew Charitable Trust), The President's Commission on the Arts and the Humanities, and numerous nonprofit organizations in many disciplines (Operation Shoestring, California Coalition for Youth, Michigan Alzheimer's Organization, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, St. Louis Black Repertory Company, and others.) He was Executive Director of three nonprofits (including Bay Area Video Coalition). Warshawski has extensive experience in the area of strategic planning. He designed and edited a Website devoted to strategic planning essays for the National Endowment for the Arts called LESSONS LEARNED; and for many years was one of the consultants for the NEA's Advancement Program, which provided fifteen months of planning assistance to organizations throughout the US.
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Judith Luther Wilder is co-founder and current Senior Program Consultant to the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI).  She was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Women Incorporated (WI), a national organization designed to serve women entrepreneurs, and Executive Director and Founder of the American Woman's Economic Development Corporation.  Luther Wilder is also the founder/owner of ALW & Associates, a firm whose clients have included Arts International, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Center Theatre Group and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among many others. As the Executive Director of the 1990 Los Angeles Festival, a $5 million event that involved 22 countries and over 1500 artists, Luther Wilder helped to produce the work of hundreds of international artists in the United States. She has also coordinated numerous special arts events and economic development projects in Japan, China, and Cambodia and is the author of three books of poetry, a textbook for artists and a book published in December 1999, entitled "Breaking Through the Clutter."
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Jan Williamson is the co-Executive Director of 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.  Her class on "Artists Residencies and Internships" has been offered to artists through CCI for the past three years.  Jan is actively involved in developing housing for artists and provided a leadership role in restoring the budget of the Cultural Affairs Department budget when it was threatened in 2004.  She is a member of the Arts Commission for the City of Santa Monica and serves on their Live / Work Committee.  She also serves on the Board of Directors for a local Tibetan Buddhist temple and when not working, can be found drumming with a group of Brazilian samba percussionists.
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Terry Wolverton owns and operates Consult Her, a firm whose clients include arts organizations, small businesses and individual artists, including Cornerstone Theater, Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Venice Arts Mecca, Collage Dance Theater, and to the dozens of arts organization under contract to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Terry is a frequent grants panelists for the California Community Foundation, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the City of Pasadena, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. She is also an author whose most recent book, “Embers”, a novel written in poetic form, has been critically received and is being adapted into a screenplay. Together with trainer Judith Teitelman, Terry teaches “Best Foot Forward” for CCI. She also is a popular counselor to aspiring writers.
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SanSan Wong has over 20+ years of working in the arts. She is an independent arts consultant and is currently the Program Director of Cultural Equity Grants for the San Francisco Arts Commission. As a consultant she is focused on the exploration of new aesthetics, the impact of changing demographics and increased internationalism on arts and cultural practice, strategic planning, and strengthening support systems for brining artists and communities together. Her clients have included: The Ford Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Leveraging Investments in Creativity, Fund for Folk Culture, The Asia Society, among others. She has worked throughout the United States, and in the Asia Pacifica region. Her other institutional experience includes as executive Director of the National Performance Network, and before that, Director of Development and Special Initiatives at Theater Artaud (San Francisco).
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Jerry Yoshitomi’s company is called Meaning Matters. He is a Cultural Facilitator and provides consulting services for organizations such as Leveraging Investment in Creativity (LINC), a national initiative designed to improve the lives / conditions of artists. He chaired the National Task Force on Presenting and Touring the Performing Arts, which resulted in the seminal report, “An American Dialogue”. Jerry chaired three panels at the National Endowment for the Arts, served four years on the California Arts Council, was Treasurer of the Music Center of Los Angeles County and was the Executive Director of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center.
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