2024 Arts Leadership Roundtable

Thursday, June 13th, 8:30 AM to 5PM at the Miners Foundry

Join us for the kick-off event for the first ever Arts and Culture Master Plan for Nevada County. Meet the experts who will be leading this process and ensure that your voice is heard.

This is a rare opportunity to gather together in person to share our perspectives, discuss our industry’s most pressing cultural, artistic and professional issues, and begin to co-create a shared vision for the future of arts and culture in Nevada County.

With the re-designation of our California Cultural Districts, and the results of our most recent Arts & Economic Prosperity study recently out, we are now entering into a year-long Arts & Culture Master Planning process for the whole county. This is a moment for asking big questions, learning from one another, and growing.

Join Us for a Day of Connection

You will be in the company of arts and culture and civic leaders from across Nevada County—east and west—and we will be introducing for the first time the consultant who will be guiding us all through the process of creating the county’s first ever Arts and Culture Master Plan.

Here are a just a few of those you will be spending the day with:

David Holland, Deputy Director at Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), and Strategic Associate, Scansion, The Future of Arts & Culture in Nevada County

Randy Cohen, VP of Research & Policy at Americans for the Arts, Showing Your Impact: Arts & Economic Prosperity and the Arts Calculator

Mitchel Anzivino, Vice President, Global Tourism & Destination Advisory, JLL Consulting, leading Visit California’s new Regional Tourism Strategic Plans

Colleen Dalton, CEO, Visit Truckee Tahoe

Mo Harper-Desir, Executive Director of Mo HD Creates, Director of Administration at Access Humboldt, and Co-founder of Black Humboldt, Decolonizing Arts Organizations & Art Spaces

Julie Baker, CEO of California for the Arts and California Arts Advocates, What Happens Next? Trends, Threats, Opportunities, Action & YOU

Becky Barton, CEO of People415, The Art of HR for Employers (bring your awkward questions)

Pamela Hurt-Hobday, President/CEO, Pamela Hurt Associates, Demystifying Succession Planning – Building a Model to Ensure Leadership Continuity

Keynote Speakers:

Shelly Covert

Shelly Covert is Executive Director of Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), whose mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate Nisenan Culture. Nisenan Tribal homelands lay within the Bear and Yuba River watersheds. The Nisenan are the indigenous people who were here before the Gold Rush and they remain in their ancestral homelands today. Shelly is a singer / song writer, artist and tradition keeper within her Tribal group. She works with environmental and social justice causes and advocates for the Nisenan people and the restoration of their Federal recognition and Tribal sovereignty. Having Shelly among us is a reminder. She brings empathy, knowledge, wisdom and meaning to our role as State-Local Partner with the California Arts Council and, in turn, we try to shine a light on the extraordinary work of the Nisenan in restoring recognition for the wealth of truths and traditions that their culture and history offer our California Cultural Districts within Nevada County.

David Holland

David is Deputy Director at Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), and a long-time partner of Scansion where he is Strategic Associate. He has worked for UNESCO, Salzburg Global Seminar, and the Inter-American Development Bank to United States Artists and Think of Us, a research and design lab on child welfare. At WESTAF, David guides its advocacy and public policy programs; leads external relations; and spearheads consulting services to organizations throughout a region of 16 states and jurisdictions and nationally. He has co-designed WESTAF’s Arts and the Rural West gathering; co-directed the development of the state of Washington's Creative Economy Strategic Plan; launched the Creative Vitality™ Summit, a global conference on the creative economy; authored the Creative Economies and Economic Recovery report in partnership with NASAA; established the Western Arts Advocacy Network; developed relief, resilience, and other special grantmaking programs for artists and organizations in the West and the Pacific; and secured multi-million dollar private and public investment for WESTAF’s programs. David also serves as the Co-Chair of the Creative States Coalition, a national coalition of citizen advocacy groups and their partners.

Mitchel Anzivino

An expert in strategic planning for tourism, Mitchel Anzivino is Vice President, Global Tourism & Destination Advisory, JLL Consulting. JLL is leading Visit California’s Regional Tourism Strategic Plan for Gold Country, and with Visit California midway through new strategic tourism plans for each of California’s twelve tourism regions, JLL Consulting is helping tourism stakeholders, residents and civic partners prepare for the future in their destinations.

Randy Cohen

Randy Cohen is Vice President of Research and Policy at Americans for the Arts—the national advocacy organization for the arts—where he has been empowering arts advocates since 1991. Cohen is known for balancing rigorous research methods with accessible and actionable results. His work at Americans for the Arts has provided new perspectives on the nonprofit arts. He recently published Arts & Economic Prosperity 6: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts & Culture Organizations and their Audiences and Americans Speak Out About the Arts in 2023, a national public opinion study about the arts.

Randy has been a policy specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts, founded the San Diego Theatre for Young Audiences, and worked in medical research for Stanford University and Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. His board work includes the League of Historic American Theaters. Randy is a past Chair of the Takoma Park Arts & Humanities Commission, during which time the Commission completed a cultural plan, established the city’s Poet Laureate and public art programs, and led the development of a million-dollar conversion of the city council chambers into a performing arts space.

Julie Baker

Julie has been CEO of California for the Arts and California Arts Advocates, California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations, since 2018, Julie Baker has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities by building coalition across the for- and non-profit sectors of California’s creative industries, producing a month-long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April, and fighting for resources and legislation to serve and protect artists and cultural workers. She serves as the California State Captain to Americans for the Arts' National Arts Action Summit and on the State Arts Action Network Council and as the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. She is on the board of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council and was elected to the Nevada County School Board in November of 2020.

Mo Harper-Desir

Mo Harper-Desir is Executive Director at Mo HD Creates. As an arts activist working across the United States, she connects communities of all backgrounds to each other, offering arts-based services and education, racial equity workshops and facilitation, and performance arts and dance classes to enrich those around her. Mo’s ideas were birthed out of a love of mixed medias, social justice and implementing change into the world. As a media worker, Mo, actively works to create safe spaces for radical media creation and sharing, while addressing the issues and structures of inequalities surrounding  race, gender, class, poverty and more. Through art creation, services/techniques, social justice based education and community involvement, Mo creates accessible safe spaces for conversations and learning with full representation. Mo is a co-founder of Black Humboldt

Panelists & Presenters:

Silvi Alcivar

Since 2007, Silvi Alcivar, best known as the Poetry Store, has written some 100k poems for twice as many people. Her work lives in the moment two strangers meet over her red royal typewriter—the anonymity an invitation to speak, the typewriter keys a willing listener. In addition to being a visiting classroom artist and creating gallery installations, she’s worked for Google, Hermes, and Apple, been artist in residence for TedX SanDiego, Bioneers, and St. Supery Winery, featured in the SF Chronicle and KQED, and exhibited at the DeYoung Museum. Alongside The Watershed Research and Training Center, Silvi has been working on the Fire and Music Project. Fire and Music is funded by Upstate California Creative Corps, via Nevada County Arts Council as an administering organization for the California Arts Council.

Becky Barton

Becky is Chief Executive Officer at People415. Her HR background includes staffing, recruiting, and organizational development. She is recognized as a thought leader on optimizing performance for start-ups and companies on the move and aligning talent with strategy. She started her HR career in 1997 in staffing and has since led HR Strategy in non-profit, start-up, professional services and creative agency organizations. 

Kellie Cutler

Kellie Cutler is Program Manager for Truckee Cultural District, a partnership between Nevada County Arts Council, Truckee Arts Alliance, the Town of Truckee, Truckee Chamber, and Truckee Downtown Merchants Association. Kellie has served the Reno/Tahoe region non-profit sector for 23 years. Non-profit administration is her passion with a focus in strategic planning, community collaboration and creative fundraising. She has helped achieve benchmark goals for Nevada Arts Council, Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation, KidZone Museum, North Tahoe Arts and Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe. With a Masters in Arts Administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, she is committed to community leadership and engagement through her work serving on the board of the Truckee Chamber of Commerce and on committees for Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation and Tahoe Truckee Unified School District.

Colleen Dalton

Colleen is CEO at Visit Truckee Tahoe. She landed in Truckee in 1994 and spent the next 30 years of her career in tourism, from adventure travel to places like Tibet and Patagonia to brand executive roles in the ski industry (Sugar Bowl, Northstar California, Mammoth Mountain). Along the way, she earned an MBA in emerging technology, a personal passion. Post ski industry years, Colleen was the Director of Tourism & Economic Development for Truckee Chamber from 2015-2020 and then led the formation of Truckee’s first official tourism authority, Visit Truckee-Tahoe. Just published is the organization’s Two Year Strategic Plan for sustainable, balanced tourism that leans heavily on partnership and collaboration.

Daniela Fernández

Daniela Fernández, Mayor of Nevada City, is a dynamic and skillful applied theatre practitioner. With a Bachelors’s degree in Acting & Directing and a Masters’s Degree in Drama Therapy, she uses theater as a tool not only for storytelling but also for exploration, examination, change, and healing. Her theatre work spans myriad populations, including play formation and performance with LGBTQ+ youth, seniors, and adults with disabilities; drama therapy with incarcerated women and their families; Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed with adults and youth of color. Daniela knows firsthand the transformative powers of theatre and finds joy in engaging folks who want to explore the magic.

Brandon "GR8" Greathouse

Brandon "GR8" Greathouse Is a Musician, Dj, Emcee, Dancer, Community builder and all around music lover. His love for music gave him the ability to travel the US as the official host for World of Dance, not only as the man with the mic, but as a headliner and DJ. All while running two dance studios that have brought culture and life to the cities of Sacramento and Truckee. His charismatic way of teaching empowered his students with confidence, self worth, and the ability to work as a team. With six years of festival performances overseas, the stage is his comfort zone, from rocking mics with his lyrical abilities, to making the crowds jump from the energy he brings on the turntables. One thing is for sure, he knows how to get the crowd moving! He's not just good, he's GR8.

Heather Heckler

Heather Heckler is Program Manager for Grass Valley Nevada City Cultural District administered by Nevada County Arts Council in partnership with the Cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City, and Grass Valley and Nevada City Chambers. Heckler developed a love of the visual and performing arts while growing up in Nevada County. She was involved in local theater through Foothill Theatre Company’s apprenticeship program and worked as a stage manager for Foothill Theatre Company and Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra. Heather holds a bachelor’s degree in Chinese history and a masters degree in public history. She received a California Humanities grant for her Documenting Disability History project, an oral history of the disability rights movement in Nevada County. Before coming to Nevada County Arts Council, she served as the communications manager for Connecting Point and recently worked on the communications team in the County Executive Office.

Pamela Hurt-Hobday

Pamela is the President/CEO of Pamela Hurt Associates (PHA). She is a consultant specializing in marrying culture to strategy using  innovative organizational development techniques. PHA develops and designs  specialized training for Fortune 500/400 companies, government organizations, and non-profits emphasizing an innovative leadership development model based on Emotional Intelligence. A unique specialty of Pamela Hurt Associates is corporate, non-profit and multi-generational family held business succession planning.

Lindsey Jones

Lindsey Jones is a GIS Analyst with the County of Nevada. From Baltimore, Maryland, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography and environmental science. As a post-graduate, she received an EPA fellowship to work at the Chesapeake Bay Program, where she cultivated a love for all things cartography. She moved to Nevada County with her husband in 2018, where she now works as one of the principal mapmakers for the Nevada County government. She is responsible for providing mapping-support during wildfire emergencies, mapping the results of Nevada County elections, and most recently is partnering with Nevada County Arts Council to enhance their cultural assets web application.

Jullianne Nubla

Jullianne is a Design Strategist at Scansion. Blending her academic foundation with practical application, Jullianne has become a seasoned strategist with over eight years of diverse experience in community-focused design strategy. Her technical expertise in graphic design, web design, UI/UX, interior design and architecture is grounded in her Design degree from UC Davis. Starting out her career with freelance projects for small businesses in the Bay Area, Jullianne further honed her skills in brand strategy, content marketing, lead generation, public communications, copywriting, and social media strategy. Her focus later turned towards museums as she completed her Masters in Museum Studies at the University of San Francisco, discovering her passion for informal education and interpretation. Transitioning into larger, educational roles within the nonprofit and museum sphere, her versatile skill set in design and depth of experience in museum education reflects her dedication to crafting compelling designs and strategic solutions that leave a lasting impression.

Ross Travis

Ross Travis is an award-winning Bouffon, Physical Comedian and Circus Performer, who has studied with world renowned master pedagogues, including Dodi DiSanto, Giovanni Fusetti, Ronlin Foreman, Stephen Buescher, and Master Lu Yi. Ross’ lineage of training and experience allows him to create provocative performances combining circus and bouffon to develop extreme characters and tell stories from the fringes, igniting dialogue and change around ignored or taboo social issues. Ross has developed three shows focusing on the climate crisis, including his most recent Tempting Fate, a satirical sideshow entertainment reflecting the house of mirrors called climate change. It premiered at Little Boxes Theater in 2019. The show was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle by Lily Janiak and was nominated for seven Theatre Bay Area Awards, winning for Outstanding Creative Specialties in Mask Design. Tempting Fate is currently on a West Coast tour with stops in Point Arena, San Francisco and Arcata.

Eliza Tudor

Eliza is Executive Director at Nevada County Arts Council. Her experience as an arts leader spans three continents, from producing film and theatre in Australia, to opera, Ancient Greek theatre and ballet in the Sierra, She’s worked across sectors in the arts, as a Senior Commissioner for the UK's National Health Service, and as Senior Development Executive & International Strategist—Arts & Humanities at the University of Oxford. She has served the Board of Trustees of Magdalen Road Studios in Oxford and Rosetta Life – working nationally through the arts with people suffering life limiting illnesses, before accepting the role of Executive Director with Nevada County Arts Council in 2016. She is a board member for California Arts Advocates and California for the Arts, and serves the Leadership Council for CA Jobs First for the Capital Region. Eliza serves on the national Research Advisory Cohort for the Future of Arts Service Organizations, funded by the Mellon Foundation, and the Regional Advisory Committee for Visit California’s Tourism Strategic Plan for Gold Country.

Jen Rhi Winders

Rhi has created and worked within many grant funded non-profit programs, developing and administering evaluation tools in the human service field. She is Assistant Director of a county wide suicide prevention program in all high schools, and is familiar with outreach and reporting. She is both a poet and performance artist, a documentary filmmaker and taught digital storytelling with high schools for over 10 years.

9:00AM: Welcome

Osborn/Woods Hall

Welcome
Eliza Tudor, Executive Director, Nevada County Arts Council
Homeland Return
Shelly Covert, Tribal Council Spokesperson and Outreach Liaison, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe; Executive Director, California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP)
Setting Our Intentions & Expectations for the Day
Daniela Fernández, Mayor of Nevada City

9:15AM: The State of the Arts

Osborn/Woods Hall

Governor Newsom’s revision of the 24-25 California Budget includes a $10M cut to the California Arts Council and the elimination of the $12.5M to launch the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, translating as a 58% cut to local arts programs. Join the movement now to reverse these proposed cuts, and learn about the longer road ahead and the role you can play in advocating for the arts.

Julie Baker, Executive Director, California for the Arts & California Arts Advocates

9:30AM: Shaping the Future of Arts & Culture in Nevada County

Osborn/Woods Hall

David Holland, Deputy Director at Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and Strategic Associate at Scansion

Envisioning the future of the arts is a community effort. As we embark on a comprehensive arts and culture master planning and community engagement process, we'll identify opportunities for us to work collaboratively across sectors and develop a vision that deeply resonates with all of us. In this interactive session, we'll take the first step toward generating our shared vision.

During this fun, interactive and informative session we encourage folks to get up, move around, grab a coffee, and rejoin… Chelos Street Tacos will be onsite from 11:00AM with made-to-order food for purchase.

12:00PM: Lunch Break

Chelos Street Tacos will be onsite from 11:00AM with made-to-order food for purchase, and;

Roundtable Café in the Upper Gallery

12:30PM: Open Mic

Osborn/Woods Hall

Take to the mic to share news, information, needs, shoutouts, successes, partnership opportunities, and more. Limited to 2 minutes per person (this will be timed!).

12:50PM: Decolonizing Community Arts Organizations & Workspaces

Osborn/Woods Hall

Mo Harper-Desir, Executive Director of Mo HD Creates, Director of Administration at Access Humboldt, and Co-founder of Black Humboldt

An interactive, hands-on workshop where participants will conceptualize the impacts of colonization within community and art spaces, learn how it shows up even within equity efforts and how we can truly decolonize the spaces we create to support all walks of people. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of social justice, and techniques to enhance their own equity work.

1:50PM: Destination Art: Marketing Our Cultural Districts

Osborn/Woods Hall

Mitchel Anzivino, Vice President, Global Tourism & Destination Advisory, JLL Consulting, leading Visit California’s Regional Tourism Strategic Plan for Gold Country
Randy Cohen, Vice President of Research, Americans for the Arts
Colleen Dalton, CEO, Visit Truckee Tahoe
David Holland, Deputy Director at Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), and Strategic Associate, Scansion

Key initiatives are underway that will shape the way we think about and promote Nevada County into the future. The redesignation of our two California Cultural Districts, Visit California’s region by region tourism planning initiative, the County’s new Economic Development Action Plan, and the kickoff of to an Arts and Culture Master Plan for Nevada County. This panel discussion will span the philosophy of destination development, the big picture of Visit California’s work, the economic and social impacts of cultural tourism, and pathways to success. AND offer time for Q&A.

2:50PM: Your Choice of Breakout Sessions

Osborn/Woods Hall

The Creative Corps Model: The Arts as Solution Partner in addressing Community Needs and Priorities
—Jen Rhi Winders, Postcards from Earth
—Ross Travis, Where We Do Go From Here
—Brandon Greathouse, Empowered Voices
—Silvi Alcivar, Grantee, The Fire and Music Project

In May 2024, Nevada County Arts Council published its Upstate California Creative Corps Midpoint Impact Report, highlighting phenomenal creative achievement and economic impact in California’s northernmost rural regions since the program’s launch. Learn from six of our grantees about milestones in advancing social justice and civic engagement opportunities, public health access, and environmental issues and solutions.

Stone Hall

The Art of HR for Employers
—Becky Barton, CEO of People415

We’re living and working in the most highly-regulated state in the country and it feels like laws are changing all the time. If you are leading an organization or business, this session will help you as an employer build your HR survival toolkit. Bring your awkward questions to this highly interactive Q&A session with a seasoned HR professional.

Upper Gallery

Arts Marketing that Deeply Responds to People's Experiences
—Jullianne Nubla, Design Strategist, Scansion

The best marketing and communications strategies deeply respond to the type of meaningful experiences people are looking for. By tailoring our messages and communications channels to these experiences, we'll optimize our engagement and create effective strategies. In this session, we'll share ways to create these types of marketing and communications strategies.

3:50PM: Break

4:00PM: Your Choice of Breakout Sessions

Osborn/Woods Hall

Showing Your Impact: Arts & Economic Prosperity and the Arts Calculator
—Randy Cohen, VP Research & Policy at Americans for the Arts

New findings from Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6), show an amazing uplift in the impact of the arts in Nevada County. Learn about what the numbers mean for tourism and local business, and how to use the AEP6 Calculator to estimate your impact, tell your story, and position yourself for future investments.

Stone Hall

Demystifying Succession Planning – Building a Model to Ensure Leadership Continuity
—Pamela Hurt-Hobday, President/CEO, Pamela Hurt Associates

One of the most critical tools you can provide for your organization is a succession plan that strengthens the overall capability of the organization for future growth and needs. In this session, you will be starting your organizational balance sheet (think intellectual capital) in an interactive session where you are encouraged to tackle organizations’ biggest fears. Lead by nationally recognized succession planning certified pioneer Pamela Hurt-Hobday.

Upper Gallery

Off the Map: A Workshop on Building Experiences with the Next Generation Cultural Asset Map
—Lindsey Jones, GIS Analyst with Nevada County
—Heather Heckler, GVNC Cultural District Program Manager
—Kellie Cutler, Truckee Cultural District Program Manager

With hundreds of arts and culture assets mapped throughout our two Cultural Districts, we have all of the pieces in place to create immersive, interactive experiences for visitors.

5:00PM: It’s A Wrap

Osborn/Woods Hall

Bringing it All Together
Daniela Fernández, Mayor of Nevada City

5:15PM: Meet & Greet

Miners Foundry Bar

An open invitation to staff at all levels to celebrate the arts and each other. A full no-host bar will be provided by the Miners Foundry.

Music by Leiticia Andrade.