Board Members

Michael Alexander – Michael Alexander is the Executive/Artistic Director of Grand Performances. This appointment followed a twenty-two year career in the arts working as a performer, manager, and curator of programs for non-profit dance companies as well as his own artist agency, and as the Director of Performing Arts for the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. Michael is also the Chair of the California Arts Council.

Leni Isaacs Boorstin – Board Chair – With 35 years of experience in the arts management field, she is the Director of Community and Government Affairs for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and has worked with them since 1991. She has also worked as the Development Manager and the Public Affairs Manager for the L.A. Philharmonic, and has worked in various managing positions with the Coro Foundation, KPFK, and the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco.

Cynthia Campoy Brophy  - Cynthia Campoy Brophy is the Executive Director and Founder of The HeArt Project. She began the program 16 years ago by bringing arts workshops to one teen community center; the organization now brings its yearlong programs to 20 continuation high schools throughout LA County. Prior to founding The HeArt Project, she was publicist for The Museum of Contemporary Art from 1986-1990.

David Burton – David Burton joined the Autry National Center in 1998, holding progressively senior roles in its development office. In 2010, he was appointed director of the Institute for the Study of the American West, overseeing the Autry’s two libraries; its publications, education, and public programs departments; and Native Voices at the Autry, the institution’s resident theatre company. David also directs the Autry’s government affairs portfolio, focusing on securing funds from government sources, and promoting the Autry with elected officials and with the broader community. Additionally, he serves as contributing editor of Convergence, the Autry magazine.   Beyond the Autry, David is the board chair of City Garage, an intimate theatre company in Santa Monica specializing in contemporary European plays as well as original company work. He received a B.A. in history from UCLA and a Masters in English Literature/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. His short stories, poetry, and critical writings have appeared in a variety of journals.

Jessica Cusick – Jessica Cusick is currently the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Santa Monica. In 1998, she established Cusick Consulting to build upon her more than twenty years of experience working in the arts for governmental agencies, the private sector, and non-profit organizations. The firm specializes in civic art, cultural policy and community development through the arts.

Tim Dang – Tim Dang has been artistic director of East West Players since 1993 and affiliated with the organization since 1980 in various capacities. Under his leadership, East West Players moved from a 99-seat black box theater to the professional 240-seat mid-size David Henry Hwang Theater in 1998. East West Players hosted the first National Asian American Theatre Festival, The Next Big Bang in 2006. The organization has garnered numerous awards for artistic achievement and community services raising its national profile and impacting the voice of the Asian American experience. Recognition: 2009 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, Ovation Awards for Best Direction of a Musical (SWEENEY TODD, PACIFIC OVERTURES), Actors Equity Association Diversity Award, Durfee Foundation Sabbatical Award. He recently directed the New York premiere of IMELDA, a musical, for Pan Asian Repertory Theatre which was originally produced by East West Players.

Jay H. Dick – Jay H. Dick holds the position of Director of State and Local Government Affairs for Americans for the Arts where he is responsible for building working relationships with state arts advocacy and service organizations with state elected officials, and works closely with fifty State Arts Advocacy Captains to accomplish this goal. Prior to joining Americans for the Arts, Jay was an account manager at Capitol Advantage (Capwiz) and helped enable clients to fully use online legislative action to build strong grassroots advocacy programs; he also worked for the public policy department of the Society of Plastics Industry, was the field director for a congressional campaign in Iowa, and worked for Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey as a legislative assistant.

Cynthia Harnisch – Cynthia Harnisch is the President and CEO of Inner-City Arts, a learning oasis in the heart of Skid Row where professional artists teach students in a real studio environment. Founded in 1989, Inner-City Arts works in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District to bring elementary and middle school students to the campus during the school day for instruction in the visual and performing arts. High school students participate in after-school and Saturday programs. Inner-City Arts serves over 8,000 of the city’s most at-risk students each year at no cost to the students. With the expansion of our full-acre campus in October of 2008 we are expanding to double this number. These students are the children of the working poor. Most live at or below the poverty line in a neighborhood devoid of greenery, and rife with crime and overcrowding. They are some of the most impoverished children in Los Angeles and are among our countries most at risk to drop out before completing high school. Prior to being with Inner-City Arts, Cynthia was vice president of the Autry National Center for 12 years. Previously she worked for the Arizona Historical Society and the University of Arizona Museum of Art. She has worked extensively with high poverty children and adults in both urban and rural settings. Cynthia attended Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Executive Education Program and the Getty’s Museum Leadership Institute. She holds advanced degrees in Museum Studies and Education Administration and an undergraduate degree in Art History. She is a member of several community and cultural boards and advisory committees such as the Los Angeles Central Providers Collaborative, the Newton Division Community/Police Advisory Board, the Para los Niños Advisory Board, The Ryman Program for Young Artists/Education Advisory Committee, Angel’s Gate/Advisory Committee, and the Youth Advocates Affinity Group. Cynthia is also a member of Art Table and is past president of the Museum Educators of Southern California.

Joel Jacinto – Since 1991, Joel has served as Executive Director of Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), a nonprofit community-based organization providing a variety of health & human services as well as community economic development projects to Pilipino Americans and the multi-cultural Historic Filipinotown district of Los Angeles. Joel has been instrumental in building SIPA’s community development capacity to develop affordable housing, small business services, financial literacy as well as capital project development. To date, SIPA has developed 138 units of affordable housing and is currently working on a significant mixed-income, mixed use project that is designed to become a physical and cultural hub of the Filipino American community in Southern California. Joel is also the co-founder Kayamanan Ng Lahi Philippine Folk Arts, a folk arts organization dedicated to the preservation, presentation and promotion of Philippine culture through dance and music. Joel has actively participated in Hawaiian cultural activities for many years and has studied with kumu hula in both California and Hawaii. His educational background includes graduate work in applied anthropology. He is a founding board member of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) and participates on the Community Advisory Board of the Summer Nights Program at the Ford Amphitheater. Joel and wife Avecita reside in Culver City with their sons Kai and Keianu.

Charmaine Jefferson – Charmaine Jefferson has been the Executive Director of the California African American Museum (CAAM), as well as Executive Vice President of Friends: the Foundation of the California African-American Museum, since June 2003. With more than 28 years in the arts and culture industries, she has served on numerous committees and boards and currently serves as a Board Trustee for the California Institute of the Arts, a member of California’s Minerva Award Selection Committee for First Lady Maria Shriver, and a Gubernatorial appointed member of the California Arts Council.

Terence McFarland – Vice Chair- Terence McFarland is the Executive Director of LA Stage Alliance, and he serves on the boards of California Arts Advocates and the California Institute of the Arts. He has led workshops on corporate volunteerism in the arts sector and arts marketing; directed, produced, and performed in many international film festivals and renowned performance spaces; and has worked in the fashion industry in New York in show production, public relations, creative services, and publishing.

Michael McDowell – Senior Director of Cultural Tourism for LA INC., The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, Michael McDowell serves as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the LAStage Alliance, is a member of the Board of Directors for the 24th Street Theatre and is also a member of the Downtown Breakfast Club. He regularly serves as a marketing consultant and writes articles and opinion pieces for publications such as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Debra J.T. Padilla - Debra has served as the Executive Director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) since 1993. Prior to being at SPARC, Debra was the Managing Director of Borderlands Theater in Tucson, Arizona for seven years. She has served on numerous panels and committees, including but not limited to: the Rockefeller Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust for the Visual Arts, the Ford Foundation-Working Capital Fund Panel, the Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation-Youth Awards Committee Chair, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Latino Theatre Council for the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum, the John Anson Ford Latino Audience Initiative Advisory Council, the Los Angeles Cultural Tourism Department, the City of Santa Monica Cultural Grants Panel, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Civic Art Panel, the Tucson/Pima Arts Council Grants/Heritage Panel, Arizona Commission on the Arts Grants Panel, the Tucson Museum of Art Advisory Board, and served for 14 years on the Board of Directors of Cornerstone Theater Company and for 5 years on the Diversity Advisory Committee for the Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles. Debra was selected by the California Community Foundation to be part of their leadership fellowship program entitled “Ambassadors Within,” and was part of the inaugural group of 12 women selected in Los Angeles for the Women’s Leadership Circle (WLC). Debra is a proud recipient of the Durfee Foundation Sabbatical Award.

Jan Williamson – Jan Williamson is the Executive Director of the 18th Street Arts Center, which provides studio, gallery, and public space to artists of all disciplines. During her tenure she has led the effort to purchase the 18th Street property, developed 18th Street’s model Residency Program and Arts Education Program and is now leading the effort to envision and plan 18th Street’s new expanded facility. Williamson is an active member of the Santa Monica City Arts Commission, and serves on its Artist Live-Work Task Force.