Through a Call for Members in fall 2024, the Department of Arts and Culture has launched a re-designed leadership advisory body, to inform work of the Los Angeles County Arts Education Collective (Arts Ed Collective), the county-wide collective impact initiative that helps ensure every young person in LA County grows up with the arts. To learn about the history of the Arts Ed Collective, including its original advisory body, the Executive Committee (also known as the Leadership Council) please see our 20th Anniversary Celebration booklet.
The Leadership Circle helps to cultivate and foster a collaborative network that enables every young person in LA County to have access to the arts, while also supporting the adults who support youth. Grounded in the Arts Ed Blueprint, Leadership Circle members will participate in Quarterly Meetings and Community Engagements throughout the year.
Leadership Circle members bring a broad range of knowledge, expertise and experience in the fields of arts education and arts-based youth development. While they are organized on this page based on the Supervisorial District in which they live, they each bring a deep commitment to the many diverse communities across LA County.
For questions, information, or to connect with the Leadership Circle, please email LeadershipCircle@arts.lacounty.gov.
District 1
Jennifer Carroll is the Associate Director of Education at Inner-City Arts, where she has served since 2006 and currently specializes in educational theater and professional development facilitation. Her experience is broad: she has been a professional actor, artist in school-day residencies, after-school enrichment teacher, day-to-day classroom teacher, audience enrichment facilitator for professional theaters, manager of teaching artist staff, and program creator. She is currently earning her certification as an Arts Integration Specialist.
Cristine Briskie-Wood has 14+ years of experience in fundraising and resource development for education and youth development, including her current role as Director of Development for Western Justice Center. She previously worked with organizations including Heart of Los Angeles; The Time In Children's Arts Initiative; ABC No Rio; The Museum of Modern Art, New York City; and Iowa Arts Festival. Cristine also a member of the PLUS ME Project’s Board of Directors, focusing on helping youth harness the art of personal storytelling to build confidence and create connections.
Nathalie Sánchez (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist, social justice arts educator, museum worker, and arts advocate. As an arts leader, she firmly believes in the transformative power of arts education, community, and mentorship. Over the past two decades, Nathalie has designed, developed, and led visual arts, museum education, and professional development programs at artworxLA; Fowler Museum at UCLA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); P.S. ARTS; Vincent Price Art Museum, and more. She graduated with her BA in Art History and Studio Arts, with an emphasis in education from Loyola Marymount University, and received her MFA in Public Practice from Otis College of Art and Design.
District 2
Albert Lord is committed to building awareness of the contributions African Americans have made to cultural, political and entertainment fields. He brings a broad background in entertainment, including radio programming like the PSA “Dictionary Rap” for First Lady Barbara Bush's National Young Readers Day. While his work expanded to include music, film and television—receiving an Emmy award and several nominations—Albert led a mentorship program in South Africa teaching young adults postproduction for 34 South, the first feature film directed by a Black South African woman after more than 100 years of apartheid. From 2006 through 2020, Albert produced and curated poster art exhibits created for youth and young adults (12–24 years old) on display during African American Heritage Month for the City of Los Angeles. Through his role as Vice President of Government Relations and Arts Programs for Community Build, Inc., Albert has led the organization in facilitating tours and events for low-income Black and Brown families with the Los Angeles Zoo, Grammy Museum and the Getty Center.
Giovanna has been working in art education for 21 years. During that time, she has worked with underserved and English Language Learner (ELL) youth developing plays and films based on their personal stories. She is currently the Executive Director of Enrichment Works, which performs professional plays for youth connected to their curriculum. The plays are often centered around social justice.
As an emerging artist, Lingaire Ofosuhene seeks to explore the human condition by reconnecting with childhood play, drawing attention to the impacts of climate change and the parallel loss between nature and our fading sense of wonder. Thus, her work utilizes abstract environmental landscapes and storybook silhouettes to reconnect with the rudimentary perspective of a child, in which exploration overcomes ignorance, and existence feels like a series of interesting guesses. Lingaire believes that through art we can maintain our curiosity for the world; this is an act of radical resistance against a society that demands we sacrifice this in the name of productivity.
District 3
Jonathan Bijur has worked in arts education for over 20 years, in museums, libraries, and community organizations. He is a passionate advocate for art-first STEAM education, particularly around the links between art and engineering, the importance of risk-taking in childhood, and open-ended play and exploration for all ages. As executive director of Rediscover Center, Los Angeles' leading sustainable maker education organization, he helps to serve 14,000 youth per year with hands-on creativity education.
Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca is an interdisciplinary visual artist/writer and arts educator. His artwork is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York City; LACMA; and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. As an arts educator, Gustavo creates art experiences for museums and arts organizations including LACMA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, California African American Museum, Self Help Graphics, and artworxLA. Gustavo holds a BA from Hampshire College, certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, certificate from Cal State Los Angeles, and certificates from the Architectural Association London. He recently completed his MA graduate studies in diverse community development leadership at Cal State Northridge.
District 4
Dr. Ifunanya Nweke, Ed.D., is an Empowerment Engineer and a leading advocate at the intersection of entertainment, education, workforce development, and disability advocacy. As the founder and executive director of Jazz Hands For Autism, she has pioneered tech-enabled pathways for neurodivergent musicians, fostering access to arts education, employment, and industry opportunities. Under her leadership, Jazz Hands For Autism has served hundreds of neurodivergent individuals nationwide, creating employment pathways and generating over $50,000 in earnings for neurodivergent creatives. A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Dr. Nweke has lent her expertise to institutions worldwide, including the GRAMMY Museum, the Vancouver International Film Festival, the USC Price School of Public Policy, and the LA County Department of Arts and Culture. Holding degrees from UCLA and USC, she is a recognized civic leader honored by California lawmakers and the Empowerment Congress for her transformative work in inclusive arts education.
Joshua Ramirez is a brown-indigenous social practice artist, curator, and cultural practitioner that works and resides in LA County. Using his own mental Illness and disability as a platform for systemic change, he has successfully started his own non-profit (501c3) that merges advocacy and art. Saint Remy Arts & Culture provides transformative and cultural spaces for individuals with mental illness, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts through the creative process of art and creation. By leading through the lens of authenticity and empathy, he continues to use his unique experience to mentor at-risk youth, advocate for artists with disabilities, and create social impact programming for traditionally underrepresented communities. He currently sits on the board of NAMI Pomona Valley and advises national and local organizations such as Americans for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, California Arts Council, and Tri-City Mental Health. He has a BA in art from USC and an MA in art education. He is currently an associate professor at USC Dornsife and receiving his second MA in Curation in the Public Sphere.
Nancy Woo has worked with the Long Beach Public Library for many years, and since January 2024, has had the pleasure of designing the Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate program and mentoring a cohort of talented poets. She has also led a STEAM summer program, taught poetry to fifth graders with Angels Gate Cultural Center, led an after-school poetry class with the nonprofit Strength-Based Community Change (SBCC), and been a guest teacher to various high school English classes. She is a certified California Poets in the Schools poet-teacher, and in addition to poetry, has taught a smattering of visual art classes. She’s been teaching adult poetry since 2017 through her organization Surprise the Line, as well as in collaboration with other arts organizations.
District 5
Melanie Buttarazzi is a professional dancer, choreographer, and arts educator with over a decade of experience in arts-based youth development. As the founder and executive director of Fostering Dreams Project, she has designed and led dance programs that empower foster and system-impacted youth across LA County. Her work integrates trauma-informed arts education to promote social-emotional growth, healing, and self-expression. With a background in performing alongside artists like Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, Melanie brings industry expertise to underserved communities, using dance as a tool for transformation and resilience.
Jantré Christian is a community-engaged, culturally responsive artist educator and public-school administrator. She leads arts education instructional programs and initiatives for the Los Angeles Unified School District and previously served as the principal of Grand Arts High School (Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts) in Downtown LA. As a certificated theater teacher, Jantré has taught elementary, middle, and high school students and coordinated district-wide theater, film, and music programming with creative industry partners. A practicing musician and theater artist, she has worked as a session singer and live venue performer at cultural institutions including the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Musical Theatre West, The Wallis, and Mark Taper Forum.
Veronica Popovic is a Chicana/Latina arts advocate and scholarships expert, born and raised in LA County, and dedicated to expanding access to arts education for underserved communities. For over 19 years, she has helped first-generation, low-income students secure scholarships for college. She managed scholarship programs at multiple universities in Southern California and currently serves as a Special Consultant for the Scholarships Office at Cal State Fullerton. She has also served on national scholarship selection committees, including the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and the Gilman International Scholarship, a congressionally funded program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State. Additionally, she serves as an Education and Career Counselor for California Lawyers for the Arts' Designing Creative Futures, a paid internship program for formerly incarcerated adults pursuing careers in the arts.