ARTSOC - Key Persons
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- Senior Director, Community and Government Relations, University of California, Irvine
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- President, the Neisser Company, Costa Mesa
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- Retired Partner, Haskell & White LLP, Irvine
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- Founder and CEO, Arts & Learning Conservatory, Costa Mesa
A native of Orange County, California, Dolores Castro Colin has a passion for promoting and supporting the arts, connecting people and organizations to develop their visions in the arts, community programs, and small business. Her fascination for diverse cultures and service led her to earn a Sociology degree from Cal State Fullerton. Through an artist connection, Dolores joined the Sawdust Art Festival's marketing team where she developed relationships with artists and community organizations. She has served on the Board of Casa Cultural Saybrook Park in East Los Angeles and was secretary for the Association for Creative Industries SoCal Chapter. Dolores feels fortunate to continue collaborating with a variety of talented creatives as a Certified Tourism Ambassador for Visit Anaheim through Laguna Beach Art Tours and with Arts Orange County.
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- Superintendent of Schools, Orange County Department of Education, Costa Mesa
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- Founding Artistic Director, South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa
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- President, Orange County Musicians Union, Local 7, American Federation of Musicians
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- Vice President Specialized Banking / Head of Third Party Escrow, Enterprise Bank & Trust
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- Founder & Executive Producer, the Silence Is Broken, Monarch Beach
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- Executive Director, Ektaa Center, Irvine
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- Owner, Journeys to the past, San Juan Capistrano
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- Director / Curator, Nicholas & Lee Begovich Gallery, California State University, Fullerton
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- President and Chair of the Board, Irvine Barclay Theatre
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- President, Pacific Symphony, Irvine
For nearly 17 years before joining ArtsOC, Patrick Brien served as Executive Director of the Riverside Arts Council in Riverside, California, where he helped to connect the regional arts and cultural infrastructure of the inland region. As a mixed-race child of an American father and a mother born and raised in Japan, cultural and social equity has always been at the forefront of Brien's intent. He has spearheaded multiple programs directed toward BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and other underserved communities, including art as therapy for dementia patients and adults with developmental disabilities, and arts in corrections within the state prison system. Much of his work has focused on building the capacity of individual artists and small arts organizations. His work as an advocate on behalf of public funding for the arts has put him in offices of elected officials at the local, state and federal levels.
Brien serves on the Board of Directors of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates, as well as on the Executive Committee of the United States Urban Arts Federation. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. Grant panels on which he has served include: National Endowment for the Arts, Wyoming Arts Council, Long Beach Arts Council, and California Arts Council (multiple times).
Prior to entering the arts administration field, Brien's background was professional theatre. He has produced, acted and directed for companies from Hawaii to Europe and throughout the United States. He ran theatres in Germany and Wyoming, and more recently founded and served as Producing Artistic Director of The Gestalt Theatre Project, for which he has staged several regional and west coast premiers. Brien is a first-generation college graduate of Chapman University with a BA in Theatre and Film and Television. His arts spotlight columns have been a weekly feature of the Press Enterprise, Riverside's primary media outlet, for nearly ten years.
Karen was educated in England where she earned her degrees in French and International Relations from the University of Reading. She pursued a long-time career in corporate marketing and communications (The Economist, Accord Publications, NTA, Inc.,) before crossing over to the non-profit sector. Prior to joining Arts Orange County, Karen served for seven years as the marketing and associate director of Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens in San Clemente, CA. Karen currently advises non-profit and civic institutions and her recent appointments include arts and culture representative, City of San Clemente Centennial General Plan Advisory Committee. Her expertise includes marketing, communications, donor relations and development, and event management.
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- Executive Director, the Frida Cinema, Santa Ana
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- Leader
- Member of the Officers Team
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- Executive Director, Mission San Juan Capistrano
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- Administrative Director, Hispanic Education Endowment Fund, Newport Beach
Nicholas Thurkettle plays facilitating and coordinating roles for Emerging Arts Leaders - Orange County, Calls for Artists such as the ongoing Newport Beach Civic Center Sculpture Exhibition, and other Arts Orange County programs. He studied Theatre Performance and Music at Bradley University and, outside of his ArtsOC work, is a writer, actor, and filmmaker. Short films he has written/directed have played more than 40 film festivals. A member of the Writers Guild of America, he has sold and optioned feature screenplays, and is the writer of the animated show Children of Ether. His one-act play The Rothko premiered at the OC-Centric New Play Festival and is represented by Heartland Publishing, and other short plays have enjoyed stagings in Illinois, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Minnesota, Maryland, and throughout California including at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. He authored the short story collection Stages of Sleep and co-authored the sci-fi novels Seeing by Moonlight and A Sickness in Time. He appears in independent films such as Moon Students, Cloudy With a Chance of Sunshine, To a Dead Friend, Afterthought, and Revelator, and on the TV series "Wild West Chronicles". He co-produced the award-winning independent horror/romance film A Ghost Waits, and in 2022 will produce and co-star in the cosmic horror feature The Buildout. He is an experienced voice performer in videogames, animation, and audiobooks, and spent five seasons on stage with Shakespeare Orange County, serving as their Casting Director for two seasons. He now manages the Modjeska Shakespeare Players.
For nearly 17 years before joining ArtsOC, Patrick Brien served as Executive Director of the Riverside Arts Council in Riverside, California, where he helped to connect the regional arts and cultural infrastructure of the inland region. As a mixed-race child of an American father and a mother born and raised in Japan, cultural and social equity has always been at the forefront of Brien's intent. He has spearheaded multiple programs directed toward BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and other underserved communities, including art as therapy for dementia patients and adults with developmental disabilities, and arts in corrections within the state prison system. Much of his work has focused on building the capacity of individual artists and small arts organizations. His work as an advocate on behalf of public funding for the arts has put him in offices of elected officials at the local, state and federal levels.
Brien serves on the Board of Directors of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates, as well as on the Executive Committee of the United States Urban Arts Federation. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. Grant panels on which he has served include: National Endowment for the Arts, Wyoming Arts Council, Long Beach Arts Council, and California Arts Council (multiple times).
Prior to entering the arts administration field, Brien's background was professional theatre. He has produced, acted and directed for companies from Hawaii to Europe and throughout the United States. He ran theatres in Germany and Wyoming, and more recently founded and served as Producing Artistic Director of The Gestalt Theatre Project, for which he has staged several regional and west coast premiers. Brien is a first-generation college graduate of Chapman University with a BA in Theatre and Film and Television. His arts spotlight columns have been a weekly feature of the Press Enterprise, Riverside's primary media outlet, for nearly ten years.
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- Managing Director, South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa
During more than 12 years under Rick's leadership, Arts Orange County has addressed the needs of the arts and culture community in Orange County, California by becoming a trailblazer among nonprofit arts councils worldwide-- augmenting traditional arts agency programs and services with its unique role as the community's go-to arts consultant to government, education and nonprofit organizations. This has helped enable Arts Orange County to become a leading advocate for the arts and arts education on the local, state and national level.
Prior to his appointment at Arts Orange County in August, 2008, Rick transformed the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach into a major resident professional theatre over the course of more than 17 years as its Executive Director, growing it from an annual budget of $700,000 to $7 million, and producing more than 100 plays, including two national touring productions. There he also directed many notable productions, including several premieres.
Rick first came to Orange County in 1987 to serve as Managing Director of the Grove Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove following a five-year stint as Director of Lincoln Theater at the University of Hartford (Connecticut), and holding management positions in two major symphony orchestras before that. Rick holds degrees in English from Columbia and Syracuse Universities and returned to Columbia for post-graduate study in drama on a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship. He was sent to Korea on a cultural exchange by the International Theatre Institute-US, served on the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres, and was a contributing writer to AMERICAN THEATRE magazine.
Rick is a past Chair of the John Wayne Airport Arts Commission (appointed by Orange County Supervisor Harriet Weider), past President of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals-Orange County Chapter, and past co-Chair (twice) of National Philanthropy Day-Orange County. Since 2009, he has served on the board of Californians for the Arts/California Arts Advocates, a statewide organization promoting the interests of the arts community, including three years as its President.
Rick first came to Orange County in 1987 to serve as Managing Director of the Grove Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove following a five-year stint as Director of Lincoln Theater at the University of Hartford (Connecticut), and holding management positions in two major symphony orchestras before that. Rick holds degrees in English from Columbia and Syracuse Universities and returned to Columbia for post-graduate study in drama on a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship. He was sent to Korea on a cultural exchange by the International Theatre Institute-US, served on the executive committee of the League of Resident Theatres, and was a contributing writer to AMERICAN THEATRE magazine.
Rick is a past Chair of the John Wayne Airport Arts Commission (appointed by Orange County Supervisor Harriet Weider), past President of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals-Orange County Chapter, and past co-Chair (twice) of National Philanthropy Day-Orange County. Since 2009, he has served on the board of Californians for the Arts/California Arts Advocates, a statewide organization promoting the interests of the arts community, including three years as its President.
He has been a guest lecturer at University of California, Irvine and California State University, Fullerton, and was a commencement keynote speaker at the Laguna College of Art and Design. He has served as a panelist or site visitor for the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, Western States Arts Federation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Riverside Arts Council, New England Foundation for the Arts, Louisville Fund for the Arts, City of Pasadena, and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, for which he also produced its State Arts Awards.
Although his career has largely been in the theatre, Rick's first post after finishing graduate school was as Executive Director of a local arts agency, Oswego County Council on the Arts, located in Fulton, New York. Also, the theatre company he cofounded in 1977, Contemporary Theatre of Syracuse, continues operation today as The Red House, a highly successful producer of multi-disciplinary arts. He is a 30 year resident of San Juan Capistrano with his wife, Alison, an artist, and their cat, MysterE.
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- Member of the Officers Team
- Partner - in - Charge, Audit and Business Advisory Services Group, Haskell & White LLP, Irvine / Chair
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- First Vice President - Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors, Newport Beach
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- Member of the Officers Team
- Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, Costa Mesa / Secretary
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- Dean, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine
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- President, Tim Shaw & Associates, Irvine
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- Managing Attorney, Manning Gross Massenburg, Irvine
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- Chief Operating Officer, OC Music & Dance, Irvine