STAFF

Carol Stakenas, Executive Director (09/05)

Since her arrival at LACE in 2005, Stakenas has worked with over 400 artists, more than 50 of which have developed unique and innovative projects that could only be realized through a residency at LACE. Through training and experience, Stakenas leads LACE’s staff to deliver core programs.  These programs require socially intensive processes to engage numerous community groups, local businesses, city agencies and thousands of residents. Stakenas is also a faculty member at the University of Southern California in Public Art Studies.

Previously, Stakenas was the Deputy Director/Curator of Creative Time, New York City’s adventurous public arts presenter. She has worked with a broad range of artists including Asymptote, Haluk Akakçe, Natalie Bookchin, Chris Doyle, Cai Guo-Qiang, Granular Synthesis, Shu Lea Cheang, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Marjetica Potrç, Toshi Reagon, Erwin Redl, Steve Roden, Christopher Russell, Mary Ellen Strom and Lebbeus Woods.  She has curated and produced multidisciplinary public art at sites such as Massless Medium and Music in the Anchorage in the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage; Consuming Places in DUMBO Brooklyn; the DNA Deli Cups and the DNAid Billboards; PDPal, a mobile mapping project commission in Times Square; Shimon Attie's Between Dreams and History on Manhattan's Lower East Side; and Karaoke Ice, a mobile public art project that traveled throughout Los Angeles.

Robert Crouch, Associate Director/Curator (07/08)
robert(at)welcometolace(dot)org

Having joined LACE in 2008, Crouch is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization.  He works closely with the Executive Director in programming, planning and fundraising activities. Crouch has a decade of fundraising and non-profit membership management experience. During his 9-year tenure at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, he increased annual membership revenue by 60% over a three-year period, raising annual membership revenue from $740,000 to $1.2 million. Crouch has curated projects at LACE with artists Karen Lofgren, Sean Sullivan, and Margo Victor, and organized the experimental electronic music festival, Resonant Forms. In 2012 he organized Steve Roden: Shells, Bells, Steps and Silences and Group Dynamics and Improper Light, a new project with Los Angeles artist Gina Osterloh.

Crouch is also the co-founding Director of VOLUME, a curatorial project that functions as a catalyst for interdisciplinary new media work through exhibitions, performances, events, lectures, and publications, and has worked with a wide range of artists including William Basinski, Nate Boyce, Richard Chartier, Loren Chasse, Tim Hecker, France Jobin, Kadet Kuhne, Lucky Dragons, Carsten Nicolai, Yann Novak, Steve Roden, and Christopher Willits. VOLUME has presented projects at venues including the Hammer Museum, the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Art Institute, and SF Camerawork.

Geneva Skeen, Program Coordinator (10/09)
geneva(at)welcometolace(dot)org

Skeen joined LACE in the summer of 2009 to help coordinate production on the annual 10K as a volunteer. Since then, she has taken on production of the vast spectrum of LACE's exhibitions and programming. As part of this effort she liaises with all artists, guest curators, gallerists, educators, vendors, partnering organizations, and schools in addition to running the internship and volunteer programs. Her creative practice in music and performance encompasses solo and collaborative work throughout Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Occidental College, where she studied Critical Theory & Social Justice, and studied at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in Dramatic Arts.

LACE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Maureen Haines (01/13) is the founding principal of Mackerel Sky Architecture. She has over 20 years experience in innovative design and development of a diverse range of projects. This long history of successful projects is a tribute to the strong ability of Ms. Haines at creating collaborative teams unique to each project. Other areas of expertise include feasibility studies, master planning, project presentations for foundations, assistance in marketing and assistance in fund raising. Ms. Haines is a critical thinker with a broad range of experience, providing project solutions with inherent value.

William Moreno, President (12/10) is a curator, writer and director of William Moreno Contemporary which mounts periodic exhibitions. He is also the principal of an independent consulting business. Most recently, he was Associate Director of ArtPadSF, a hotel-based art fair. He was the founding Executive Director of the Claremont Museum of Art and the director of The Mexican Museum, San Francisco. He has been a featured panelist on topics ranging from the contemporary role of museums and the international art landscape at the Commonwealth Club, the American Institute of Architecture, Latino Art Now Conference, William Turner Gallery, ArtPadSF and others. He has appeared on KCET’s series California’s Gold as well as other media. He serves on the Advisory Board for the California Association of Museums (CAM) and is a board member of Make Music LA.

Kathie Foley-Meyer, Vice-President (12/11) is a graphic designer and mixed-media artist based in Los Angeles, and the owner of createstudio design. Her clients include arts-related nonprofits such as The Robey Theatre Company and the California African American Museum. She received an MFA in Critical Studies from California Institute of the Arts and a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She studied graphic design in the UCLA Extension Design Communication Arts and Art Center at Night design programs, and neon fabrication at Pilchuck Glass School. She has exhibited her artwork in group shows in Los Angeles, Texas, Illinois, Kentucky and Oklahoma. Kathie served on the Museum of Neon Art (MONA) Board of Trustees from 2006-2012, and was a docent with the LA Conservancy. She was also a member of the Artist Advisory Group and Artist Selection Panel for the Metro Art Expo Line. She was a Pre-Qualified Public  Art Consultant with the CRA\LA for 2009-2012. She is the creator of Project Bronzeville, a multi-disciplinary showcase inspired by the Bronzeville period in Los Angeles history.

Synderela Peng (6/07) is an artist and graphic designer. She is currently an art director at yU+co. Her clients include Universal Studios, Disney, Sony Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures. She provides strategic direction for LACE’s communication plan.

Vincent Ruiz-Abogado (06/07) is an independent art director and film maker. He created title sequences for films such as Brokeback Mountain, Fantastic 4 and XXX. His clients include HBO, Bravo, TNT and Partnership for a Drugfree America. This year he directed A Walk in the Park, a documentary feature film. He created the LACE 10K, our annual fall membership drive.

Jackie Sharp (2/11) worked as a co-producer at Target Video, the now legendary arts and video collective located in San Francisco’s Mission District. She established Independent World Video, was an Executive Producer at VH1 and later, Vice President of Production and Original Programs. She is currently President and Treasurer of Sharp Properties, Inc. Jackie continues to work actively with Target Video (aka TargetVideo77.) She has developed a unique set of talents that she brings to the artistic and business fields in which she works.

Marta Sullivan, Treasurer (11/11) is an independent accounting consultant who has been a collector since the 1980’s. Her consulting has dotted the entertainment industry map of Los Angeles. She brings her financial background to LACE as well as a commitment to stimulating the creative energy. Her goals are to see LACE grow in stature and visibility over the next few years and to increase her exposure to the creative process.

Ben Smith, Producer (4/12) As a producer and President of Captivate Entertainment based at Universal, Ben Smith is instrumental in every aspect of the day-to-day operations of the filmmaking process, from the acquisition and creative development of distinguished material to bringing each project to light. Prior to forming Captivate Entertainment, Smith was a veteran motion picture agent at ICM for over twelve years where he was known for shepherding, as well as packaging, many high level film and television projects with the actors, writers, directors and literary properties he represented. Before his career in Hollywood, Smith spent over seven years traveling the globe documenting the rapidly changing socio-political landscapes in the Middle East, South East Asia, and Central and South America.

Jeff Cain, Secretary (6/12) is an artist, designer, curator and director of the Shed Research Institute.   His work as been featured in the Getty Museum’s California Video exhibition, LACMA, LACE and many other southern California art spaces. His community radio project, RHZ Radio was a finalist for the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica in Digital Communities. His work has been displayed internationally in the Havana Biannual and and the Center for Contemporary Art in Kyiv, Ukraine. He has a BA from Whittier College, and a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He is currently faculty in the USC Roski School of Fine Arts and at California State University Fullerton, and has been faculty at California Institute of the Arts, Whittier College, and Southern California Institute of Architecture. He is also currently the Exhibition Designer at the University of California ARTSBlock.

Carol Stakenas, Executive Director (9/05). Please see staff bio.

LACE INTERNS

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Lucia Nagler
Lieb Mathieson
Eugene Moon
Jessica Portillo
Molly Rios
Fiona Riskin
Kelley Shim
Karen Steffani
Amanda Vandenberg