Santa Cruz County Arts Commission

Mission Statement
The mission of the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission is to promote, expand and plan for the cultural life of Santa Cruz County and to bring artists and arts organizations together with government for the benefit of all the citizens of the County.

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 Meeting Schedule                     Meeting Minutes                    Meeting Agendas

 

Arts Commission Members

James Nee, Evelyn Bernstein	District 1
Cynthia Kilian,  Denise Ward	District 2
Bobbi Todaro, Joanna Phillips	District 3
Judy Stabile, Paul DeWorken	District 4
Vacant, Linda Levy	District 5

Meets Quarterly, on a Monday, 4:30 P.M.
Simpkins Family Swim Center
979 17th Avenue, Santa Cruz

Have a question?  Send us an email.

 

James Nee
James was raised in Detroit, Michigan, has lived in Santa Cruz County since 1987, has two grown children and two grandchildren. He has been a board member of the California Grey Bears.  His hobbies include creating visual art, hiking, and long-distance backpacking. James has an AA in studio art, a BS in wildlife management, MPA in public administration, and MA in zoology.  He worked 20 years as a wildlife biologist and 13 years as a biologist/agriculture inspector.  Jim joined the Commission to expand the Commission's role in showcasing our county's high quality arts, to increase the amount of good art in public places, and to help make our county an essential destination for people seeking excellence in visual and performing parts.

 

Evelyn Bernstein
Evelyn Bernstein was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1931, where as a teenager she fell in love with dance, sculpted in clay, and spent time with some of the era’s arts and musical innovators, a practice that continued for many decades in New York and California. After graduating from Erasmus Hall High School, she worked in the garment center and studied at Brooklyn College at night. As a young mother, she studied poetry with Kenneth Koch and many years later, attended Cabrillo College.

A Santa Cruz County resident since 1970, Evelyn has served on the Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission, the South Santa Cruz County Commission on Alcoholism, and the boards of the Battered Women’s Shelter, Women’s Crisis Support, and Chadeish Yameinu (Jewish Renewal Community of Santa Cruz). In addition, she was a volunteer for the San Jose Peace Center and the Literacy Committee of the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center. She currently is an active member of the Soquel Neighbors Association.  She is married to engineer-attorney-jazz photographer Leonard Bernstein; their two children are singer-poet Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and noted software consultant David R. Bernstein. She has four grandchildren. 

 

Joanna Phillips
Joanna was born and raised in Fresno, California. She graduated from Cal State University Fresno, majoring in Speech Communication. She went back to school to do graduate work in Education of the Deaf, working in the local school district as a teacher.  In 1972 Joanna moved to San Jose and began a new career in Real Estate. After successfully owning a Century 21 franchise from 1980 – 1986, she began her training career by becoming the Director of Recruiting and Training for Better Homes and Gardens in San Jose until 2000. When she got a call from Robert Bailey, the CEO of Bailey Properties in Santa Cruz, CA to inquire if she would like the same job in Santa Cruz, and live in her beach house, the answer was YES! Power Training was born and Bailey Properties continues to be the field-testing facility for all updates to this course.

Joanna is a mother and the grandmother of Sara. Joanna enjoys spending time at the beach, playing with Sara and traveling.  Joanna served on the City of San Jose Art Commission from 1996-2002. This experience gave her a great deal of background on the arts programs in the City of San Jose. She also has performed both in theater and as a motivational speaker. She joined the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission in the hopes her past experience would be of benefit to the residents of Santa Cruz County.

Judy Stabile
I have been an artist for 22 years, and enjoy working in a variety of media and processes including sculpting in stone, casting in bronze and glass; printmaking; fabric collage; and painting with acrylic, oil and encaustics. As a volunteer, I have curated and co-curated twelve visual art exhibits for the Pajaro Valley Arts Council: served as a mentor to other curators; and have served as a Gallery Committee member for PVAC for nine years. For the past three years, I have co-curated (for PVAC) exhibitions of sculpture for an outdoor venue at Sierra Azul Nursery and Gardens. This exhibit was pivotal to my interest in public art. As a result, I applied to be a member of the Public Arts Commission.

Bobbi Todaro

Bobbi Todaro thanks Neal Coonerty for appointing her to represent the 3rd District aka City of Santa Cruz. Bobbi is fortunate to work in the arts and experience live music every week  as the Managing Director for Kuumbwa Jazz downtown Santa Cruz. A long time resident of Santa Cruz, Bobbi recognizes the privilege to represent  the SCC Arts Commission in its mission to promote the cultural life of SC County.






Cynthia Kilian

Cynthia has lived in Santa Cruz County for 33 years, has been a self employed realtor for 23 years.  She attended Weber College of Nursing and University of San Francisco B.S.O.B.

Serving the Muse 
Cynthia served as board president for the San Francisco Pickle Family Circus, Tandy Beal & Company for 9 years.  She is currently a director and previously served as marketing VP for the Santa Cruz County Symphony.  Cynthia is a founding board member of the Aptos Academy, a director for the past 14 years.  As part of the Monterey Symphonic Chorus, she has traveled to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of IONA, seat of Celtic Spirituality; in summer 2009, the chorus sang at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. for President Obama.

Serving Community
During the summer months, Cynthia serves as a nurse, part of a medical/dental team at Little Flock orphanage in Southern India .  She walked 350 miles across Northern Spain on a pilgrimage - The Camino Santiago de Campostella - in 2004.  She climbed Wayan Picchu, the mountain near Macchu Picchu, Peru in 2005.  Cynthia worked as a loan executive to the United Way of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties for five years during her 17-year career with Pacific Bell.  Cynthia was part of a Katrina Animal rescue team, rescuing 100 animals flown into Monterey Airport from Iberia, Louisiana, helped care and transport them to a shelter facility in Santa Cruz.

Serving  Family
Cynthia has 3 great adult children. Melanie is an artist, a comedian with Second City, has an MBA and is working on her PhD.  Adam served as an army ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan; he is now a Los Angeles County firefighter.  Ashley graduated from Menlo College in Atherton. CA, manages a medical office, and has a California Real Estate License.

Paul DeWorken

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda Levy
Linda Levy was born (1951) and raised in the San Francisco Bay area.  Both sides of her family were artists: her paternal grandfather & great grandfather were painters, her maternal grandmother sang (with Caruso) in the SF Opera when it first opened.  Raised in an environment rich with creative spirit, Linda learned to paint in oils, pastels and watercolors at an early age, under the tutelage of Bay Area artist Pat Frey.  Through the years, she has studied various arts mediums, including etching and printmaking, sculptural and wheel-thrown ceramics, and most recently (since 1985) Digital Fine Art painting.

A Santa Cruz County resident since 1970, graduated from UCSC in 1974, she worked as a Research Scientist for 25 years while growing her involvement with local arts as an advocate and an artist.  She has been involved with the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center , serving on their Board of Directors, leading them through strategic planning, program development and facility growth.  She served 8 years on the Board of Directors for the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County, 2 years representing the Cultural Council Associates, as well as Past Chair (4 yrs) of the Open Studios. She also participates in Open Studios as a demonstrating artist.

Denise Ward
Denise was born and raised in Portland , Oregon .  In search of sunnier climes and a lust for art and architecture, she pursued a degree in Interior Design from the University of Arizona .  Post college she worked on commercial projects for architectural firms in Portland , San Francisco , New York City, and Manila , The Philippines.  She has spent half of her adult life living in Asia and in Europe with her husband and two sons.

In 1999 her family moved to Santa Cruz County .  She is interested in all aspects of art, architecture, and design.  With the desire to integrate into the community she began working for the Aptos Chamber of Commerce until 2008 when she started her company Chowhound Cooks, offering cooking classes.  In her spare time she enjoys painting, drawing, hiking, and traveling.

 

Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County

City of Santa Cruz Arts Commission