Our Team

Who We Are

Our dedicated Board of Directors, staff, Visual Arts and Performing Arts Committees, and Art Share Connect are movers and shakers who work tirelessly to support local emerging artists in their professional and personal growth. We come from diverse backgrounds – the arts, fundraising, affordable housing, technology, business and marketing development, entertainment, finance, and public advocacy. We are passionate about maintaining and creating new initiatives to support emerging artists, and over the years, we have seen countless artists launch their careers from within our walls. Meet our team.

Team Members

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Cheyanne Sauter

Executive Director

Team Members

Cheyanne Sauter

Executive Director

Born and raised in SGV (San Gabriel Valley), Cheyanne Sauter has been a nonprofit professional for over 20 years. Her true calling lies in working with and supporting artists, and in July 2013 Cheyanne joined Art Share L.A. as an Interim Director to revitalize the nonprofit. Over the past 6 years, she grew the organization to the beast it is today, supporting over 700 visual & performing artists annually. Cheyanne loves managing the six staff members to offers diverse programming that engages hundreds of emerging artists to create, exhibit, and share their work with thousands of art lovers annually. Cheyanne has served as a member of the executive team for the Cultural Stakeholders Committee, whose goal was to provide visibility for the arts and preserve and promote Los Angeles’ cultural and heritage. She currently sits on the boards of the Los Angeles River and Business Association (LARABA) and the Arts District Business Improvement District (ADLA).

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Terry Ellsworth

Team Members

Terry Ellsworth

Terry joined Art Share L.A. five years ago when it was rebuilding itself from the ashes administratively, financially, and physically. As a long-time Arts District resident and community staple, he brought decades of extensive art experience to the organization and saw the building’s incredible potential in revitalizing the Arts District. Today, he is proud to see Art Share L.A. living up to its mission, and can be found walking the hallways of the building sharing his stories or hanging up artwork for gallery shows. If you have any questions about the Arts District and all its glory, he’s the person to ask.

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Morgan Barajas

Team Members

Morgan Barajas

A working visual artist and filmmaker, Morgan Barajas is the acting Your Art Here Coordinator at Art Share LA. Acting as a liaison between Art Share and businesses around Los Angeles, he works to bring emerging artists’ artwork into the public sphere. Born and raised in the wilds of SoCal suburbia, Morgan has worked in and near Los Angeles his whole life, and feels a deep connection with the complex city. After completing his studies for a BA in Cinematic Arts at Azusa Pacific University, he ran a music video business in LA for three years before transitioning to the art world and independent filmmaking. As a member of Art Share, he is proud to serve the creative community and help keep art alive in the Arts District of Los Angeles.

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Adrianne Toomey

Associate Director Strategic Partnerships

Team Members

Adrianne Toomey

Associate Director Strategic Partnerships

Adrianne brings over a decade of experience in the non-profit arts and culture sector. Prior to joining Art Share, Adrianne was the Manager of Special Events at SFMOMA where she developed and produced member and fundraising events and coordinated special artist projects. She graduated from Eugene Lang College in New York City where she studied Arts Role in Social Change. Born and raised on the East Coast, she worked for several arts and non-profit cultural institutions including Fleisher Art Memorial, The Philadelphia Film Society, and The Print Center where she was recognized and praised for her innovative and engaging arts education programs, as well as for her creativity in building community partnerships and civic engagement. Adrianne shares Art Share’s commitment to making art accessible to everyone and elevating underrepresented voices. She has traveled the world living in Japan, Mexico, and France, planting veggies, teaching, and assisting in artist studios. She enjoys working with artists and being a mama.

Board of Directors

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Tanner Blackman

Board of Directors

Tanner Blackman

Tanner Blackman is a partner at Kindel Gagan Public Affairs Advocacy and an adjunct instructor of Urban Planning at USC’s Price School of Public Policy. He has previously worked as Planning Director of LA’s Council District 14, a lecturer at the Future Initiatives Program (SCIFI) at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, and an urban planner for the City of LA, where he led efforts to end Los Angeles’ Mural Moratorium. Tanner is a board member of the Do Art Foundation, serves on the Exhibits Committee of the Architecture & Design Museum (A+D), and advises various non-profit arts organizations. (Started July 1, 2015)

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Mike Kelley

Board of Directors

Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley is a Designer/Art Director with 20 years experience working on campaigns for numerous fortune 500 companies. He’s been involved professionally in the contemporary art world for 15 years as a gallery owner, curator and cultural producer. In 2004 he launched Junc Gallery, that quickly established itself as being a launching pad for noteworthy artists early in their careers. In addition Mike has experience volunteering in the arts non-profit sector, working as a coordinator for exhibitions and events with galleries and museums locally and across the U.S. Mike also teaches design and professional development classes including “Gallery Practices” “designed to help artists navigate the career minefield of exhibiting artists” at the Art center College of Design. Mike earned his BA in Fine Art at the Center College of Design.

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Shana Nys Dambrot

Board of Directors

Shana Nys Dambrot

Shana Nys Dambrot is an art critic, curator, and author based in Downtown LA. She is the Arts Editor for the LA Weekly, and a contributor to Whitehot Magazine, KCET’s Artbound, Flaunt, Fabrik, Art and Cake, Artillery, Palm Springs Life, Riot Material, West Hollywood Lifestyle, Jenkem, and Porter & Sail. She studied Art History at Vassar College, writes essays for books and exhibition catalogs, curates and juries a few exhibitions each year. SND is a dedicated Instagram photographer and author of experimental short fiction, and speaks at galleries, schools, and cultural institutions nationally. Shea sits on the Boards of Art Share-LA and the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, the Advisory Council of Building Bridges Art Exchange, and the Brain Trust of Some Serious Business.

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Dave Hunt

Board of Directors

Dave Hunt

Dave Hunt is president and founder of DG Hunt & Associates, an art consulting and project management firm specializing in large scale art-in-architecture programs. With a background in design and architecture, his practice is rooted in the cultivation of relationships and collaborations between the “art world” and the “real world”. Over the years he has worked with a wide range of artists, architects, developers, and public art organizations throughout Southern California and beyond, but his primary focus continues to be in the arts and business communities of Downtown LA. (Started July 2015)

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Eddie Navarrette

Board of Directors

Eddie Navarrette

Eddie uses his extensive knowledge of the Planning, Building, and Health codes to develop overall project design and strategy for his clients’ projects. He oversees each phase of every project to ensure the level of professionalism and customer service that his clients have come to expect. In addition, Eddie is FE Design’s chief representative at all public hearings and he often meets with Senior City staff to discuss his projects or the overall direction of the municipal code. Because of his knowledge of the industry, Eddie has been featured or quoted in several news stories and articles regarding hospitality permitting in the City of Los Angeles. Since he started FE Design in 2003, Eddie has helped over 500 businesses research their properties and secure Planning Variances and Conditional Uses, Building Permits, Health Permits, Revocable Permits, Industrial Waste Permits, Special Event Permits, Alcoholic Beverage Control Licenses, and Police Permits for Dance Halls and Live Entertainment.

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Eric Needleman

Board of Directors

Eric Needleman

Eric is a principal at The Spirited Group, a hospitality company that owns and operates venues throughout the Western US. Based in Los Angeles, the company currently has 20 locations throughout Los Angeles, San Diego, CA and Austin, TX.

Eric began in the hospitality industry in 2004, with his investment in the Golden Gopher. He then partnered to open Seven Grand, a bar that is largely credited with establishing the cocktail renaissance in Los Angeles, and Caña Rum Bar, which specializes in small batch rum and classic rum cocktails.

Prior to his career in hospitality, Eric was in commercial real estate. He was the asset manager of a 400,000 square foot portfolio of retail shopping centers and participated as a principal in the close of $100 million+ of commercial property transactions. Eric began in real estate with Gilmore Associates as the project manager for the Old Bank District redevelopment, the pioneering adaptive reuse project in Downtown Los Angeles.

Eric is on the Board of Directors of the LA Conservancy and Art Share LA. Eric graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Finance.

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Mark Walsh

Board of Directors

Mark Walsh

Mark Walsh has lived and worked in the Arts District since 1987 as a sculptor and freelance designer. He owns the Downtown Artist Space, which rents out workspace and tools. He also produces web videos that promote the arts in Los Angeles. (Started July 1, 2014)

Visual Arts Committee

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Shana Nys Dambrot

Visual Arts Committee

Shana Nys Dambrot

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Mike Kelley

Visual Arts Committee

Mike Kelley

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April Rushing

Visual Arts Committee

April Rushing

April Rushing started her career as a production assistant at Entertainment Tonight. Her television and film career includes, stints in production, accounting, contracts and distribution. After ten years on the corporate side of entertainment she decided to answer the call of her inner creative and become a publicist. In 2006 she started Rushing Media. The public relations and event staffing company is based in the Los Angeles area and services clients worldwide. Her PR clients range from hospitality, luxury, art and events. She has staffed events for brands including Ford and eBay. She has a BA in Mass Communications from Loma Linda University.

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Isabel Rojas-Williams

Visual Arts Committee

Isabel Rojas-Williams

Isabel Rojas-Williams, an Art Historian and curator, served as the Mural Conservancy Los Angeles Executive Director from 2011-2016. A native of Chile and resident of Los Angeles since 1973, she became an immediate and passionate fan of the mural movement here. She is a longtime civic activist who served as Mayor Villaraigosa’s liaison to the Latino, the Asian, and the African American Heritage Committees. Isabel earned her graduate degree in art history from Cal State Los Angeles, and joined the faculty there in 2007. Among her numerous research works are “Los Angeles Street Mural Movement, 1930-2009,” her master’s thesis, and a research video on David Alfaro Siqueiros, “Siqueiros: A Muralist in Exile,” (exhibited at MOLAA 2010-2011), which led to her participation on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for the Siqueiros Mural and Interpretative Center project that was completed in 2012. Isabel had a major role in helping write the mural ordinance signed by Mayor Garcetti in 2013, which lifted the 2002 mural moratorium in Los Angeles. Among her numerous awards, in 2014, Los Angeles City Council honored Isabel Rojas-Williams as one of the fifteen “Latinas in the Arts” who has made an impact in the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. On January 2016, Isabel was chosen by Los Angeles City Council and City Impact Lab as one of the exceptional “2016 Impact Makers to Watch.” Rojas-Williams participated as an Art Historian, an academic advisor, a speaker, and a curator in five of the 2017 Getty Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles/Latin American exhibitions (Getty PST: LA/LA).

Performing Arts Committee

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Matthew Hernandez

Performing Arts Committee

Matthew Hernandez

Matthew ‘Cuban’ Hernandez is a poet, speaker, and performance coach from Jacksonville, Florida. He has toured as far as Abu Dhabi and nearly every major city in the United States and Europe, performing, teaching and coaching poetry. Matthew is the co-founder of Spoken Literature Art Movement (S.L.A.M.) – an organization providing poetry education and extensive programming for poets. A 2018 Four Corners Fellow and a teaching artist for nearly ten years, Matthew has spent the last four years working in youth detention centers across Los Angeles County. He has opened for artists such as Wu-Tang and performed for platforms such as BuzzFeed and NPR. Matthew is also a three time Southern Fried poetry slam champion and an award-winning poetry coach. Cuban’s favorite activity is making people feel great; sometimes he does this through poetry.

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Alyesha Wise

Performing Arts Committee

Alyesha Wise

The author of Carnival (NOT A CULT media), Alyesha Wise is a poet, teaching artist & TEDx speaker from Camden, N.J. Alyesha currently resides in Los Angeles, Ca and is the co-founder of Spoken Literature Art Movement (S.L.A.M.) – an organization providing poetry education and extensive programming for poets. Alyesha is currently the Hollywood (Da Poetry Lounge) Slam Team head coach and served as the Los Angeles (Get Lit) Youth Slam Team co-coach from 2014-2017. Along with other slam highlights, she is a 2-time Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist. Alyesha has been featured on different platforms and publications such as Huffington Post, Bustle, Afropunk, PBS, POPSUGAR, Buzzfeed, Free Speech TV and more. She has collaborated with Brave New Films and additional media platforms, having featured in the Google Interstellar Project, in conjunction with the hit film Interstellar. Ron Howard once wrote about Alyesha’s work, “Very Powerful.”

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