Nolen V. Bivens, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, is a former U.S. Army General and serves as chair of the National Leadership Advisory Council, the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military (NIAHM); military community advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network’s Creative Forces program, and senior Policy Fellow on Arts & Military.

Bivens is president of Leader Six, Inc. and has executive leadership experience delivering successful results for public, private sector, and nonprofit organizations with $1B (+) in annual revenue, including strategic business development and sales at the VP level for a top four defense corporation, General Dynamics Mission Systems. A retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, he’s held leadership and staff positions from company through Army and Joint Pentagon Staff and U.S. Combatant and Special Operations Command levels. He has testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and co-chairs the National Leadership Advisory Committee for NIAHM. He has been guest speaker for national nonprofit conferences, the Aspen Seminar for Leadership in the Arts; and is a contributing writer for the Smithsonian Institution, HuffPost, and American for the Arts’ social media.

Bivens holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from South Carolina State University, a Master of Science in Management from the Naval Post Graduate School, and a Master of Science in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University.

Nina is both Chief Counsel of Government and Public Affairs at Americans for the Arts as well as the Executive Director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. Since 1993, Nina has served as the chief policy strategist for Americans for the Arts’ federal, state, and local government and public affairs work, grassroots advocacy campaigns, policy development, and national coalition-building efforts with both cultural and civic organizations to advance the arts in America. In 2009, she spearheaded the very successful “Arts = Jobs” advocacy campaign that strategically secured $50 million of federal support for more than 7,000 arts jobs and millions of dollars more for arts infrastructure projects within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Nina produces several programmatic events annually, including National Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill; the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and the National Public Leadership in the Arts Awards, which are presented in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors.

Serving simultaneously as the executive director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and its connected Political Action Committee, the only dedicated arts PAC in America, Nina mobilizes the political and legislative efforts of more than 420,000 citizen activists in advancing arts policy issues among legislators and candidates seeking federal public office.  She recently completed ArtsVote2012, culminating with high profile arts policy events at both the Republican National Convention in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. She is a graduate of The George Washington University with a B.A. in French Literature, and of The University of Richmond School of Law with a J.D.  She is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Jay Dick is the Senior Director of State and Local Government Affairs at Americans for the Arts where he works with state and local arts advocates to assist them in creating and promoting policies that promote equitable state and local funding along with the overall expansion of the arts and culture into society. Further, he works with a variety of associations representing elected officials to not only educate them on a national level about the arts and culture but connecting them back to their local arts constituents to establish strongly connections.  

Social Media: @JayAFTA

David Reid brings a wealth of on-the-ground policy and finance experience to his government relations work with Brownstein. He combines his experience in both business and politics on building, funding and setting the strategic direction for advocacy campaigns and political action committees. A seasoned campaign veteran, David joins the firm from Hillary for America where he was the Washington, D.C., and PAC finance director. His efforts raised a record-breaking $30 million from the D.C. and PAC community during the last election. Before joining Hillary for America, David was the Mid-Atlantic finance director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, ran the political finance operation of a Fortune 100 global healthcare company and served as the deputy finance director of the Democratic Governors Association. David advocates on behalf of a wide range of clients, representing arts and public health funding coalitions, health care organizations and hospitality and telecom companies. He also remains active and engaged with the Democratic Party and campaign committees. Over the course of his career, David has amassed an in-depth network of industry contacts both on Capitol Hill and within the business and association communities. He also serves on the firm's Pro Bono Committee.

Before joining Americans for the Arts, Tooshar served as Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at the National Association for Music Education. There he oversaw federal and state policy initiatives while supporting music educators in their efforts to advocate for their music programs. During this time, he also served as a board member for both the Committee for Education Funding and the Title IV-A Coalition.

Tooshar began his career on Capitol Hill working on tax policy, judiciary, and healthcare issues in the United States Senate. Following his time on Capitol Hill, Tooshar joined the Bio technology Innovation Organization where we worked on tax policy and financial service issues for emerging companies. Tooshar has also worked as both a policy and communications consultant for presidential and congressional campaigns.

As the husband of a teacher and the father of two daughters, Tooshar has seen firsthand the need for the arts in a child’s life. This drives his commitment to advocacy for the arts on all levels.

During more than 14 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. From 2009 to 2022, he 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, City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, 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 33 year resident of San Juan Capistrano with his wife, Alison, an artist.

Joshua Stavros has over 18 years of professional arts management experience, including serving as Media and Public Relations Manager and Associate Education Director at the Tony-Award winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. He has a BS in Theatre and an MFA in Arts Administration from Southern Utah University. In addition to his arts management work, he has acted and directed in a number of collegiate and professional productions, including three Greenshows, and taught in the Cedar City area high schools. He has served as the spokesperson for the Utah Advisory Council of Theatre Teachers, and has been a member at large of the Utah Thespians Association. He currently serves as the chair of the Utah Cultural Alliance.

Nolen V. Bivens, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, is a former U.S. Army General and serves as chair of the National Leadership Advisory Council, the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military (NIAHM); military community advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network’s Creative Forces program, and senior Policy Fellow on Arts & Military.

Bivens is president of Leader Six, Inc. and has executive leadership experience delivering successful results for public, private sector, and nonprofit organizations with $1B (+) in annual revenue, including strategic business development and sales at the VP level for a top four defense corporation, General Dynamics Mission Systems. A retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, he’s held leadership and staff positions from company through Army and Joint Pentagon Staff and U.S. Combatant and Special Operations Command levels. He has testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and co-chairs the National Leadership Advisory Committee for NIAHM. He has been guest speaker for national nonprofit conferences, the Aspen Seminar for Leadership in the Arts; and is a contributing writer for the Smithsonian Institution, HuffPost, and American for the Arts’ social media.

Bivens holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from South Carolina State University, a Master of Science in Management from the Naval Post Graduate School, and a Master of Science in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University.

Nina is both Chief Counsel of Government and Public Affairs at Americans for the Arts as well as the Executive Director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. Since 1993, Nina has served as the chief policy strategist for Americans for the Arts’ federal, state, and local government and public affairs work, grassroots advocacy campaigns, policy development, and national coalition-building efforts with both cultural and civic organizations to advance the arts in America. In 2009, she spearheaded the very successful “Arts = Jobs” advocacy campaign that strategically secured $50 million of federal support for more than 7,000 arts jobs and millions of dollars more for arts infrastructure projects within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Nina produces several programmatic events annually, including National Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill; the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and the National Public Leadership in the Arts Awards, which are presented in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors.

Serving simultaneously as the executive director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and its connected Political Action Committee, the only dedicated arts PAC in America, Nina mobilizes the political and legislative efforts of more than 420,000 citizen activists in advancing arts policy issues among legislators and candidates seeking federal public office.  She recently completed ArtsVote2012, culminating with high profile arts policy events at both the Republican National Convention in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. She is a graduate of The George Washington University with a B.A. in French Literature, and of The University of Richmond School of Law with a J.D.  She is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Before joining Americans for the Arts, Tooshar served as Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at the National Association for Music Education. There he oversaw federal and state policy initiatives while supporting music educators in their efforts to advocate for their music programs. During this time, he also served as a board member for both the Committee for Education Funding and the Title IV-A Coalition.

Tooshar began his career on Capitol Hill working on tax policy, judiciary, and healthcare issues in the United States Senate. Following his time on Capitol Hill, Tooshar joined the Bio technology Innovation Organization where we worked on tax policy and financial service issues for emerging companies. Tooshar has also worked as both a policy and communications consultant for presidential and congressional campaigns.

As the husband of a teacher and the father of two daughters, Tooshar has seen firsthand the need for the arts in a child’s life. This drives his commitment to advocacy for the arts on all levels.

Bill Harper is a Minnesota-based government affairs consultant specializing in federal policy and congressional appropriations. Harper retired from the U.S. House of Representatives in February 2023 after serving 22-years as chief of staff to Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-MN04), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. Harper has vast experience advancing both domestic and national security policy initiatives while also driving a robust appropriations agenda, especially during Rep. McCollum’s tenure as chair of the Interior, Environment Appropriations subcommittee in the 116^th Congress and chair of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee in the 117^th Congress. In his role as chief of staff, Harper directed the effort to restore funding to Save America’s Treasures, protect and increase funding for the NEA, and helped to secure over $9 million in community project funding in FY2023 to arts organizations in Minnesota’s 4^th congressional district.

Prior to the U.S. House, Harper served as campaign manager for Betty McCollum’s first race for Congress in 2000, at the time making her only the second woman ever elected to federal office in Minnesota history.

Robert Chelimsky is in his sixth season as the managing director at Playwrights’ Center, and his twenty-sixth as an executive leader in the nonprofit arts. In that span, in addition to other projects, he co-founded (with Charles R. Miller) the Smoky Mt. Shakespeare Festival/Bard of Education Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program, executive produced world premieres of Dispatches from (A)mended America by Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. and Brandt Adams, and Nilaja Sun’s Pike St., the NY premiere of Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths Off-Broadway, and partnered with Vivienne Benesch and Ethan McSweeney to create the Chautauqua New Play Commission. Now, in partnership with Jeremy B. Cohen, the staff, and the board of Playwrights’ Center, he has worked to deepen Playwrights’ Center’s organizational and financial durability and resilience, while expanding the breadth and depth of the Center’s support for playwrights, and leading the All Narratives Campaign to build the organization’s new home and next chapter. He’s proud to have served his communities by spending seven years on regional boards for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as well as multiple terms on the board of Uprising Theater. He is currently the president of the board of the French-American Chamber of Commerce-MN. For all of that, his most valued roles are Katharine’s (24) and Winter’s (13) dad, and Emily’s husband.

Beth Prevor is a co-founder and Executive Director of Hands On, an arts service organization that advocates for access to the cultural arts for the Deaf community and audiences with disabilities. For the last 30+ years, Hands On has been providing access for the Deaf and hard of hearing communities of NYC through sign language interpreted theater at some of NYC’s most prestigious theaters including The Roundabout Theater Company, The New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater and The New Victory Theater.

As Executive Director, Beth works with arts organizations to ensure inclusion for all by providing marketing, community engagement and audience development strategies. As a disabled advocate, Beth is active as an advisory member to many groups including, The Shubert Accessibility Committee, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, and the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC).  She has led workshops on accessibility and the arts for organizations around the country including the Kennedy Center’s LEAD (Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability) Conference, Americans for the Arts, The National Arts Marketing Project, the Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York (ART/NY) and Theater Communications Group (TCG). She currently works as a Disability Consultant with ART/NY.

She is the 2015 recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center’s Excellence in Accessibility Leadership Lifetime Achievement award.

Website: Handson.org

Twitter: @HandsOnSign  

Vanessa Hernández Cruz (she, her, ella) is an interdependent Chicana Disabled dance artist, filmmaker, visual artist, poet & an Intersectional Disability Justice activist. She was born and raised in the unceded land of the Tongva & Kizh lands colonially known as Los Angeles, California. She received her Associates Degree in Dance from Santa Monica College. She recently graduated from California State University Long Beach with her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Science.  Vanessa recently premiered two solos: “Nycto-Eternity” & “Timeless Hourglass” at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles as a guest artist with the international dance company LuxBit Art Company based in Seoul, Korea. In the summer of 2022, she was commissioned through the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to produce the dance film “Los Portales del Corazón” for the ‘Dance in the Districts’ program.

Vanessa has been implementing the Disability Justice framework (Sins Invalid) through her activism & dance work. She is currently working with DANC (Dance Artists’ National Collective) as their Communications & Social Media Co-Coordinator. She also serves as a consultant in their BIPOC & Disabled Circle. She is also working as an Accessibility Advisor for HomeLA. In the past, she guided Cal State Long Beach Department of Dance to adopt Disability Justice elements into their dance productions and curriculum with the support of CSULB Affinity AIDE (Advocates for Inclusion & Dancer Equity). She has developed two workshops: Dismantling Ableism in Dance & Accessibility at the Forefront of Dance Making Series. In addition she offers accessibility consulting to individuals & a variety of arts organizations.

 Vanessa is committed to generating substantial changes in the dance field and making the dance field an equitable  space for our multi-marginalized disabled communities.

Follow & Learn More:

https://www.galaxiesdance.info

https://www.instagram.com/galaxiesdance/

Headshot & Image Description:

[Image Description 1: a headshot of Vanessa in a long sleeve lace undershirt with a textured abstract skeleton black dress with a silver metallic corset. She is leaning against Pluto (her purple walker) she is spiraling her torso as one arm is reaching up. She is in front of a dark grey textured background. ]