Staff

Rita Alcantara

Communications & Grants Manager
Armed with experience in youth development work and as a teaching artist, Rita dreams up exciting and semi-ridiculous ways to bring Arts Corps’ vital work into the minds and hearts of the larger community. Rita is passionate about social justice and creativity and draws inspiration from young people engaged in both.

 

Leslie Collins

Deputy Director
Leslie Collins oversees programming, financial management, human resource management and operations for Arts Corps. Leslie’s background includes public sector experience in the areas of budget, finance, program development and technology. In late 2000, Leslie left her management career in the public sector to write poetry, explore her spiritual path and be with her family. She joined Arts Corps in the fall of 2005 to help Arts Corps build capacity to bring the arts into the lives of more young people. Leslie is a passionate supporter of the power of arts education to help students discover their unique strengths and inner creativity.

 

Lara Davis

Program Director
In addition to overseeing program development and community partnerships for Arts Corps, Lara co-leads the organization’s outreach and advancement work, which is dedicated to stewarding Arts Corps’s anti-oppression/racial justice agenda. Over the past 15 years of her professional career, Lara has been active in youth development, arts & arts education and social justice work with groups such as Seattle Young People’s Project, Queer Youth Rights, Communities Against Rape and Abuse, Seattle AFSC, the Seattle Arts Commission and more. As a musician, sound artist, collaborator, and activist, she knows firsthand the power of creativity as a key component for community building and engaging in justice work. Lara’s passion for the belief that art inspires possibility, reinforces Arts Corps’ mission and goals.

 

Estrella P. de Leon

Program Operations Coordinator
Estrella P. de Leon assists with fostering the connections with teaching artists, classroom assistants and others who serve the youth through our programs. After graduating in 2005 with a B.A. in Mexican American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, Estrella made the long road trip to the beautiful state of Washington. Estrella has served as an independent living skills coordinator for youth at Emerson High School in Mount Vernon and as a “Youth Voices” coordinator and facilitator with the Power of Hope. Estrella grew up in the musical and culturally-rich town of Austin, Texas, where she was surrounded by a community that understood the importance of using creativity as a means for changing the worlds around us.

 

Andrea Fullerton

Development Director
As development director, Andrea Fullerton has the privilege of connecting the community to the pivotal work of Arts Corps. Andrea firmly believes that every gift is valuable and meaningful, and that everyone can be a philanthropist. Andrea’s decade-long career in nonprofit communications and development spans myriad causes and organizations focusing on youth and social justice, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Trust for Public Land and Amara. Mirroring her professional background, Andrea’s volunteer and personal experience spans mentoring youth, volunteering in a shantytown outside Lima, Peru and being a foster parent. Through childhood experiences and now watching her own children grow and discover the world, she adamantly believes that quality arts education is vital and opens the doors to exploration, creativity and acceptance.

 

Tina LaPadula

Education Director & Founding Member
In addition to being Education Director, Tina LaPadula is a theatre teaching artist and founding member of Arts Corps. Her commitment to emergent curriculum, art for social change and student-centered assessment, helped shape the Arts Corps philosophy. Tina has performed for theatre, film and television in Seattle, New York, London, and Pennsylvania and taught theatre, performance and storytelling at Centrum Arts, Power of Hope, A Contemporary Theatre, Hilltop Children’s Center and Seattle Children’s Theatre. She has facilitated an experiential learning courses called ” Making Student Learning Visible” through the University of Washington’s Pipeline Project, and regularly leads workshops on assessment strategies, classroom management, and creative habits for The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Seattle Public Schools, Gear Up, School’s Out WA and various national conferences. Tina is a proud board member of the Association of Teaching Artists and credits her early work at the YWCA for teaching her the fundamentals of youth care and illuminating the huge need for quality arts experiences for all young people.

 

Henry Luke

Youth Speaks Seattle Spoken Word Teaching Artist in Service
Raised by hip hop, powerful women, and fierce organizers, Henry believes speaking stories is resistance by definition in a system that works so hard to divide and silence us. They have a background in anti-oppression and creative organizing with communities including Seattle Young People’s Project, FEEST (Food, Empowerment, Education and Sustainability Team), The Naked Truth on Stereotypes, and Nova High School.

 

Eduardo Mendonça

Faculty Development Manager
A veteran master teaching artist, Eduardo has been with Arts Corps since its inception. In his new role as the Faculty Development Manager, Eduardo supports Arts Corps’ faculty of teaching artists with mentoring and professional development and plays a key role on the program team. Eduardo is a native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and holds a masters in arts education from the Music Institute of the Catholic University of Salvador. He is music director for international performance ensemble, Show Brazil! and heads his own Kirkland-based company, Show Brazil Productions, which promotes Brazilian culture and provides Portuguese voice-over talent for CD-ROMs and videos exported to Brazil. Eduardo feels fortunate to be part of Arts Corps’ past, present and future and is confident and excited for what is in store.

 

Hillary Moore

Program Manager
Hillary’s work at Arts Corps is focused on the development and management of the Creative Schools Initiative. Through this project she gets to follow her passions for supporting arts education in schools and giving youth opportunities for deeper learning through the arts. She has experience writing curriculum and teaching visual arts with a wide range of ages from preschool to the graduate level. Most recently she worked as the Graduate Program Coordinator at IslandWood, where she got to support educators in their journey to teach compassionately and creatively. Hillary grew up in Seattle and benefited hugely from her childhood involvement with the arts. In college she was inspired to study studio art and in graduate school she focused on education. Now she is dedicated to giving all young people a chance to develop their voice and practice their creativity.

 

Sean O’Neill

Community Outreach Coordinator
As an MLK VISTA, Sean is the newest member of the Arts Corps family. As the Community Outreach Coordinator, Sean’s role is to enhance the anti-oppression and community organizing skill sets of the Arts Corps community. His commitment to social justice work has been shaped by a variety of influences, from music in his youth to student organizing. Additionally, Sean is an active leader of the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites, where he has facilitated workshops on racism, privilege & community organizing. Sean believes that through creativity of communities can achieve liberation and is inspired by Arts Corps commitment to this vision.

 

Bernadette Scheller

Finance & Events Manager
At Arts Corps, Bernadette Scheller integrates her event coordination savvy, administrative, finance and budget expertise with her passion for the arts and her belief in community service. She has created a balance in her work that includes managing small businesses, organizing special events for nonprofit organizations and creating her own artwork in the form of sculptural glass. As finance & events manager at Arts Corps, Bernadette brings her multi-disciplinary skills to contribute to an organization she has long admired. Since joining the team, she feels the satisfaction of watching her vision develop into a meaningful and rich reality.

 

Elizabeth Whitford

Executive Director
Elizabeth Whitford believes deeply that Arts Corps belongs to our whole community, and as such, should be broadly supported and shaped by all of us with our time, money, love and input. Elizabeth was hired as Arts Corps’ first community investment director in 2005 and stepped into the role of executive director in 2008 to continue bringing the Corps’ vision into being. Prior to Arts Corps, Elizabeth served as the founding operations director for Potlatch Fund and as executive director of Odyssey Youth Center in Spokane, Wash. In each of these roles, she has witnessed the power of the arts to help young people know and be true to themselves. She is deeply committed to this life-changing work and proud to partner with our community to keep it thriving.