Marna Stalcup, Program Manager, coordinates all aspects of The Right Brain Initiative. She is responsible for engaging the community in the planning process, overseeing program design and taking the project to full implementation. Marna joined the Regional Arts & Culture Council staff in the fall of 2007, bringing to her position a 25-year career in arts education. At Portland’s Jefferson High School she served as Events Manager and Performing Arts Magnet Program Coordinator. In Vancouver, Washington she was a founding faculty member of the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics and part of a small team of educators that established The Communications Academy. Most recently, Marna was Managing Director of Caldera, a local non-profit arts organization that provides programs for middle and high school students and professional artists. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Textiles, Clothing and Art from the University of Washington and completed additional coursework at Portland State University in early childhood education.
mstalcup@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
503.823.4698
Carin Rosenberg, Implementation Manager, brings many years of arts education program administration as well as six years of elementary classroom teaching to her work at Young Audiences, which serves as the Implementation Partner for The Right Brain Initiative. She lived for many years in Boston where she administered arts integration programming for arts organizations that brought the arts into the classroom, community centers and youth after-school programs. Carin also taught anti-oppression courses to teachers and teachers-in-training. She received a bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s in elementary education and creative arts in learning from Lesley University and a Master’s in arts in education from Harvard University.
crosenberg@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
503.225.5900 ext. 229
Rebecca Burrell, Outreach Specialist, is a proud product of the Portland Public Schools, bringing to The Right Brain Initiative a diverse background in the arts, marketing and education. With over five years of dedicated communications experience, Rebecca worked most recently with the Museum of Contemporary Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she engaged in all aspects of outreach, from advertising and public relations, to social media and direct community engagement. Other past work opportunities have sent her across the country, beginning with her tenure as a service learning specialist at Taos Middle School, New Mexico. While in Taos, she also helped to found and develop year-round programming for ECO, an interdisciplinary arts center for youth. Rebecca has worked at Rappy & Company, a boutique graphic design agency in New York and as an educator at the Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh. She holds a BA in Communications from Antioch College.
rburrell@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
503.823.2965
Briana Linden, Implementation Coordinator, has worked in regional non-profits since 1997 including the Oregon Zoo, Portland Art Museum and Artists Repertory Theatre; prior to that she was a preschool teacher. Most recently, Briana was director of Blue Sky/Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts. She brings this experience and more than 17 years as an educator and teaching artist to her work at Young Audiences, which serves as the Implementation Partner for the Right Brain Initiative. A Portland native, her roots in the local arts community run wide and deep and fuel her desire to deliver the arts to her community of origin. Briana received her bachelor’s of fine arts with a focus on works on paper from Marylhurst University in 2005. A practicing artist, Briana works in encaustic, printmaking, drawing and photography.
blinden@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
503.225.5900 ext. 235
Kendra Yao, Program Specialist, carries out the myriad details involved in program documentation and evaluation, and the reflective-based practice of Right Brain professional development. She moved to Portland from Ohio in 2008 and joined the staff of the Regional Arts & Culture Council in 2009. Kendra has created arts education opportunities for children and adults in classrooms, museums, theaters, and outdoor spaces since 2003. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology, and has a Masters degree in art education from The Ohio State University. She brings four years of experience managing education programs at Wexner Center for the Arts, a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center in Ohio, and Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland. She has also enjoyed curating children’s film and performing arts festivals.
kyao@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
503.823.5454
Allie Maki Maya, Program Assistant, works with the Program Specialist to help document and evaluate the program by assisting in photo and video editing, site visits to schools, as well as helping with organizing the back end of all the Right Brain residencies. Allie’s interests in art education began at a young age, and she credits her public school upbringing on the small island of Vashon in the Puget Sound. Allie followed this early interest to California, where she got her Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Westmont College. Portland has been Allie’s home since 2006, and her favorite Portland memories include marrying her husband on Sauvie Island, date nights at the Portland Art Museum, and touring all the fantastic restaurants and breweries this city has to offer. amaya@TheRightBrainInitiative.org 503.823.5428
Becky Miller, Administrative Assistant, provides program and administrative assistance to the Right Brain Initiative. She comes to RACC after several years of administrative work supporting educational programs. She currently splits her time between RACC and the Cradle to Career Initiative in Multnomah County, an initiative that seeks to foster school and community collaboration to improve student success. Becky feels incredibly lucky to be working for an organization that melds art and education. She is often a summer mentor at the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls, teaching guitar and voice to girls 8-18. In addition to music, she spends time creating visual art with a needle and thread, a strange and tedious art that seems to come through her fingers from ancestors long ago. Becky is huge fan of getting lost in foreign cities with a map, and delights in the ever changing landscape of Portland’s art and culture. She has a B.A. in Communications from the University of Colorado at Boulder. bmiller@TheRightBrainInitiative.org 503.823.5428
Robin Chilstrom, Arts Integration Facilitator, is a multidisciplinary artist and arts administrator. She has over 30 years experience teaching art and working professionally as a performing and visual artist. As an arts educator, she has worked with grades K-12 in public and private schools, residential treatment facilities and community sites. Over the years she has guided children through the process of creating and performing original plays and songs, as well as making puppets, masks, costumes, sets, props, murals, comics and stories – the dominant focus of her work through Earth Arts NW, which she co-founded in 2003. As Earth Art’s program director, she has guided the design of adaptable formats used to develop multi-arts residencies that can be linked to art, language arts, history, science and environmental curriculum. Robin works with Rigler, Sitton, Vestal and Whitman in the Portland Public School District.
rchilstrom@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
MaryLouise Ott, Arts Integration Facilitator, is a visual artist and designer with extensive experience in arts education. From her first involvement as an artist in residence at Grant High School 30 years ago through her years managing an art docent program in the Bainbridge schools, she has remained a passionate advocate for the long-term benefits of making connections between the arts and other curriculum areas. As one of the founding members and project coordinator for the Bainbridge Island Arts Education Community Consortium, she established, managed, and provided professional development for an integrated visual arts, drama, dance, and music program in all of the Bainbridge Island K-8 schools. MaryLouise has a degree in Interior Architecture and 30 years experience in the design of commercial spaces. MaryLouise works with East Orient in the Gresham School District, and Glencoe, Hayhurst, and Lewis in the Portland Public Schools. mott@therightbraininitative.org
Emily Stone, Arts Integration Facilitator, is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is situated on the threshold of dance, theater, and visual arts. While she has been a performing artist and educator for nearly 15 years, Emily recently earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art with a focus in experiential education from Goddard College. Professionally, her collaboratively devised projects have been presented by experimental theaters, contemporary art galleries, new dance, video and time-based art festivals, academic conferences and colleges throughout the Northwest. As an experienced arts educator, she has worked with pre-K/12 students in a wide variety of settings—in the classroom, onstage and backstage at numerous children’s theaters, and outdoors in wilderness therapy programs. Most recently, Emily has served as drama specialist for the Opal School at the Children’s Museum. Emily works with Ardenwald, Concord, Linwood, Oak Grove, Spring Mountain, Scouters Mountain, and View Acres in the North Clackamas School District.
estone@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
Wendy Thompson, Arts Integration Facilitator, is a freelance writer and Education Coordinator for Saturday Academy. She has been an arts educator for over two decades and helped open the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics in Washington State. Her award winning poetry has been published in Arnazella, Poet’s Ink, Synapse, VoiceCatcher, and Spoleto 2000. She was selected to attend Flight of the Mind Writers’ Workshop and Spoleto Writers’ Symposium in Spoleto, Italy. With an MFA in dance, Wendy published professional articles in Teaching Tolerance, Science & Children, and Impulse Journal. She is currently pursuing certification as a poetry/journal therapy facilitator, but realizes that integrated arts education is her greatest passion. Wendy works with James John and Woodlawn of the Portland Public Schools.
wthompson@TheRightBrainInitiative.org
Kristin Walrod, Arts Integration Facilitator, is a writer and creative writing teacher. She has been working in, and with, schools for the past twelve years. Through Columbia Gorge Arts in Education, she has taught creative writing residencies to students in middle and high schools in Hood River, Sherman, and Wasco Counties in Oregon and Klickitat County in Washington. She strives to find and nurture the kernel of inspiration and passion that motivates students to find their voice and express themselves effectively in writing. She believes strongly that kids should be given multiple opportunities for meaningful exposure to a variety of art forms. Kristin received her MFA in Fiction from Antioch University, LA. Her short stories and personal narratives have appeared in StoryGlossia, Nervy Girl, StringTown, and Columbia Gorge Magazine. She is currently at work on a novel and a collection of poems. Kristin works with Markham in the Portland Public Schools and with Lincoln Street, Free Orchards, and Jackson Elementary Schools in Hillsboro. kwalrod@TheRightBrainInitiative.org