Team Archives - Arts Cleveland

Director of Programs and Services Valerie Schumacher feels a gravitational pull toward drawing. Not surprisingly, at at Baldwin Wallace University, her major was studio art and arts management. She’s also studied photography, including at Italy’s Umbra Institute, and has won awards for her work in that medium, but although she enjoys shooting pictures, she just…

Associate of Programs and Marketing LeAundra Richardson discovered her love for music early — she began piano lessons at age six and was playing violin with her school orchestra by fifth grade. “I was just always talented at [music] and enjoyed it,” the Oberlin, Ohio, native says of her germinal attraction to and immersion in…

Senior Researcher Kristin Puch’s perspective on arts and culture is perhaps more numeric than aesthetic — as a researcher, she looks at arts and culture through the lens of data. “Data infuses all the work we do,” she says. “It’s a tool for understanding what’s going well [in the sector] and what the challenges are.”…

Community Relations Manager Meg Matko’s interest in artists and in arts and culture is personal — she’s a visual artist herself. “I know what it is to go to art school and graduate not knowing how to survive as an artist,” she remembers. And trying to figure out how to make a semblance of a…

Development Manager Kristen Levy wasn’t born and raised in Cleveland, but she’s been here her entire adult life (excepting a four-year sojourn to Los Angeles), and she’s “definitely a Clevelander,” she states. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Kristen moved northeast in 2002 to attend Case Western Reserve University. She’s passionate about her adopted city, its strengths…

Business Manager Abby Del Rio’s feelings about arts and culture don’t fit the narrowly stereotypic outlook of a numbers-driven bean counter. “Life without the arts would be pretty boring,” she says, pointing out that there’s more to life than just one’s daily, prosaic routine. “I definitely appreciate [live theater],” she adds, and her amateur interest…