Announcing the 2021 Slate of Nominees

For the Western Arts Alliance Board of Directors

Voting opens today and closes on Wednesday, January 5 at 5pm PT.

The results of the election will be presented at the 2021 WAA Awards Presentation & Annual Membership Meeting on Thursday, January 6, 2022.

All current WAA member organizations are eligible to vote. The person designated to vote on behalf of your member organization will receive an email with their individual voting link and voting credentials. You also can enter the election website at this link, you will need to use the emailed credentials to log in.*

If you need to update your organization's designated voter or have other questions about the elections, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Learn more about the 2021 nominees below.

*Note: Your voting credentials are separate from your member portal credentials.

 

2021 Nominees — Learn More

Cathy Weiss | Del E. Webb Center

Secretary/Treasurer (two-year term expiring 2023)

Seventeen years ago, Western Arts Alliance embraced me as a new member. This organization has been the foundation of my presenting career. To be considered again for the position of Secretary/Treasurer of the WAA Board of Directors is truly an honor and would afford me the opportunity to continue to give back to the field that has supported me over the years as a rural presenter.  My interests are in serving the Finance and Professional Development Committees, and working on a succession plan for our Executive Director. I look forward to bold conversations that move us forward as arts leaders and as colleagues and developing initiatives that keep us thinking and moving creatively as we navigate the unknown future. I also am dedicated to WAA’s initiatives that are leading our field toward a more inclusive world. Working with the WAA staff over the years on committees and as a board member has been a fulfilling experience and I am enthusiastic about continued service to the organization.

Cathy Weiss became a founding board member of the Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts in 1997, and in 2003 was named as Executive Director. The Webb Center is a 600-seat state of the art venue located in Wickenburg, Arizona.  The Webb Center is a non-profit organization that raises or earns almost $2 million dollars annually to operate, in a community with a population of 10,000 in the winter months. With a staff of 7 employees and 125 volunteers, the Webb Center’s body of work includes: presenting a series of 35 professional touring national and international performances between November and April, and managing an artist live workspace designed to permit artistic companies to create new work, The Made in Wickenburg Residency Program. Education components include life-long learning, arts-in-education programs to 2,900 children in rural Arizona through free classroom workshops, school performances and producing two incredible summer arts camps in the month of June — Camp Imagination. Ms. Weiss is fiscally responsible for the organization while overseeing facility management, audience development, publicity/marketing, membership/volunteer services, fund and board development. Ms. Weiss was raised in Arizona and prior to entering the non-profit world enjoyed a 27-year career in the luxury hotel business in locations all across the world.  She lives in Wickenburg with her husband Rui Pereira, currently serving as Mayor of Wickenburg.

 

Pamela Green | PMG Arts Management

Director (three-year term expiring 2024)

I am honored to be re-nominated for the board of Western Arts Alliance. It has been an honor to serve with such visionary, thoughtful and committed leaders in our field. 

As I transition from being an agent to a consultant and volunteer in our field,  many of my most meaningful relationships continue to be with presenters in the Western region. I have found incredible thought partners with whom I have been able to reimagine tours, residencies, and commissions that were postponed or delayed due to COVID. These projects will be active well into the 2023 season. The opportunity to work with WAA, the board, and my thoughtful colleagues in the west, particularly around the ideas and policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our field seem like a great fit. I will carry that forward into my service on the Executive Committee, as a member of the Executive Director Search Committee, as well as the Budget and Finance committees. WAA serves a diverse region, rich with possibility. I look forward to helping WAA move forward into its next phase of leadership and supporting the field as we strive to build back.  

Pamela Green holds BA degrees in Public Policy and Drama from Duke University and a Master of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University. She began her arts administration career with the Durham Arts Council, the American Dance Festival, and the Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble. She was the Director of Touring and Presenting for the North Carolina Arts Council from 1989-1992. In 1992, Mrs. Green founded PMG Arts Management. PMG Arts Management currently represents established and emerging artists, including Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Philadanco!, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, and special projects with jazz singer Nnenna Freelon. She has served in roles including board member, consultant, panelist, and workshop leader for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),  South Arts, the Western Arts Alliance (WAA), the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF), the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), the North American Association of Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA), and the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Presenters Consortium (NCPC) to name a few. In January of 2018 Green received the 2017 NAPAMA Liz Silverstein Award for Agent-Manager of the Year at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ (APAP) annual conference in New York City.  

 

Robin Pomerance | Cal Performances

Director (three-year term expiring 2024)

I am grateful for the nomination to be re-elected to the board of the Western Arts Alliance.  My first term was of course heavily influenced by the pandemic, and the need to ease back into our most visible activity and move our conference to Portland. The staff’s thought and care that went into this effort cannot be overstated, and my colleagues on the board were equally compassionate and considerate. 

And yet, in the midst of the immediate challenges of new organizational leadership and responsibilities to the field vis-a-vis the status of Arts Midwest, the continuous call for racial justice must not be ignored. I am heartened by WAA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, especially as evidenced by the Advancing Indigenous Performance program.  If re-elected, I will continue to support the staff as they tackle these challenges and work with my fellow board members to ensure a productive and influential future for WAA. 

About Robin: Like many of you, I have worked in organizations on all sides of the table – presenter, producer, agent, support organization, and am able to see the industry from a 360-degree, holistic perspective.  I have been a member of the staff at Cal Performances for many years.  As Artistic Administrator, I look after the internal logistics necessary to get artists to our stages, from contracts and visas to hotels, taxes, and auxiliary forces such as choruses, orchestras and performing animals. I have previously served on the boards of NAPAMA and AXIS Dance Company. Prior to my tenure at Cal Performances, I worked in opera administration at the San Francisco and Washington Opera Companies. I also worked at Columbia Artists Management.   

 

Nadhi Thekkek | Nava Dance Theatre

Director (three-year term expiring 2024)

I am honored to be nominated for the board of WAA. I had a wonderful experience as a Launchpad Artist over the last two years and believe WAA is positioned to continue supporting BIPOC artists and organizations, especially as the political climate continues to shift. I believe our shared goals are not only about teaching artists how to navigate a predominately white space, but also to 1) support established presenters so they curate and cultivate audienceship for BIPOC artists and to 2) engage and learn from smaller presenters who are already doing that work. I believe my voice as a female, South Asian, hyphenated-American artist and organizer might bring another perspective to a changing and now somewhat fragile industry.  

As we continue to explore virtual and in-person spaces, I am also interested in making parts of WAA accessible to those who may not be able to afford the entire package. I am specifically interested in growing programs like Launchpad and Native Launchpad to support more BIPOC artists, agents, and presenters. Moreover, I want to rally presenters who are interested in culturally-specific programming and give them better access to those artists at the conference and throughout the year. I have met many great panelists, committee members, and board members within WAA with similar goals, and I'd love to further these causes with the organization at large. 

Nadhi Thekkek is the Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre (NDT), a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco, California (USA). She operates on the belief that bharatanatyam, while classical, is a modern medium with potential to push boundaries of how we can use traditional art forms to understand place, identity, and politics. Nadhi has performed at various venues including the Scotiabank Dance Centre (Vancouver), La Mama Experimental Theatre Club (NYC), Dance Place (D.C.), and Southbank Center (London). Her choreography has been supported through: National Endowment for the Arts, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, California Arts Council, CounterPulse, Center for Cultural Innovation, and others. 

Some of Nadhi’s artist initiatives include the Dansplain Series, a festival of bharatanatyam work on social justice issues; Locally Sourced at Navatman’s Drive East — a series of music and dance commissions featuring Bay Area-based artists; and the Varnam Salon — a dance series highlighting traditional arts repertoire. Most recently through NDT, she created Unrehearsed Activism, a residency and engagement program confronting the systemic and structural prejudices in the Indian performing arts community.  

Nadhi obtained her PhD from Rice University in Bioengineering. Though she left academia for art making and community organizing, she appreciates the critical thinking, creative process, multitasking, fundraising, and grant writing required for both! 

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