Chair | Stacey Ray
Stacey Ray is a small town Montanan, nature enthusiast, artist, organizer and creative thinker. She graduated from Montana State University (Bozeman) in 2012 with a BA in Art History and BFA in Studio Art. For four years she served as student government Arts & Exhibits Director, which endowed her with a passion for arts leadership. She managed the student-operated art gallery, organized events, led efforts for a renovation, and was twice selected as Director of the Year. Stacey has served on curatorial committees, an artist guild, co-founded a contemporary arts coalition, and worked in several galleries. Most recently she worked as Sales and Marketing Director for a well established gallery and artist.
During her first year in the AAD program (focusing in Community Art / Museum Studies) Stacey was very involved with ELAN, JSMAC (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Student Member Advocacy Council), served as JSMA World of Work Sketchbook Coordinator, and also led workshops encouraging sketchbooks as a tool for mental health and well-being. Stacey heads into year two fresh from a summer internship in public programs and community outreach at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA). She will also be working as the CCACP / AAD Operations and Development Coordinator. Through her work and research she is exploring contemporary arts, alternative space, rural arts, artist residencies/collectives, community organizing and outreach.
Stacey is looking forward to an exciting year of ELAN events with a talented leadership team. She is focused on increasing membership and outreach, strengthening the student community within AAD, and expanding opportunities for professional development.
Co-Chair | Sarah Wyer
Born in Germany and raised in various parts of California and Virginia, Sarah does not consider herself a “native” of anywhere and feels right at home in Eugene, Oregon. After a flurry of indecision, Sarah graduated from the University of Oregon with her BA in Anthropology (Socio-Cultural & Archaeology) and Folklore in 2014 and jumped right into graduate school. She is currently pursuing two Masters Degrees (Arts Administration & Folklore) and is tired. Entering into year two of AAD, Sarah is delighted to be continuing with her Graduate Teaching Fellowship as the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Student Member Advocacy Council (JSMAC) President.
She has always loved museums and was fortunate to explore them often while growing up. Museums began to love her back in the form of employment starting in 2010, when she began working for Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) in San Diego, CA as a docent and historic interpreter. She started working at the JSMA in 2012 and has been there ever since in one capacity or another. The crown jewel of her experience at JSMA was as a student curator for the 2014 Placing Pierre Daura, where she worked with a group of UO students and McCosh Associate Curator Danielle Knapp to research, plan, implement, and program the exhibition. Sarah returns to her second year of AAD fresh from a summer internship with the Seattle Art Museum.
This year Sarah plans to work with JSMAC to provide professional development opportunities, student-driven events, and student art exhibitions. With ELAN, Sarah looks forward to expanding the arts network and building relationships with other arts-inclined people and organizations in the UO/Eugene community. She loves connecting people to the arts and is thrilled to contribute her knowledge and energy as ELAN’s Co-Chair for the 2015-2016 academic year, where she can put her passion to action.
Administrative Chair | Halley Perry
Halley Perry was born in Great Falls, Montana but was raised in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. She was highly active in her home town Drama club and performed in the local melodramas. During summer vacations, her family would always take long road trips across the country and stopped at every local museum along the way. This lead to her passion for Art and Museums.
In 2014, she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Art History and minored in Business Administration and Museum Studies. She moved to Eugene, Oregon with her husband and son to attend graduate school at the University of Oregon. While during her graduate studies, she has gained in interest in Museum Studies and the Arts and Healthcare concentrations. Her research is consisting of kids with different abilities and their social interactions in informal learning environments.
Halley has been involved in many student organizations around campus. You can see her in the Professional Outreach Development for Students (PODS) office in Lawrence or working on the Student Advocacy Group (SAG) as the Second Year Representative, in the library. She was also awarded the Laurel Award from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and has worked closely with many organizations in the Eugene community.
This year for ELAN, Halley hopes to focus on student involvement and professional development. She is partnering ELAN with SAG to help represent students and strengthen the community for the AAD network. This year’s ELAN will be exciting and full of passion for the students. She can’t wait to work with this great ELAN team to make all ELAN events something you cannot miss.
Financial Chair | Josh Francis
Josh Francis was born in Seattle and raised in Boulder, Colorado where he spent his childhood singing, dancing, acting, and doing gymnastics.
He moved to Portland to get his undergraduate degree at Lewis & Clark College with a double major in English and Spanish. While at LC, he was heavily involved with the college’s choir and a cappella programs and helped to lead an a cappella group along with the umbrella organization that represented the school’s four a cappella groups.
After college, he moved down to Eugene and started working at the Eugene Concert Choir as the Marketing Director and the HIV Alliance as the Office Manager. At the same time, he began channeling his past performing experiences and skills into his training as an aerial dancer.
He has since formed a small troupe of circus performers that have performed a variety of shows and events, most notably a self-created and directed narrative piece entitled “Statuesque,” as well as a performance for The City of Eugene’s “pARTy in the plaza” event, which drew over 500 people.
Within the AAD program, he is focusing in performing arts management, with the contemporary circus as a research focus. He is thrilled to be helping to lead ELAN as Financial Chair and can’t wait to see what the year has to hold.
Communications Chair | Tara Burke
Born and raised in Chicago, IL Tara has traded in the bustle of a big city for the smaller and more intimate feel of community in Eugene. She has gained experience in the non-profit sector of community management for the University of Oregon as an undergrad (BA in PPPM, 2010). After graduation, She spent her post-graduate studies learning Spanish fluently and connecting with youth and adult movement art practices of circus arts and yoga both regionally in Hawaii and internationally in Mexico. Upon her return, she began to teach classes locally for adults and youth in both circus arts (hula hoop her is speciality) and yoga. She connected with a non-profit, Lane Arts Council, and began as an artist resident for after school programs.
After working the past several years with non-profits and being a self-employed movement facilitator, Tara began working with special productions and creative event design with music and entertainment festivals. The spontaneous, organic, and vibrancy of the industry is something that Tara is passionate about and driven to continue on her career path as an creative arts manager. The Arts and Administration MA program has allowed Tara the theoretical skills and practical experience in working with curating and designing bigger events, as well as working collaboratively with various individuals skill sets.
Tara currently teaches Yoga at Hard Core Yoga and is still employed for assemblies with Lane Arts Council. She works on special productions for events such as Electric Forest Festival, ForeCastle, and Summer Meltdown Festival, primarily in the summer months. She is also currently the 2015-2016 GTF for Art and Visual Literacy this year. She is assisting on two special research projects with the head of the AAD department, Dr. Patricia Lambert.
She is excited to be joining the extremely talented and multi-faceted ELAN team. She hopes her continued studies in the Arts and Administration program and the position as Public Relations chair will allow her to create bridges between different student groups, community groups and the Eugene community at large. She believes firmly that art is in all things, and that as a group, ELAN can strive to just provide an inclusive environment for full participation of culture and creative self-expression.