Staff
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Danielle Brazell
Danielle Brazell transitioned Arts for LA from an ad-hoc steering committee comprised of local executive arts leadership to a highly visible arts advocacy organization. The only one of its kind in the country, Arts for LA fosters a healthy environment in which arts and culture may thrive and be accessible to all in the Los Angeles region. Under her stewardship, Arts for LA has surveyed candidates running for election in each Arts for All district, built an Online communications infrastructure that allows for a greater exchange of information and resources among the arts and arts education community and with strong input from the field, launched a policy platform that will guide the fields collective advocacy over the next two years. Brazell brings over fifteen years experience to the field. She is the former Director of Special Projects for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Artistic Director of Highways Performance Space. Ms. Brazell is the recipient of numerous grant awards including the 2000 Getty Fellowship. In 2009 Ms. Brazell received the CLEAR Communications Fellowship sponsored by the James Irvine Foundation.
ADVOCACY MANAGER: Tara Stafford
Tara Stafford comes to Arts for LA with a strong background in community organizing. She graduated with Honors from USC in 2006 with a BA in Cinema-Television/International Relations. While at USC, she founded the student-funded chapter of CALPIRG that has since involved hundreds of students in public-interest advocacy campaigns across the state. After graduation she worked as an Organizing Director with CALPIRG, registering and mobilizing thousands of young people to vote during the 2008 primary and general elections. In addition to her work at Arts for LA, she’s also a performing singer-songwriter-saxophonist and filmmaker in LA.
DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS MANAGER: Camille Schenkkan
Camille Schenkkan has served as the Development Director for Circle X Theatre Company since 2004 and is a Masters of Arts Management candidate at Claremont Graduate University/Drucker School. She graduated from Scripps College in 2006 (BA in Honors English/Theatre, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa), where she won the English Senior Thesis Award for her exploration of the work of playwrights Tom Jacobson, Sarah Ruhl and Carson Kreitzer. Camille was a National Merit Scholar and a Scripps New Generation Scholar. She is an animal rights advocate and is active with Emerging Arts Leaders/LA.
