Debra Thompson
President
Thompson has taught at Glendale Community College for ten years and is Adjunct Professor of Art History. She serves as Chairperson of the Associates’ National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper. Thompson is on the Board of Directors of Antaeus Theatre Company.
Tamara O’Connor
Vice President
O’Connor brings a wealth of community arts expertise to our Board. She is Vice President of Community Arts Resources and has worked on many important public arts initiatives for that firm, such as the City of Glendale Public Art Program Plan, Hollywood Arts Retention Project for the CRA/LA, Playa Vista’s Bandshell Art Plan, Redlands’ Mission Gables Facility Study, and the City of Calgary’s International Music Festival. She previously produced non-fiction television programming and remains an active member of the Producers Guild.
Debra Burchett-Lere
Treasurer
Burchett-Lere brings a wealth of professional art experience to our Board of Directors. She is the Executive Director of the Sam Francis Foundation. In addition Debra has worked with many arts organizations, including ARTTABLE/New York, MOCA, and Gemini G.E.L.. She is a grant writer, consultant and long standing member of the Appraisers Association of America.
Emily Goff
Secretary
Goff is an artist and educator who taught visual art to at-risk high school students for over 30 years and established the Daily Mural Project at Daily High School in Glendale. Her students designed and produced murals for schools, parks and community organizations in Glendale and throughout Los Angeles County. She currently devotes much of her time to her own studio practice and is a member of the Los Angeles Art Association.
Gregory Ross
Director
Ross brings a wealth of design expertise to Brand Associates, focusing on our website, social media and various promotional and graphic materials. His career began in the music industry as an Art Director at Warner Brothers and A&M Records, designing CD packaging, merchandise and advertising. He eventually opened his own design studio with his partner John Schuning and expanded into the fields of fashion, finance, and healthcare, working with many businesses and non-profit organizations.
Michael Diehl
Director
Michael Diehl is a graphic designer, operating as a sole proprietor, for nearly 40 years. He’s lived and worked in Glendale for most of that time. With a background in advertising and marketing, Diehl now engages in many facets of design, including branding, packaging, publication and web design. Most of his clients are in the creative arts, but he also assists organizations in law, private equity, education and more.
Tina Demirdjian
Director
Demirdjian is passionate about creating impact and strengthening communities through art, poetry, story and the power of finding common ground. She is the owner of POETRY CONSULTS and brings a wealth of knowledge as a facilitator, team-builder, and producer of events. Through her experience in schools, museums, libraries and companies for 30 years she believes in the power of building and sustaining partnerships. Demirdjian is also Community and Communications Manager for Bailiwik, an online/offline community focused on the arts, creativity, and a sense of belonging. As founder of the Armenian Dress & Textile Project (ADTP) in 2000, she brings her experience as a curator and producer of exhibits, interested in the history of all peoples and how they connect. She is the recipient of numerous grants, and the author of IMPRINT, her first collection of poetry, and a contributing poet to Birthmark: a Bilingual Anthology of Armenian-American Poetry.
Valerie Taylor
Director
Valerie holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Sussex, GB, where she participated in the international database and book project, “The Material Renaissance: Cost and Consumption in Italy 1300-1650.” At Hunter College, she collaborated on: Giulio Romano, Master Designer, a Renaissance Drawings exhibition that was positively reviewed in the New York Times. Research for the catalog provided material for her play, The Duke’s Enigma, performed in period costume at the Palazzo Te, in Mantua, Italy. As part of her art history teaching projects at Santa Monica and Pasadena City College, she wrote, directed, and produced a documentary, The Illustrated Credenza on the art of making maiolica.
Caley Cannon
Ex Officio, Director
Canon is Senior Library Arts & Culture Supervisor with the City of Glendale, with oversight of the Brand Library & Art Center. Previously she had held the position of Art Librarian at Brand.
Arlene Vidor
President Emerita
Vidor currently serves on the City of Glendale Arts & Culture Commission. She is on the Board of Directors of Antaeus Theatre Company and the Glendale Historical Society’s Advisory Council. She was a Glendale Historic Preservation Commissioner from 2008 through 2017. Vidor was President of The Glendale Historical Society from 2002 to 2009 and received the Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Prior to becoming a full time community volunteer, she was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Baxter BioScience.
Jamie Nichols
Brand Associates Advisory
Nichols, Executive Producer of Celebrate Dance is our volunteer curator of the Brand Associates dance series.