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 FESTIVAL STAFF AND BOARD
Click to view STAFF and our BOARD!
STAFF
In photo L to R: Diane Bloom, Rick Bryant and Carol Baney
Our Staff
Rick Bryant, Executive Director
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Rick Bryant joined the paid staff of the Festival as its director of visual arts in 1999, though his involvement with the CPFA stretches back to 1984, when he first volunteered on the Trash Crew. Rick was named executive director in 2005.
Born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, before the county hospital moved to State College, Rick attended public schools in State College, and afterward the University of Virginia, where he earned a bachelor’s degree from the School of Architecture in 1979. After college he entered the family insurance business and pursued professional education, earning a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designation in 1986. He retired from the insurance business in 1998 to pursue other interests.
In addition to serving as a long time Festival volunteer, he served as a founding board member, and later as president of The AIDS Project, Centre and Clinton County’s independent HIV/AIDS service organization. He served as president of the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania, on several boards, including the State College Board of Health, the Board of Deacons of State College Presbyterian Church, and the Community Advisory Board for Penn State’s Center for Performing Arts and the State College Historic Resources Commission. He currently is on the State College Design Review Board, the Board of Pennsylvania Presenters, and serves as the Board President of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.
You can read about Rick’s adventures as a doofus/hipster wannabe at his blog, The Wandering Wahoo.
Carol Baney, Director of Operations
Carol Baney, director of operations, has been with the Festival for sixteen years. She is a native of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and attended public schools there, and afterwards attended the Hagerstown Business College, Hagerstown, Maryland, where she received an Associate in Arts degree. Carol has continued her post-college education and earned an Associate in Liberal Arts degree from Penn State in 2009.
Prior to joining the Festival, Carol worked at the Washington Hospital Center for twelve years as a medical assistant for the chairman of the Department of Orthopedics, and also in the Office of Public Affairs and Marketing. Carol notes that the stress levels of the Festival do not compare to those of a large urban hospital.
Carol holds a Master Gardener certification from Penn State Cooperative Extension and Emergency Medical Technician Certification from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In 2010, Carol was one of the founding members of Girls on the Run of Happy Valley and is currently the program coordinator and treasurer.
Diane Bloom, Director of Development
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Diane Bloom
joined the Festival staff as its director of development in January 2007. She worked for Penn State for thirty-five years, the last thirty-one at the Center for the Performing Arts, where she was responsible for fundraising and special events. Obviously, her retirement was short lived!
Diane’s interest and pursuits in photography have given her the title of “Designated Photographer” for the Festival office. She takes great pleasure in capturing not only photographs of sponsored Festival events and First Night ice sculptures and activities, but also of artists, art work, and volunteers.
Diane has served as a volunteer with the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association as well as with the Festival. On occasion, you will find her serving as classroom “grandparent” in the schools attended by the little ones. She takes great pleasure in nurturing her many gardens, which serve as a source of mental therapy. She and her husband, Barry, also “retired,” enjoy traveling—both on their Harley as well as to places such as Alaska and the Caribbean. Diane and Barry have two children, Krista and Jason, as well as three granddaughters, Paige, Katelyn, and Julie, and one new grandson, Parker.
Lately her coworkers have good-naturedly told her that she is a classy, nice lady – until fantasy football season arrives. With all three office staff on the same fantasy league, Monday morning exchanges often bring chuckles as well as groans accompanied by all the “should’ves”.
Trey Buoy, Festival Intern
Trey is interning with the Festival in 2013. He has spent most of his life in central Pennsylvania, where he grew up. After high school, he served five years in the Army primarily as an Aviation Operations Specialist, during his time in the Army he was stationed in South Korea, Iraq, and at numerous locations stateside. He will be a senior in the fall in the Recreation, Parks and Tourism Management program at Penn State, and he is also pursuing minors in Business and History. At this time, he is keeping his options open for after graduation, but he knows that he wants to be in the recreation industry to allow people to have fun.
He is looking forward to the 2013 Festival because it will be the best ever! He has enjoyed going to the Festival during his time at Penn State and is excited to be a part of it this year. With his differing experiences and education, he will bring many skills to the table, while also having an opportunity to learn in a field that interests him.
Our Board
The Board of Directors of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Front Row, L to R: Anne Layng, Katherine Allen,
Susan Steinberg, Star Campbell, Joyce Robinson. Back Row, L to R; Sue Haug, Amy Caputo, Steve Watson, Bob Mountz,
Colleen Toomey. Missing from photo: Adam Duff, Charles DeBow, Bill Ryan
To many people the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts is something that “just happens” each summer. School lets out for the summer, and in what seems like the blink of an eye, the Festival is upon us. Landscapers, stage hands, musicians, artists, volunteers, all appear, and in their wake both State College and the Penn State campus are alive with visitors.
The festival is governed by a volunteer board of directors that determines the mission and goals of the organization. The Festival’s mission is ”to celebrate the arts with presentations of diverse, high-quality visual and performing arts through the cooperative volunteer support of the community and The Pennsylvania State University.”
The Board of Directors is made up of men and women from both Penn State and the State College community. They set policies, raise funds, monitor budgets, and of course, attend lots of meetings.
Katherine Allen, President
Joyce Robinson, Vice-President
Bob Mountz, Treasurer
Susan Steinberg, Secretary
Star Campbell
Amy Caputo
Charley DeBow
Adam Duff, Past President
Sue Haug.
Anne Layng
Bill Ryan
Colleen Toomey
Steve Watson
Katherine Allen
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Katherine Allen is an attorney Associate General Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Penn State. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law and practiced in Tennessee and Wisconsin before moving to State College in 1995. Katherine has served on the Board of the Centre County Women's Resource Center and on the Session and Board of Deacons of the State College Presbyterian Church. She is an adjunct instructor of advocacy for the Dickinson School of Law at Penn State. Katherine is married to Richard Page, an associate professor in German at Penn State. They have three children in college, two are students at Penn State and one attends Rhodes College in Memphis. Katherine has served in several volunteer roles at First Night and the Arts Festival and especially enjoys meeting and greeting the artists.
Star Campbell
Star Campbell is an independent nutrition education consultant, consulting for a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to restaurants and school districts. Star has been a faculty member in the Department of Nutrition and the Department of Food Science at Penn State. In addition to the consulting activities listed above, she also has been a consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development on nutrition projects in Jamaica and in East and West Africa. Star was a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Senegal, West Africa, where she established well-baby clinics to address the problem of child malnutrition.
Star loves to travel, read novels, eat new foods, and attend Penn State sporting events. She also loves to walk and has speed-walked six marathons and numerous half marathons in the past ten years. She and her husband have hosted over a dozen international students from around the world. Star has been instrumental in setting up the Christian Science Reading Room as the official warm-up station for First Night State College and as the volunteer embassy for the Festival.
Amy F. Caputo
Amy Caputo is currently director of strategic communications for the Penn State Alumni Association. She has more than twenty-five years of experience in business development, marketing, communications, and management for corporations, non-profit associations, government, education, and media organizations.
Prior to returning to Pennsylvania five years ago, she was director of marketing and business development for a top-tier Southeastern regional law firm with 300 attorneys based in Richmond, Virginia. Amy earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Penn State and a master’s in mass communications with a concentration in media management from Virginia Commonwealth University. She currently serves on the board of Altrusa International of Centre County and is a member of the 2013 Leadership Centre County class.
Charley DeBow
Charley DeBow is originally from the Philadelphia suburb of Willow Grove and is a graduate of LaSalle College High School. In 2002, he received his B.A. in the Administration of Justice from Penn State. After graduation he lived in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. while working for a national parking management company. In 2009, he became the parking manager for the Borough of State College. He is an avid golfer, and his two favorite sports teams are the Philadelphia Eagles and whoever is playing the Steelers.
Adam Duff
Adam Duff (PSU, ’04) was the 2004 Overall Chair of THON, Penn State’s Dance Marathon, and under his leadership THON raised $3,547,715.48. Now a resident of State College, Adam is employed in State College as a financial planner. He is filled with enthusiasm for the Festival (and life in general!).
Sue Haug
Sue Haug is director of the School of Music at Penn State. She joined the Penn State faculty in 2005 after having served on the faculty at Iowa State University for thirty years and as head of the Department of Music for fifteen years. She is vice president of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and member of the NASM Executive Committee and Board of Directors. She is a pianist and enjoys teaching and performing as her schedule permits. She holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa…but she always roots for the Blue and White.
Sue enjoys gardening, her book club, and traveling. She is thoroughly enamored of her grandson who lives in Madison, Wisconsin (thus, travels often to Wisconsin, where most of her extended family lives and where the weather is usually worse than in Happy Valley). In her previous life in Iowa, she was blessed to be a part of community boards and committees, such as the Ames International Orchestra Festival and the Ames Community Arts Council.
Anne Layng
Anne Layng is an operations manager for the Geisinger Health System, where she is responsible for the ambulatory surgery/endoscopy center, specialty procedure, and medical clinics. Prior to taking her current position, she served in several different capacities at Geisinger, after serving for eight years as vice-president for professional services at the Mount Nittany Medical Center. Anne holds an undergraduate degree in nursing from Cornell and a graduate degree in Health Policy Administration from Penn State.
Anne has served in many volunteer positions, for organizations ranging from The American Red Cross to the Women’s Resource Center. She currently volunteers for both Juniata College and State College Presbyterian Church, where she makes a joyful noise singing in the Chancel Choir. Anne has volunteered for the Festival for many years, chairing its fundraising gala in 1989. She helps lay out the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition route, using her considerable interpersonal skills to assuage the fears of grouchy artists who don’t understand why they can’t set up until 6:00 p.m. or who worry that the public will find every other booth in the Sidewalk Sale but theirs. Once the Sidewalk Sale is set up, Anne works on the Silent Auction committee.
Bob Mountz
Bob Mountz moved to State College in April 2002, after retirement from a career as math teacher and track coach in Twin Valley School District, Berks County. He is an alumnus of Penn State’s College of Education, and served on the College’s Alumni Board for twelve years. Bob and his wife Ginny have been chairs of the Festival’s Silent Auction for three years, and in that time the auction has raised over $30,000 for the Festival. Bob’s older granddaughter Becca has been a participant in the Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale.
Bob can be found at Penn State track meets wearing a stopwatch around his neck, or browsing in antique shops, or visiting auctions looking for Pennsylvania redware, among other things.
Joyce Robinson
Joyce Robinson is a curator at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State, where she is also an affiliate associate professor of art history, teaching courses primarily in the field of African American art. During her tenure at the Palmer, Joyce has organized more than twenty exhibitions, several of which traveled to other institutions, and authored exhibition catalogues primarily in the fields of contemporary art, photography, and American art. She has also served as in-house curator for numerous major traveling exhibitions on topics ranging from Indian miniature painting and Chinese tomb sculpture to archaeology and forgery.
Joyce is active in the community and has undertaken a number of volunteer positions while her children have grown from toddlers to teens. These include treasurer and co-president of the PTO; president and board member of T-MART (Tussey Mountain Alpine Racing Team); Sunday school teacher and youth leader at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church; and volunteer pledge host for WPSU-TV and WPSU-Radio. Joyce is married to Norman Spivey, a professor on the voice faculty at Penn State, and was a singer, pianist, and actress in an earlier life. Joyce was one of the team of jurors for the Festival’s Sidewalk Sale & Exhibition in 2012.
Bill Ryan
Bill Ryan was born and reared in Pittsburgh and earned his undergraduate degree at Notre Dame and a law degree at the University of Chicago School of Law. He practiced law in Chicago, handling mostly airplane crash cases. He left the practice of law in 1986, and subsequently earned a graduate degree in meteorology. He joined the Penn State Department of Meteorology in 2000, where he teaches and does research in the field of air quality forecasting and also provides air quality forecasts for the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Bill and his wife, Joan Richtsmeier, a professor in anthropology, live in the Borough and have three children, the eldest of whom, Hannah, served as an intern at the Festival a few years ago.
Susan Steinberg
Susan will be the first to tell you that her background is not complicated. She grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and then worked at the East Asian Research Center at Harvard University. She and her husband, Lewis, have lived in central Pennsylvania since 1972, the first twenty-five years in Lock Haven and the remainder of the time in State College.
Susan served as the Victim's Advocate for the Centre County District Attorney for thirteen years. She and Lewis are longtime supporters of the Center for Performing Arts, where Susan serves as the membership chair for the Advisory Board. Susan is also on the board of Global Connections, a group that fosters understanding of diverse cultures. She has hosted numerous Humphrey Scholars and 'conversation partners' as well as enthusiastically shares the mission of Global Connections, with anyone who will listen. Susan has served in many capacities as a volunteer for the CPFA, including organizing the slides for jurying, ambassadoring, information booth attendant and overall big shopper at the Festival. Susan and Lewis are avid travelers, having enjoyed trips on five continents. Susan has one son, an attorney married to an attorney/French pastry chef and a daughter who is a Southeast Asian refugee specialist. Most importantly, the Steinbergs now have two marvelous little grandsons, who were able to enjoy the Festival for the first time in 2012.
Colleen Toomey
Colleen Toomey is currently the associate dean for policy, planning and strategic relations at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs. She served as an administrative fellow to the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University during the 2008–09 academic year, and subsequently as associate dean for planning and administration of the Smeal College of Business. She worked as a lawyer in private practice in Harrisburg prior to joining Penn State.
A native of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Colleen earned her undergraduate degree at Loyola University in Maryland and her law degree at Villanova University. She is a resident of State College’s Highlands Neighborhood.
Steve Watson
Steve Watson has been with Penn State’s Division of Campus Planning + Design in the Office of Physical Plant since 2002. Campus Planning provides the “big picture” view of Penn State’s campus environments, and ensures the highest standards of design quality for all buildings and civic spaces throughout the University system. Steve’s primary responsibilities as University Planner include leading the development of campus master plans, facilitating site selection and evaluation processes, participating in site and building feasibility studies, reviewing and critiquing planning studies prepared by consultants to the University, assisting with transportation planning studies, serving as the University authority on municipal zoning, and assuring that site development plans adhere to the principles and requirements of campus master plans.
As you might guess, Steve, a registered landscape architect, serves on lots of committees, including the Outdoor Public Art Committee at University Park. A Centre County native and graduate of Penn State, Steve resides in Bellefonte with his wife, Valerie, a doctoral student in Environmental Engineering with a focus on Microbial Fuel Cell technologies. They have two daughters, Alina and Kira, who enjoy competitive gymnastics.
QUESTIONS?
Contact us by phone or e-mail
(814) 237-3682
(814) 237-0708 FAX
e-mail: office@arts-festival.com
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