Founder: Gloria Unti
Since 1956, Gloria Unti has been helping to evoke the creativity of children,
educators, and artists. Trained extensively in the
Hanya Holm,
Martha Graham,
and
Jose Limon techniques, Ms. Unti has dedicated herself to advancing the
arts as a force for education, expression, and individual empowerment in the
community. Ms. Unti’s work in schools and community centers has been
featured in major publications, such as Now and
Look, documented on film by
the
Guggenheim and
Carnegie Foundations, and covered by numerous television
stations. She has been honored with many awards including the Honor Award from
the
California Dance Education Association, the Honor in Dance Award from the
San Francisco Arts Commission, the Hall of Fame Award from Dance Bay Area,
and the
Isadora Duncan Award for Sustained Achievement, and the WAVE award
from
GirlSource. Ms. Unti is an active member of the Workshop administrative
staff, providing artistic staff training, developing curriculum, and serving
as a liaison to the arts community.
E-mail: gloriasarvis@yahoo.com
Executive
Director: Thomas DeCaigny
Tom DeCaigny currently serves as Executive Director of Performing Arts Workshop, a 43-year-old nonprofit arts education organization in San Francisco, CA. He was appointed Executive Director in 2002 and first joined the Workshop in 1999 as the Program Manager for the Paul Robeson and Diego Rivera Academy, an alternative arts middle school and treatment program for repeat juvenile offenders.
Under his leadership, the Workshop has grown from serving 3,500 youth per year to more than 7,500. He has overseen the inception of the Workshop’s Artists-in-Communities and Advocacy programs and administered two U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination projects. He has also led the growth of the Workshop’s annual revenue – from $529K in 2003 to approximately $1.3 million in 2008.
Tom has amassed over fourteen years of nonprofit leadership experience in the fields of youth development, education and arts administration. Prior to joining the Workshop, he managed the AIDS Memorial Quilt’s National Youth Education Program; served as Director of Actor Training for the University of Minnesota’s Adolescent Actors Teaching Project; and conducted research for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. He is a 1994 graduate of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Youth Leadership Institute and a 2007 alumnus of the LeaderSpring fellowship program. He has appeared on CNN International's Asia This Day and was invited to present at the first-ever UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education in Lisbon, Portugal.
He currently serves on the board of the California Alliance for Arts Education and is a member of the San Francisco Unified School District Arts Education Master Plan Steering Committee. His prior board service includes two years as Board Co-Chair of LYRIC, a LGBTQ youth community center in San Francisco and Steering Committee Chair for Making Art, Making Change, a 2006 conference dedicated to examining the relationship between art and social justice.
Tom was raised in rural northern Minnesota and has a B.A. degree in Dramatic Arts from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.
E-mail: tom@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Artistic
Director: Gary Draper
Gary has held many roles at Performing Arts Workshop, including student, artist,
mentor, and administrator. Gary conducts professional development workshops
and supervises the Workshop’s Internship programs and the Workshop's
staff. Gary’s additional duties include curriculum design,
writing and revising educational resource materials, program evaluation and fundraising. Gary’s
education in Theatre Arts and Literature includes study at the American Conservatory
Theatre and UC Berkeley.
E-mail: gary@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Program Director:
Jessica Mele 
Prior to joining the Performing Arts Workshop, Jessica worked for four years in her native Boston where she managed the staff, funding and coordination for a number of academic research projects related to civic engagement, community development and grassroots organizing. She also developed her own negotiation and community building skills as an organizer for the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (AFSCME, AFL-CIO). In 2005, Jessica finished her master's degree in Education and moved to the Bay Area. The Workshop offers her the opportunity to combine her love of the performing arts with her interests in education and community building.
E-mail: jessica@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Program Manager, Artists-in-Schools:
Karena Salmond 
Karena joined the Workshop in the fall of 2007 and quickly grew to love working closely with teaching artists and school staff. She brings experience as a former visual arts instructor at Mission Day Care in San Francisco and education administration at Chicago Children’s Museum. Her operating values of social justice and community align with her interests in youth development and non-profit work. She holds a Bachelors degree in Fine Art from her hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan and a Masters in International & Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco. When not working, she enjoys cooking, dance classes, and wandering around the city.
E-mail: karena@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Program Manager, Artists-in-Communities: Mariel dela Paz 
Mariel brings five years of youth development experience to Performing Arts Workshop through her previous work as an out-of-school youth program coordinator and vocational counselor for teenagers within the East Palo Alto/Menlo Park community. Originally from San Diego, Mariel moved to the Bay Area to pursue a degree in Development Studies and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her studies and deep involvement with the recruitment and retention of the Pilipino/a community in places of higher education influenced Mariel’s passion for social justice and youth development. Mariel is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Social Work at San Francisco State University and loves working for an organization that values art education in strengthening communities. Other than daydreaming, Mariel’s hobbies include traveling; journaling her adventures; and embellishing photos, paper and most recently, fabric, as a means of expression.
E-mail: mariel@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Program Coordinator:
Anne Trickey 
After growing up in Seattle, Anne decided to study at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. While doing undergraduate work in Political Science and History, she spent time at the Goethe Institute in Berlin and the University of Vienna improving her German Language skills. Anne interned with the Workshop as the Executive Assistant for Tom DeCaigny during the summer of 2005. This experience working in a well established, goal-driven organization, helping coordinate the 40th Anniversary Event, and getting to know the Workshop’s dedication to Bay Area arts education led to her decision to return to San Francisco after graduating. As Program Coordinator, Anne hopes her contributions will only strengthen the Workshop’s ability to help young people develop their critical thinking and creative expression skills. Outside the Workshop, Anne follows her own creative tendencies by singing with the Choral Project, writing, and crafting.
E-mail: anne@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Development & Administrative Assistant:
Devon Nandagiri 
Devon brings three years of large scale event organizing experience to his position at The Workshop with his work with San Francisco Pride. After graduating from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, he moved to San Francisco and curated JUNK, a traveling film festival that showcased queer independent filmmakers. He is also co-director of the short film Malaqueerche, which has screened worldwide and was an official selection at NYC’s MIX Festival, Park City’s Slamdance and San Francisco’s Frameline Film Festival. He is currently working to create dirt, a community based San Francisco arts and culture magazine. He is passionate about making art accessible to everyone, and is excited about his new position here at The Workshop.
E-mail: devon@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Development Director:
Brian Wiedenmeier
Brian comes to the Workshop with several years of experience fundraising for non-profits, most recently at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. Additionally, he has worked in non-profit publishing and at a natural foods cooperative. A Wisconsin native, he has fallen in love with the food, culture, and climate of the Bay Area. Brian is an avid cyclist, and most days you can find him biking the streets of San Francisco. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he studied English Literature.
E-mail: brian@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
Finance Director: Cathy Worner
Cathy Worner has been with Performing Arts Workshop since her youngest son was
one-year old. He is now going off to college. Phenomenal changes
on both fronts. Cathy has been with the Workshop while it has both struggled and
thrived (like today) and only hopes the Workshop has benefited as much from the
relationship as she has.
E-mail: cathy@PerformingArtsWorkshop.org
