Staff

Denise Grande
Director, Arts Education and Youth Development​

Denise Grande works alongside local, state, and national colleagues to create systemic change through arts-based youth development. In directing the Arts Ed Collective, she helps lead a coalition that includes over 100 arts organizations and 74 school districts. Previously, Denise was Director of Programs and Strategic Partnerships for the Metropolitan Opera Guild at Lincoln Center. There, she oversaw arts education programs that impacted over 250 schools across seven states. During her 20 years at The Music Center, she played a leadership role in arts education program design, implementation, research, and evaluation. Denise received her BA from UCLA in dance and was a Coro Fellow through the California Arts Council’s Arts Leadership Fellow Program.

 

Megan Kirkpatrick
Assistant Division Director, Arts Education and Youth Development

Megan Kirkpatrick co-leads the Arts Ed Collective's work in embedding the arts into LA County systems of care and strengthening arts education in LA County school districts. Previously, Megan was education director at Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre Company where she directed in-school arts education residency and partnership programs, launched a new school partnership model to open three New York City high schools, and created professional development for artists and teachers.

 

Larry Ulrich
Assistant Division Director, Arts Education and Youth Development

Larry Ulrich co-leads the Arts Ed Collective's efforts to integrate arts into youth and community development as well as LA County systems of care. Prior to this, Larry distinguished himself as a community leader with substantial contributions to education, particularly in Career Technical Education (CTE) at the Los Angeles Unified School District. In this role, he managed state-funded grants, implemented work-based learning programs, and conducted professional development initiatives, ensuring students had access to essential resources for their career paths. Larry holds a Master's degree in Social Entrepreneurship & Change from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor's in Public Affairs from Huston-Tillotson University. 

Irina Contreras
Program Specialist, Arts Education and Youth Development​

Irina Contreras guides the Arts Ed Collective’s youth development and juvenile justice efforts in County parks and community-based settings. They are an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and educator with over 15 years of experience working at the intersections of community organizing, arts, and education. Previously, Irina was the School and Community Programs Manager at the Museum of the African Diaspora, where they organized healing-informed professional development opportunities for educators and mental healthcare professionals. Irina is the founder of The Miracle Bookmobile and co-founder of Night Kitchen, a sliding-scale consulting service for queer and trans BIPOC/people of color and communities. They received their MFA/MA from California College of the Arts and their BFA from Otis College of Art and Design.

 

Gregg Johnson
Program Specialist, Arts Education and Youth Development​​

Gregg Johnson guides the Arts Ed Collective’s youth development and juvenile justice efforts in camps, halls, juvenile day reporting centers, and continuation high schools. He also serves as a school district liaison, connecting educators to resources for achieving their strategic goals for arts education. Previously, he served as artistic director for Big Thought in Dallas, Young Audiences Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, and was the managing producer for the Arts4Learning project of Young Audiences, Inc.

 

Christopher Wilkinson
Arts Facilitator, Arts Education and Youth Development​

Christopher Wilkinson serves as the Arts Facilitator in Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, providing logistical support for contracted arts organizations and other initiatives to support the staff and youth at the facility. Christopher is an accomplished music publisher, producer, songwriter, and percussionist. Over 19 years, he has performed at venues and music festivals across the country, and continues to compose and publish music. Prior to joining the Arts Ed Collective, Christopher’s work as a writer led to an opportunity to draft curriculum and become a teaching artist at a local nonprofit. He began teaching creative writing sessions in community schools and juvenile hall facilities. This work particularly resonated with him due to his own experience in the juvenile hall facilities as a system-impacted youth.

 

Gillian McCarthy
Program Specialist, Arts Education and Youth Development

Gillian McCarthy guides the shared leadership and learning strategies of the Arts Ed Collective. She supports school districts by connecting educators to resources for achieving their strategic goals for arts education. Previously, she was Associate Director of Professional Development at Inner-City Arts where she implemented creativity and arts programs for teachers, teaching artists, and graduate students. Gillian also served as the national manager for WebPlay, a web-integrated theatre program, and developed a comprehensive theatre curriculum for 24th Street Theatre.

 

Elisabeth Nails
Program Specialist, Arts Education and Youth Development

Elisabeth Nails guides arts and healing program design/evaluation and arts-based social-emotional learning projects. She co-chairs the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Network's Youth Advisory Board and is a UCLA Arts & Healing–certified Social Emotional Arts Facilitator. She is co-founder of Typewriters Anonymous, a performance group that designs and leads workshops and poetry installations. Prior to her work at the County, she served as assistant director at the UCLA Art & Global Health Center and co-produced arts-based public health interventions in Los Angeles, and in global cities on four continents. Elisabeth earned her master's degree in Social Welfare from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and her bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz.

 

Keelia Postlethwaite Stinnett
Program Specialist, Arts Education and Youth Development

Keelia Postlethwaite Stinnett guides the school district grants program for over 30 school districts each year. She supports school districts by connecting educators to resources for achieving their strategic goals for arts education. Previously, Keelia worked in marketing and graphic design at JRB Art at the Elms, Oklahoma City, and at the University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Abe Ahn
Development Manager, Arts Education and Youth Development

Abe Ahn manages fundraising efforts for the Arts Ed Collective and coordinates the Arts Ed Collective Funders Council. Previously, he worked as part of a national development team supporting AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs across California for early childhood education organization Jumpstart. Abe has also been a freelance arts reporter and was a regular contributor to online arts publication Hyperallergic. He is currently a volunteer at GYOPO, a collective of diasporic Korean cultural producers and arts professionals. He holds a BA in Literary Journalism from the University of California, Irvine.

Sabrina Im 
Development Specialist, Arts Education and Youth Development

​​​​​​​Sabrina Im supports fundraising efforts to sustain and advance the work of the Arts Ed Collective and the Arts Ed Collective Funders Council. They are a queer Khmer poet, interdisciplinary artist, and cultural organizer with over 10 years of experience working at the intersections of diaspora storytelling, socio-cultural transformations, and community wellness. Sabrina earned their BA in World Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Matt Agustin
Research and Evaluation Analyst, Arts Education and Youth Development​

Matt Agustin supports the collection, analysis, and evaluation of arts education data. His research informs school districts, community arts partners, and other arts education stakeholders. Previously, Matt was a research analyst for Advancement Project California. He studied applied mathematics at the University of California, Riverside and holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Irvine.

Rachel Mendoza
Program Assistant, Arts Education and Youth Development​

Rachel Mendoza provides administrative support for the Arts Ed Collective. She has also worked as a receptionist for the LA  County Department of Arts and Culture, where she supported the department's many programs. Previously, Rachel was the receptionist and phlebotomist at Clínica Médica Alvarado.