DIRECTORS
Shawn Roberts
Executive Director
Shawn Roberts (she/her) has a personal mission of “empowering people through the artform of dance and the arts.” She is grateful to have served the Puget Sound Region over the past 30 years through the impactful programs she has helped build and direct. Shawn is very clear about the impact the arts can have on the quality of people’s lives. Through her own journey as a dance educator and her work in the Puget Sound region, she has helped build local, national, and international dance, arts, and personal development programs from the ground up. In 2015, Shawn helped launch STG AileyCamp in collaboration with Seattle Theatre Group and Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation. To date, this impactful personal development and dance program that was created by Alvin Ailey, has changed the lives of hundreds of middle school youth in the Seattle Region. Shawn is the former (founding) School and Education Director of Spectrum Dance Theater, under the Artistic Direction of Donald Byrd. In her 19 years at Spectrum, she taught, directed, produced student performances, and transformed the School of Spectrum Dance Theater from a community-based dance school, into a successful curriculum-based school with over 500 students and 68 classes a week in a variety of dance styles for beginning through pre-professional dancers. During her time as the School Director at Spectrum, she built the Academy Program, the pre-professional division of the school, that is still going strong today. In 2008, Shawn completed the Mark Morris Dance Group, Dance for Parkinson’s introductory training and has been teaching the classes and directing the Seattle Theatre Group program for the past 16 years. Shawn then went on to complete the Dance for PD® teacher certification, making her one of the first certified Dance for Parkinson’s teaching artists in the nation, outside of the founding teachers. Shawn is currently training to be a Dance for Parkinson’s teacher trainer to support the training of Dance for PD® teachers locally, nationally, and internationally. Shawn is a certified transformational life-coach and consultant and owns and operates a successful life-coaching business as well as a couple’s coaching business with her husband. Shawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and dance and a Masters of Arts in Social Sciences with a focus on Transpersonal Psychology from Antioch University.
Email Shawn at shawn.roberts@artscorps.org.
Antonesha Jackson
Director of Development & Communications
Antonesha Jackson is a third generation Seattle native. A proud graduate from Howard University Computer Information Systems with an MBA from American University. Formally the interim Director of Development at United Negro College Fund Pacific NW, she is now the current Development and Communications Director at Arts Corps. Inspired to pursue a career in STEM Education and nonprofit business analytics after college and living in Los Angeles, she is also a small business owner and lover of travel.
Email Antonesha at antonesha.jackson@artscorps.org.
April Leonard
Director of Finances and Operations
With a keen eye for financial stewardship and a deep commitment to operational excellence, April ensures that Arts Corps remains a strong and sustainable force for arts equity. She brings years of experience in financial management, strategic planning, human resources, and nonprofit operations, helping create an infrastructure supporting creativity, access, and youth empowerment. April brings a deep understanding of organizational development, fostering a workplace culture supporting artistic innovation and operational fiscal responsibility. Her strategic approach to finance and HR helps create an environment where young people, teaching artists, and staff can thrive.
Email April at april.leonard@artscorps.org.
MANAGERS & STAFF TEACHING ARTISTS
Adam Collet
Program Manager, Interagency; Staff Teaching Artist
Raised in the Pacific Northwest, Adam has been taking photographs and making art since childhood. Adam went to school in Seattle, also attended Seattle Central Community College and the UW where he earned a BFA in Photography. In 2008, he began teaching and passing on an interest in art and design to the next generation. Still living in Seattle with wife, children, and cat.
Besides Adam’s photography and illustration work he’s also a Teaching Artist specializing in Visual Art with a focus on integrating Art and STEM disciplines. In addition to Arts Corps, he’s taught classes, and online content for King County Library System; Seattle Public Library; stArt Exploring, a project of Sound Transit; Seattle Parks and Rec; High Point Neighborhood House; Yesler Terrace, Youth Tutoring Program; Family Learning Program; and various schools in Highline and Seattle Public Schools.
Recent projects include Essentially Seattle – photographing essential workers for City of Seattle/SPU, from the Office of Art & Culture; Public Art Program – photographing publicly sited artworks for City of Seattle, from the Office of Art & Culture. Ethnic Artist Roster, Seattle; Creative Advantage Arts Partner Roster, Seattle; ShoreLake Artist Roster, Shoreline.
Email Adam at adam.collet@artscorps.org.
Arielle Labra Campos
Program Manager, Creative Schools & Out of School Time
Arielle Labra Campos (they/them/elle) is a queer immigrant multidisciplinary artist in the occupied Coast Salish territory. Their art explores the intersection of social justice, abolition, day to day situations and their deep love for the ocean and their creatures. Through their art, Arielle seeks to bring people and communities together, help others find their voice and be able to express themselves
Email Arielle at arielle.labra.campos@artscorps.org.
Cecelia DeLeon
Program Manager, Creative Schools; Staff Teaching Artist
Cecelia DeLeon is a visual artist born and raised in Seattle, WA and works under the alias Mousy DeVilla. She studied Design at Cornish College of the Arts, utilizing her design background to convey ideas through her 3D installations, paintings, and digital illustrations. Working from her South King County home, she creates evocative responses to the tensions of ChicanX Culture and current political and social conflicts of the US. She has trained with TAT LAB (Teaching Artist Training) and transitioned into a Teaching Artist through Arts Corps. She does this work while building community with other art organizations such as Creative Justice, Coyote Central and Urban Artworks.
Email Cecelia at cecelia.deleon@artscorps.org.
Eris Eaton
Program Manager, New Futures & Art 4 Life
Eris Eaton is an avid singer and performer who loves exploring all art forms as a way to connect with others. As a performer, board member, and social engagement leader for the Level Up! Vocal Ensemble, Eris brings her passion for art and music to the broader community.
Email Eris at eris.eaton@artscorps.org.
Grecia Leal Pardo
Development & Communications Manager
Grecia (she/her/ella) was born and raised in Morelia, Mexico before moving to Southwest Washington at the age of 9. She studied Classics and Drama at the University of Washington, gaining a deep appreciation for how humans have long used art and storytelling as a way of making and finding meaning through time and space. She has had the pleasure of working and playing with various arts organizations across town as production manager, stage manager, director, translator, and community member.
Email Grecia at grecia.lealpardo@artscorps.org.
Greg Thornton
Staff Teaching Artist
Greg is a teaching artist, small business owner, visual artist and screen printing instructor who has a great passion for teaching youth. Greg was a restaurant manager and had been for many years when he was asked in the fall of 2013 by a local school district to present a curriculum for an art program in the district’s middle schools. From the first minute of his first class, Greg knew he had found the job that he wanted to do for the rest of his life – teaching and engaging students with art. At the beginning of his teaching artist career, Greg also had an opportunity to teach teens at an inpatient drug/alcohol treatment facility and at programs involving court-involved youth. Those experiences solidified Greg’s desire not only to teach students in a public school setting, but also to work closely as a teacher and mentor at-risk youth and youth in need. Greg engages students in the creative process by focusing on them as individuals, helping them to express their fears and their dreams, to set goals, and to develop the desire to succeed despite possible difficulties. Greg’s main goal is that each of his students learn to express their own voices in a creative and positive way. Greg’s lessons also teach skills that translate to other areas of the students’ lives – collaboration, leadership, acceptance, empathy, public speaking. Greg realizes that not every youth will become a great artist during his courses – but that truly is not the goal. Greg simply asks each student to embrace the journey of discovery and hopes that creating art helps build confidence in his students and that they have fun.
Email Greg at greg.thornton@artscorps.org.
Maria Luisa Guillen-Valdovinos
Staff Teaching Artist
Maria (Poesia Mariarte) is a visual creative thinker/artist, educator/art therapist and Indigenous Rights observer in environmental, food, and social justice movements; based in occupied Coast Salish Territories. Art ingrained in cultural experience, she graduated in 2010 from the University of Washington in Bio-Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies. She was born in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero Mexico and after studying graffiti in Lima, PERU IN 2009 with Jorge Miyagi and drawing flowers in Biology projects begun building creatively in cultural political movements, traveling with the National Indigenous Congress, parents of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa, and visited Autonomous Zapatista communities as a human rights observer with FRAYBA, an indigenous human rights organization based in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas Mexico. Featured as a performer in BBC’s 100 Womxn in Mexico City 2016 and A Published Writer featured in “Chapter 9: Travels of a Diaspora Community: From La Sierra Madre Y Tierra Caliente to the Pacific Northwest” MEXICAN-ORIGIN FOODS, FOODWAYS, AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A DECOLONIAL PRESPECTIVES, The University of Arkansas Press 2017; Publication “Xin Fronteras”, Seattle Journal for Social Justice Seattle University School of Law. Overall she is a lover of all things creatively expressive.
Email Maria at maria.gv@artscorps.org.
Shreya Singh
Finance Manager
Shreya is a highly skilled professional with a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance. With over four years of diverse experience in accounting and finance, Shreya excels in financial analysis, strategic budgeting, and effective financial management. Her expertise extends across various sectors, providing her with a well-rounded perspective on global financial practices and standards. Shreya’s ability to interpret complex financial data and develop strategic insights makes her an asset to our team. In addition to her professional achievements, Shreya is dedicated to maintaining a balanced lifestyle. She practices yoga to stay centered, and she enjoys dancing and traveling, which enrich her personal and professional life with new experiences and perspectives.
Email Shreya at shreya.singh@artscorps.org.
Taylor Tinsley
Grants Manager
Taylor (They/She/He) is a Black Queer educator and artist, born and raised in Mississauga Territory (Detroit, Michigan). She’s an actor, trained voice actor, published writer, dancer, and mixed media artist with a BA in Educational Studies from Arizona State University. They have over 10 years of experience working with all ages from infants to high school students.
Their special interests are improv, comedy, spoken word, imaginative play, puppetry, and children’s media. They’d love to be an actor/puppeteer on a children’s show like Sesame Street one day!
Taylor’s philosophy is prioritizing the art of play and using theater as a way to understand ourselves and the world around us. They aim to curate safe creative spaces for historically excluded folks to heal and express joy, and have worked with organizations like Black Farmers Collective and Nurturing Roots to develop programming that combines performing arts and outdoor education. When she’s not working with youth, she enjoys long boarding, meditation, volunteering, and snuggling her kitty Babydoll!
Email Taylor at taylor.tinsley@artscorps.org
