JEANETTE RICHARDSON, Executive Director

Ms. Richardson came to the Arts Council after years of being active in Kern County's arts scene. Before moving to Kern County; she worked in the San Franisco Bay area as an artist, teacher, gallery manager, and Director of a private art school. In Kern County, she was the former Assistant Director and Director of Marketing and Development for the Bakersfield Museum of Art. For seven years she hosted and produced both radio and television programs and was the Public Affairs Director for KERO TV 23. More recently she was the Executive Director for the Centennial Celebration Foundation, overseeing over 50 public festivals, events, plays and concerts, and was responsible for raising 2.5 million dollars for the creation of Centennial Plaza. She is an active consultant; creating funding campaigns, and teaching management, media relations, strategic planning, marketing, funding and development to other non-profit organizations. She was educated in the arts at San Jose State University and in non-profit management from CSUB and Indiania State University.

DAVID NIGEL LLOYD, Assistant Executive Director, Director of Arts Programs

David coordinates a variety of programs, most of which fall either under the Arts in Education, or Arts in Healthcare (ArtCare) umbrellas. He has worked as a journalist and as a CD cover graphic designer. David was for many seasons, the West Coast Tour Manager for Martin Carthy and Robin Williamson, two of Britain's most prominent folk performers. David directed the 2003 County Kern Celtic festival and during the 1990s ran a fund-raising concert series out of and for Hot Springs Elementary School in the Southern Sierra Nevada. He was for seven years an artist in the ACK's Artist in Residence program. DNL is an accomplished performer of traditional and not-so-traditional music of mostly British Isles provenance. His work, described as "excellent" by both the LA Times and Britain's Folk Roots magazine, has aired on Late Night with David Letterman. He is currently at work on his 5th CD album.

 

 

JILL EGLAND, Director of Special Projects

Jill regularly employs both sides of her brain, being both a musician with the bands Banshee in the Kitchen and Mama's MidLife Crisis as well as a research and evaluation program specialist. Post college (University of Redlands, Communications emphasis), Jill travelled and worked overseas as a community development consultant. She re-entered the States a decade later via NYC, lived in the Lower East Side, studied photography at the New College and Pratt Institute, worked at the UNDP, travelled to Africa evaluating community-based health systems, had a baby, and came home to Bakersfield. Go figure. At the Arts Council, she's who you talk to when you just know you've got a great idea for an arts project in your neck of the woods. Or desert. She's also responsible for developing pilot arts projects with partner organizations and agencies, like the Kern Regional Center, the California Bluegrass Association, the Writers of Kern, and the Highway 178 Initiative. Then, she figures out how to implement them and evaluate their efficacy. She loves her job. 

 

Holly Bikakis, Graphic Designer

Carlin Jones, Marketing Associate

Kari Hunter, Office Manager

Nicole Garvin, Gallery Associate