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ACA Staff
Meet ACA's creative administrative staff:
Cat Beaudoin
Education & Programs Director
they/she
Cat joined ACA as a teaching artist in June 2019. Passionate about the organization's work, they later became the Education & Programs Director in February 2020. Beaudoin established her roots as an elementary art teacher in Arizona, growing passionate for arts ability to address community needs. In order to advance her impact, Beaudoin became a graduate student at Lesley University studying Art, Community, and Education with a concentration in Multicultural Art Education. Her current research and projects include college access for student-parents and caregivers, equitable access to community arts programming, and ecological art education. In addition to their programming role at ACA, Beaudoin is also a visual artist, teaching artist, mentor, president of Lesley University's graduate student association, and member of Lesley's Sexual Assault Prevention Committee.
Tom Formicola
Executive Director
he/him/his
Tom joined ACA staff as Executive Director in October 2019. He has worked as a nonprofit administrator for more than thirty years in positions at local organizations, including Boston Center for Adult Education, First Night Boston, the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs (Boston), Ford Hall Forum, Strand Theatre (Dorchester), and Massachusetts Cultural Council. Tom and his husband Lenny Goldstein have lived in Arlington since 2004.
Michael Mahin
Student Services Manager
he/him/his
Michael joined the ACA staff in 2015, and currently serves as ACA's Student Services Manager. He holds a BA in Writing for Film and TV from Emerson College, and has also worked as a Kindergarten/1st Grade Afterschool Teacher at the Thompson Elementary School in Arlington. He is currently pursuing an MA/MAT English Dual Degree at Salem State University.
Aneleise Ruggles
Communications Director
she/her/hers
Aneleise joined the ACA staff as the Communications Director in March 2019. She has a background in programming and public engagement, and has established a strong commitment to community access and artistic enrichment. She holds a Masters Degree in Arts Administration from Boston University and Bachelors Degree in Studio Arts from Stonehill College. In her free time she is a practicing visual artist focusing on mixed media and also teaches adjunct for the Visual and Performing Arts Dept at Stonehill College in their Arts Administration program. She loves supporting other artists by facilitating opportunities for exhibition, education, and connection.
Pam Shanley
Operations Director
she/her/hers
Pam joined the ACA in 1999 and is a practicing artist on top of all she does to keep the ACA chugging along each day! Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited and collected in private collections in California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. She has worked as teacher, set painter for Deborah Abel Dance company, Little Theater for the Deaf, O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT and the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA. & Farmington Valley Arts Center, Avon, CT. Along with her duties as the Operations Director here at ACA, Pam is also the hardworking Director of Arlington Open Studios!
Delia Tharnish
Programs Manager
she/her/hers
Delia joined ACA staff during the summer of 2021 as the Camp Manager, and currently serves as the Programs Manager. She holds a BFA in Photography from University of Colorado Denver, and M.Ed. in Arts, Community and Education from Lesley University. She is passionate about increasing access to the arts, as well as focusing on equitable experiences for underserved youth. As a visual artist, her focuses include photography, mixed media, and poetry.
ACA Board of Directors
Learn more about the members of our talented and hardworking Board of Directors below!
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Ari Herbstman
Bio coming soon!
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Catherine Garnett
Cathy joined the Board in December 2017. She is a visual artist, primarily a painter and printmaker. She has worked as a professional landscape architect and project manager for several high profile design firms in Boston and Cambridge and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) on large scale park projects. She has a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture as well as recently receiving a degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts Studio Diploma program.
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Emily Belz
Emily joined the Board in December 2019. She is an independent photographer and educator. She holds a BA in photography and art history from Hampshire College; an MA in community art education from RISD; and an MFA from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Emily is represented by Gallery Kayafas in Boston. She teaches photography classes and workshops at the Griffin Museum of Photography, deCordova Museum, and at Lasell College. Learn more about Emily on her website https://www.emilybelzphotography.com/.
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John Oliver, Chair
John Oliver joined the Board in December 2020. He is a Senior Assistant Branch Manager at Cambridge Savings Bank, and originally met the Arlington Center for the Arts as their Personal Banker. John graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and a Certificate in Religious Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2013. He is the President and Co-Founder of The BeatHeart Foundation, a small Non-Profit based in Reading, MA, whose mission is to celebrate local art and music while promoting addiction awareness and recovery. John is also an amateur drummer.
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Julie Brown Neu, Treasurer
Julie Neu joined the Board in December 2020. She is a quilt and fiber artist whose work has been included in several recent ACA group shows and in the “Disarming: Memorial Quilts for Mass Shooting Victims” exhibit in 2019. She is also a digital strategist for Baker Library at Harvard Business School. Julie holds a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. She and her family have lived in Arlington for more than a decade.
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Karen Brown
Karen joined the Board in December 2015. She has worked in arts administration for 16 years in Boston and New York. She currently serves as Director of Performance Operations at Celebrity Series, a non-profit performing arts presenter of music and dance performances that take place at a variety of venues within the cities of Boston and Cambridge. Her most recent work includes producing community-focused, large-scale, participatory outdoor projects (Street Pianos Boston, Le Grand Continental, Let’s Dance Boston). She recently moved from Somerville to Arlington with her husband and son.
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Laura Wiener
Bio coming soon!
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Margaret Moody
Margaret joined the Board in December 2016. She loves old stories and the characters that inhabit them. Her work as a puppeteer includes performing, teaching and presenting public shows. Having a vibrant arts center has made it more fun for Margaret to be an artist and mother in Arlington. She can’t wait to see the new ACA.
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Nandana Mewada
Nandana Mewada joined the Board in December 2020. She is an independent consultant with 20 years of experience in the sustainable investing industry having worked in the financial sector and with non-profit groups. An ACA “camp parent”, Nandana is an active resident volunteer for the arts, diversity and learning enrichment in Arlington. She and her family enjoy participating in community-based art projects in Arlington. She holds a Masters degree in Economics from Tufts University.
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Sarah Buyer, Secretary
Sarah Buyer joined the Board in December 2020. She is an arts administrator specializing in programming and education. She holds a BA in History and Art History from Wellesley College, and an Mlit in Museum Studies from the University of St Andrews. Sarah currently works in Learning & Engagement at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and sits on the Boston Committee for Wellesley Friends of Arts. As the former Director of Education at ACA, Sarah has close ties to the community and mission of the Arlington Center for the Arts.
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Tino D'Agostino
Bio coming soon!