Hilary McVicker serves as the MAP's Board Chair. She's also the Communicatrix for The Elumenati, an immersive projection and interactive media design firm with a global client base. She returned to Asheville after several years in San Francisco, where she managed marketing for the largest industry event for videogame creators, including offshoot events in London and Shanghai and its ancillary print and web media. Her experience includes extensive design management and community building through social networking, as well as amateur filmmaking and video editing on both coasts. Outside work, she is a bookworm, a cinephile, and a fashionista.
James Baudoin, Vice-Chairman, is Executive Director and Project Manager for the Performance Center in Asheville-the future multipurpose venue to serve Western North Carolina. He has worked in the same capacity with projects from design through opening in Arizona, Texas and Georgia. Each of his projects have included video centers and supported a wide range of multimedia artists, as will the Asheville complex.
Lisa Sousa, Treasurer, is a media activist with a background in film production and community media. Her writing has appeared in In These Times, MediaFile, AREA, and Punk Planet. In San Francisco she fought for public access, organized the Media Alliance Film Festival and Bulldozed! Film Fest, was a founder of San Francisco Indymedia, and a producer for StreetLevel TV. A grant writer with ten years of nonprofit experience, she has worked for organizations such as Media Alliance, Canyon Cinema, the San Francisco Art Institute, AK Press, and the Pacific Film Archive. Lisa now lives in West Asheville and is Grant Writer and Bookkeeper for Girls on the Run of WNC.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kelly Gold has lived in the Asheville area since 1997 and has raised her son, Zoe, here. She joined the Board of Directors of the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in 2005, and was the co-curator of an exhibition at the museum: "Thinking Ahead: Progressive Design + Black Mountain College", which explored the school as an important nexus for modernist design in the 1930s-1950s. She later co-authored the exhibition catalog for the BMCM+AC's "Breaking New Ground: The Studio Potter + Black Mountain College", which won the NC Museum Council's 2007 award for best limited color catalog. That same year, she was the guest curator for "Living By Design: Mid-Century Modern" for the Asheville Art Museum. In addition to the BMCM+AC, Kelly is on the Board of Directors of the Asheville Area Arts Council and the Board of Trustees of the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas, an apprenticeship-style school of Realism, founded by renowned fresco artist, Ben Long. She also headed a committee for the 2010 HATCHfest and volunteers for Open Doors/Open Minds and LEAF. She has been a Broker Associate with a local real estate firm for 6 years. A girl’s gotta get paid sometime.
Gene Felice currently splits his life into 3 current directions: Art, Design & Education. In the art world, he calls himself an "Interactive Artist" examining relationships between himself and the outside world. His art is a lens through which he is able to focus and make sense of connections. Through Design, he has found an outlet for simultaneously sharpening his ability to communicate visually while constantly pounding his way through the walls of the latest technology available. This includes Flash based web design, print, 3D modeling & Rapid Prototyping. Via the world of Education, he attempts to give back to the greater good while simultaneously dipping into the well of fresh creativity. So far it's a balancing act that produces a unique and fresh result.
Scott Furr is a multimedia artist, theorist, and tinkerer. He currently resides in Asheville and reBlogs about media arts, technology, and philosophy at MonkeyPlunger.com.
Emi Kubota is the business liaison for The MAP. She is also the Director of Marketing & Strategy and the Interim Global Supply Chain Manager at i play., Inc., her mother’s company that has been operating in Asheville since 1982. Emi grew up in Asheville, went away for college, international volunteer work, and graduate school, and has returned to an Asheville developing into a regional hub for the new economy. She believes this new economy will be based on creative and green technologies. While in NYC, Emi was an active participant in new media technology networking events and hopes to foster a similar community in Asheville. In her spare time, she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, practicing yoga, and cooking.
Megan McKissack is a VJ and works with Asheville's Headway Collective. She's performed with the Aleuchatistas and Prefuse 73, to name a few.
Gordon Smith is a Child and Family Therapist in private practice at Looking Glass Center for Counseling and Psychiatry. He is an Asheville City Council Member elected in 2009 to a four year term. As part of his Council role, Gordon is liaison to the Public Art Board and eight other boards and committees. He is a founder and contributor to the group blog Scrutiny Hooligans as well as a founder of BlogAsheville. A community organizer for years, Smith brings a great network with him to the board. He and his wife live with their two dogs in W. Asheville.
Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D. believes that excellence and sustainability are the natural outcomes of Appreciative Inquiry-based learning organizations. Cheri has worked with diverse communities: from public schools and community youth organizations to corporations and government entities, supporting their capacity for innovation, teamwork, and learning. She has trained thousands of trainers and teachers in the use and practice of Appreciative Inquiry and Experiential Learning with a particular focus on shared leadership, teamwork, creativity, and sustainable collaboration.Cheri holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Collaborative Learning from the University of Tennessee. She also holds an MBA, a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology, and level II certification in Spiral Dynamics Integral.
