GIA Staff

Director of Finance & Operations

Jan Bailie has over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit arena serving as director of finance and operations for agencies with budgets up to $10 million. Additionally, she has significant private sector financial management experience including serving as a CFO. Actively involved in planning and implementing the merger of Chicken Soup Brigade and Northwest AIDS Foundation, she was responsible for merging all financial records, consolidating client and donor information, and providing oversight of the renovation effort of two buildings to accommodate over 100 newly integrated staff members. Experienced in developing information and technology infrastructure and facility maintenance, she served for two years as the Deputy Director of the Lifelong Aids Alliance. Jan has a degree in Information Systems Management, and prior experience in graphic art development.

Executive Director

Janet Brown is a nationally known consultant, speaker and teacher. Until recently, she was an adjunct faculty member at Goucher College, Baltimore, MD teaching Public Policy and the Arts. Prior to GIA, she was Chair of Performing and Visual Arts at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and Executive Director of South Dakotans for the Arts and the SD Alliance for Arts Education. She began her arts management career in theatre where her work included Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and national and European tours. She began her theatre career as an actress at the Black Hills Playhouse and was co-owner of the Deadwood Production Company for ten years. A registered lobbyist for 15 years, Janet received numerous awards for arts advocacy including the Selena Roberts Ottum Award from Americans for the Arts, Washington, DC, and the Robert Gard Award from the University of Massachusetts Arts Extension Service (AES), Amherst. She's served on many local and national boards of directors including Americans for the Arts and the American Folklife Center and has been a panelist and site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts and several state arts agencies. She has an undergraduate degree in Theatre and a Masters of Public Administration.

Web & Knowledge Manager

Since moving to Seattle in 2000 to pursue opportunities in digital publishing, Steve has served as Web and Print Publications Editor for Earshot Jazz, a non-profit arts presenter. More recently he worked as a Premedia Coordinator for R.R. Donnelley. Steve has a B.A. in Music Performance from Wichita State University. Currently, he is working toward a M.S. in Information Management at University of Washington Information School with a focus on Information Architecture.

Program Manager

From 2002-06, Abigail Guay was Project Manager at the Jenny Holzer Studio, NY, where she coordinated gallery, museum, and public art installations at venues across the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2007, Abigail became the first Director of Open Satellite, an artist residency and exhibition program in Bellevue, WA. She was a member of the ARCADE journal editorial committee from 2007-11 and she danced with the Seattle-based comedy cabaret troupe the Freedom Dancers. Abigail holds an MA in Art History from Williams College.

Director of Development & Membership

Kathy comes to GIA with nearly twenty years of non-profit arts management and fundraising experience at such organizations as the Frye Art Museum, Bellevue Arts Museum, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Spoleto Festival USA. Recently named a 2010 Culture Maker by City Arts Magazine, Kathy also curates visual arts exhibitions; co-produces the Rock Lottery, a regular music event in Seattle, Denton, Texas, and Brooklyn, New York; and serves on the Board of Spectrum Dance Theater.

Administrative Assistant

Before joining Grantmakers in the Arts in 2010, Heidi worked for Seattle's leading computer gaming company, Big Fish Games, and volunteered her time with local arts organizations including the Richard Hugo House, the Burke Museum, and Artist Trust. Heidi's experience in the professional arts field began in 2005 at Western Washington University's VU Gallery where she coordinated art exhibitions for three years, including an annual international juried art competition, Beyond Borders. Heidi graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Creative Writing and Art History with a focus on creative nonfiction and postmodern art and culture.

Deputy Director & Director of Programs

Tommer Peterson has been on the GIA staff since 2000. Peterson's background is in communications. He was part of the founding team for ArtsWire at the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was managing partner Wilkins & Peterson and Co., a design and marketing firm that specialized in nonprofit organizations for over twenty years. He was also a founding member of Artist Trust of Washington, two-term chair of Seattle's Bumbershoot Arts Festival, commissioner on the City of Seattle Arts Commission, and the first curator of the City of Seattle's 1% for Art Program. He regularly serves as a panelist for the NEA, state and local public agencies, and private funders. He is also an artist and studied classical calligraphy in Japan on a NEA fellowship in 1989, a discipline which he continues to practice. He exhibits his work regularly in the U.S. and in Japan.