board of directors
- Deb Borton, President
Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation - Michele Buzbee, Vice-President
Local Entrepreneur - Deirdre Gruendler, Treasurer
The Liminoid Group - Neil Dalal, Secretary
Emerson - John Hall
Marshalltown Chamber - Josh Cox
Local Artist - Julie Winter
Region 6 Planning Commission - Tania Fonseca
Emerson - Kirsten Schmit
Nation Wide - John Gervich
M Gervich & Sons - Elisabeth Bieber
Edward Jones
executive director, amber danielson
Amber is a Marshalltown, Iowa native and has served as the Executive Director of the Arts + Culture Alliance since 2016. She is a Marshalltown Community College and University of Northern Iowa graduate where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business.
Amber and her husband were born and raised in Marshalltown and intentionally came back after moving away for a short period of time to raise a family. They are proud to call Marshalltown home and are amazed at the continued progress, growth and perseverance of the community.
Under her leadership, the Arts + Culture Alliance has added more than 30 public art installations throughout the community totaling over half a million dollars. She has generated over $4 million dollars in grant funding for creativity in her community and most recently spearheaded the development of the city’s first Arts and Culture Master Plan.
Over the years she has been a part of the Youth and Shelter Services, Trails Inc., 13th Street District Board, Board of Adjustments and Marshalltown Arts & Civic Center Board of Directors. She has sat on grant panels for the Iowa Arts Council and Arts Midwest, and provided leadership with Marshalltown’s Iowa Great Places, Marshalltown Arts & Civic Museum and Vision Marshalltown committees.
Most notably, she was the recipient of the 2023 Governor’s Emerging Arts Leader award for the State of Iowa and received the Outstanding Leader Award by Youth and Shelter Services. Currently, Amber serves as the Chair of the Iowa Arts Council Board of Directors, leads a state-wide arts leaders networking group and was elected as a Board Member for the Iowa Valley Community College District.
senior advisor, beau kenyon
Beau has built his career on a foundation of collaboration and interdisciplinarity. After earning music composition degrees from Berklee College of Music and Tufts University, he dedicated a decade to research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, curiosity-based teaching practices and community engagement. In 2017, Beau Kenyon founded Oakley Collective to align all parts of his practice-interdisciplinary collaboration, culturally responsive programming, cognitive neuroscience, music composition and arts leadership.
Oakley Collective’s singular aim is sustainably building capacity from within organizations as a thought partner to Executive Leadership. Working in collaboration with the organizations, Oakley Collective contributes to the vision and details of long-term strategies, which includes timelines, performance metrics, staffing needs, training, and cross institutional partnerships. Simultaneously, building culturally responsive programs, engagement opportunities, cross institutional partners and advancement strategies.
In addition to his work with the Alliance, Beau teaches graduate coursework in Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, College of Arts, Media + Design. His interdisciplinary creative works have appeared at SITE Santa Fe, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MFA Boston, Des Moines Civic Center and ICA Boston, with public artworks installed at Governors Island, Emerald Necklace, Des Moines Water Works Park, Boston Public Library and Fenway Park.
SUPPORT THE ARTS
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*The Arts + Culture Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. If you have any questions, please contact us.