Our Team

Kathy Gallegos
Founding Executive & Artistic Director

“From 2000 to the present, I have been the Founding Executive and Artistic Director of Avenue 50 Studio,
Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts presentation organization located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park. Previous to the Avenue 50 Studio, I had a successful career as a legal secretary with Stutman, Treister & Glatt, a bankruptcy law firm. I was also an exhibiting artist. In 1986, along with muralists Barbara Carrasco, Yreina Cervantez and Francisco Letelier, I painted a mural at the Plaza De las Madres in Managua, Nicaragua. In 1995-96, I lived in Honduras spending the year painting and teaching myself B&W photographic darkroom techniques. In 1996, I was asked by artist Leo Limon to teach photography to teens at the Aztlan Cultural Arts Center at the old Lincoln Heights Jail. I also operated their gift shop and organized exhibitions. I founded the Avenue 50 Studio in order to give artists a venue where their voice could be heard. In October of 2014, I was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to sit as a Council member on the Board of the California Arts Council. In 2017, we received an award from World Learning to produce an international art exchange with Athar Lina Initiate in Cairo, Egypt to take place in 2018.”

 

Jovany Gonzalez
Administrative Assistant/Social Media Marketing

 

A Thank You to Our Past Team Members:

  • Jessica Ceballos y Campbell, Literary Programming Curator
  • Angelina Sáenz, La Palabra Poetry Coordinator
  • Hataya Tubtim, Grants Writer
  • Jade Puga, California Arts Council Arts Administrator of Color Fellow
  • Nica Aquino, Digital Content Creator
  • Elise Viapiano, Pasadena Unified School District Intern
  • Sara Aceves, Administrative Assistant
  • Kassidy Penso, Social Media, Marketing, and Administrative Assistant
  • Naza Zaman-Zade, Administrative Assistant
  • Roni De Leon, Administrative Assistant
  • Alvaro D. Marquez, Administrative Assistant
  • Peter Woods, Administrative Assistant
  • Jessica Rocha, Administrative Assistant
  • Abdiel Lopez, Administrative Assistant
  • Christian Espinoza, handyman, valet
  • Lea Chavez, food handler
  • Marcelo Morga, Security, valet
  • Garrett Richardson, Occidental College Intern
  • Maggie Smart-McCabe, Occidental College Intern
  • Jacki Jackman, Occidental College Intern
  • Nina Barnett, Occidental College Intern