Those who help lead, to better serve artists and communities worldwide in the arts…
Leadership
David Leikam
Founder / CEO / President
David is no stranger to the arts… attending the Musicians Institute for sound engineering production (live and studio with honors), then California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where he primarily studied modern dance collaboration/history, music composition/improvisation, and performance arts. After graduating from CalArts, David’s imagination was sparked by the decreased funding in the arts in public schools and inspired by the variety of arts covered at his alma mater, CalArts (dance, film, literature, music, theatre, visual, multimedia) where artists of varied disciplines study, were encouraged into creative collaboration. He developed ArtsEarth into a viable arts nonprofit organization by attending Foothill College, studying international and small business management. As an artist, David has seem firsthand how the artistic landscape has changed in many ways and feels that the quality of arts promotion, both local and international, can be improved. Combined with modern technological tools like the Internet, ArtsEarth can help the current arts scenes connect better with the general public whether they are in San Francisco, California or Paris, France; eventually creating ArtsEarth hub locations worldwide to better inform the public of creative arts events and engaging directly with local artists who are paid and supported well within their communities. David believes that if you have a vibrant arts community, society’s culture will be directly affected for the betterment of life for all its citizens/people. email
Bob Wong
CFO / Treasurer
- Biography coming soon. email
Greg Cutler
COO / Secretary / Design/UX Director / Arts Reviewer
Greg has a Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration from the Academy of Art University. After graduating from art school, he struggled to find work as an animator and illustrator. His career eventually morphed into a designer for the tech industry. He has designed and helped build web sites, web applications, and mobile apps. All of these for-profit pursuits keep food on the table and a roof over his head (in San Francisco), but they do not do enough to help the plight of the starving artist. As a regular attendee at the annual Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City, Nevada. Greg has witnessed that radical inclusion helps generate cultural change from the inside of communities. He has come to believe that being an artist in America is almost impossible. He has seen the flight of culture from his beloved city of San Francisco. One of the reasons for living in a place is the culture. If the culture leaves, the reason for living there disappears. For art enthusiasts, finding interesting and thought provoking art is also nearly impossible. ArtsEarth serves two demographics. Artists need people to pay them for their art. Art buyers need to be able to find art that connects with them on a personal level. It’s not easy to do either one. Here’s where well-designed and built technology can help. Artists hold events in physical spaces. People can go check out the art. It’s that simple. email
Board Member(s)
Andrew Lea
Andrew’s initial attempts at the visual arts were met with derision.
Nonetheless, Andrew’s love of the arts and of (almost) all things counter-cultural are reflective of a youth misspent in the beatnik-era coffee shops and bookstores of San Francisco’s North Beach.
Andrew’s intellectually rebellious stripe was nurtured at UC Berkeley, where he found joy and truth in the social sciences and in The Free Speech Movement. His subsequent graduate studies at The New School For Social Research in New York City deepened his admiration for critical social theory and his rejection of the dominant paradigms of neoliberalism.
Through a series of both twists and turns, Andrew left his postgraduate teaching post at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey to return to the Bay Area. After managing San Francisco’s first repertory movie house, (the Surf Theater,) Andrew decamped to the world of corporate marketing communications and, more recently, content design for B2B digital product teams.
Andrew’s enthusiasm for the mission of ArtsEarth is a reflection of his lifelong admiration for the courage of artists across all media and his conviction that the positively subversive impacts of art save humanity from its worst tendencies by awakening and nurturing its best tendencies.
Andrew’s more recent attempts at the visual arts have also been met with derision. But his Jerry Lee Lewis-style piano playing has been well received in Daly City, Paris, and wherever it’s been heard. email
Director, Fundraising
Andrew Lea
See bio above. email
Social Media Manager
Meet the contributing article writers and photojournalists worldwide, who review the arts…
Article Writers
Miranda Seaver Caravalho
San Jose, California, USA
Miranda is a San Jose-based playwright and director with a passion for the odd and obscure. She’s a regular performer at the SubZero festival in San Jose, and she has been featured in Content Magazine, the JMS Podcast, and the Last Frontier Theater Festival in Valdez, Alaska. You can find her pursuing the local art galleries and coffee shops, looking for something beautiful and unusual to connect to. email
Khatija Hussain
London, England, UK
A recent graduate in English and creative writing. Khatija is an avid reader and dreamer who loves to write and think about her literary characters. Arts and theatre are something she enjoys and has a passion for her ever since she started university and visited the local theatres nearby. email
Małgorzata Stanek
Lublin, Poland
Małgorzata graduated in English from Maria Curie Skłodowska University in 2009, Lublin, Poland. Her major passions in life are languages: she speaks English, Spanish and dabbles in Japanese. She loves stimulating festivals. Ray Bradbury, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Jorge Luis Borges are examples of what she finds most delightful and inspiring in the literary realm. She also appreciates the work of Joseph Conrad. email
Photojournalists
Jon Bauer
San Francisco, California, USA
Jon has devoted the last few years to combining his passion for music, travel and photography. He regularly shoots the Treasure Island Music Festival, Outside Lands, and Noise Pop as a house photographer. Jon also shoots for The Denver Post and several prominent Bay Area music blogs. email
ArtsEarth is an equal opportunity arts nonprofit venture that encourages the best person for the position available and are equally compensated when our budget allows for it. The level of position or potential pay is based solely on work ability and not gender or race.