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Governance
The affairs of the
Charles County Arts Alliance are conducted within the framework of the
CCAA bylaws and are under the direction of a
volunteer Board of Directors, which consists of three elected officers
(President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer), the Immediate Past
President, and up to nine appointed members. The Board oversees the
planning of annual events and the organization's budget. The President,
as Chief Executive Officer, ensures that the orders and resolutions of
the Board are carried out and put into effect.
The day to day operations of the CCAA are
carried out by an Administrator who is responsible for such things as producing interim and final reports
to county and state agencies, writing and designing special publications
and the Arts Insider newsletter, providing content to the CCAA
webmaster, handling general publicity, and coordinating exhibiting
artists, special events, and volunteer assistance.
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CCAA
Board of Directors and Staff
FY
2008 |
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The CCAA Board of
Directors is comprised of 3 elected officers (President, Vice President,
and Secretary/Treasurer), the Immediate Past President, and up to
9 appointed members. |
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Executive Committee: |
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President
Vice President
Secretary/Treasurer, River Artsfest Committee Co-Chair
Immediate Past President, Budget & Finance Committee Chair, and
Grant Review Committee Chair
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Diane Rausch
Connie Miller
Cindy Johnson
Robert K. Rausch
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Other Board Members: |
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Membership Committee
Chair
Program Committee Chair
Historian
River
Artsfest Committee Co-Chair Member Member Member |
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John
O'Loughlin
Elaine Moses
Sue Belmore
Steve Cavanaugh
Amy Blessinger
Jennifer Pinto
Frank
Comstock
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Staff: |
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Administrator
Staff
Assistant
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Therese Thiedeman
Susan Burch
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Diane Rausch,
President |
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Diane
is a native of Charles County where her family, the Berry family, has
lived for over 300 years. She is a senior executive at NASA
Headquarters in Washington, DC, where she currently serves as Director,
Advisory Committee Management Division, in the Office of External
Relations. She has been an active participant in the arts all her life,
especially music, where she has performed with a variety of church,
school, college and community instrumental and choral ensembles. She
plays bassoon and clarinet, and sings alto. She and her husband Bob are
the co-founders of three nonprofit arts and humanities organizations in
Charles County: the Southern Maryland Concert Band (1984), the Charles
County Arts Alliance (1987) and the Friends of Old Waldorf School
Foundation (1994). Diane has previously served as president of the SMCB
(7 years), president of FOWS (5 years) and is now completing her second
year as president of the CCAA. Diane has an M.A. in Political
Science/International Relations from East Carolina University, a B.A. in
Foreign Affairs from University of Virginia, and graduated from Thomas
Stone High School in Waldorf. She and Bob enjoy attending performing
arts events, galleries and historic sites in and around Southern
Maryland, Chesapeake Bay living and boating at their condo at Solomons
Island, foreign travel, and their "children" - two Dalmatians, Kasper
and Jasper. |
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Connie Miller,
Vice President |
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Connie
Miller is a native Maryland artist now living on Cobb Island. Although
she has worked in multiple media, Connie prefers working in watercolors
because of their transparency, spontaneity, and freshness. Her work has
been exhibited throughout Maryland in Charles, St. Mary's, and Prince
George's counties, and in Virginia. Connie's watercolors have won an
array of art awards and are included in both private and corporate
collections. Additionally, she has painted numerous commissioned
paintings. Connie taught watercolor classes at the Charles County
Richard R. Clark Senior Center and currently coordinates the CCAA Visual Artists Workshop Series. |
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Cindy Johnson,
Secretary/Treasurer |
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Cindy Johnson is an
administrator for the St. Charles Planning and Design Review Board and
has been involved with the CCAA on and off, for many years. A Past
President and Board Member of the Port Tobacco Players, Cindy is no
stranger to the theater. She is a founding member of the Maryland
Community Theatre Festival Association which promotes excellence in
community theatre for the State of Maryland. She and her husband Zeke
serve on the MCTFA Board of Directors. Cindy lives conveniently close
by in La Plata. |
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Robert K. Rausch,
Immediate Past
President, Budget & Finance Committee Chair, Grant Committee Chair |
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Bob is the Founder,
and first and past President of the CCAA. He has served on the Board of
Directors in several capacities since the inception of the organization
in 1987. His other community service activities include: Charter member of Old
Waldorf School and life member and past conductor of the Southern
Maryland Concert Band. A Music Educator for 29 years, he taught in
both Prince George's and Charles County, and
recently retired from teaching, after serving as the Instrumental
Music Teacher at Milton Somers Middle School (La Plata) for seventeen
of those years. Recipient
of numerous awards, he recently received his fifth nomination
to "Who's Who Among American Teachers," and will appear in the
2007 Special Edition of "Who's Who" for those receiving this
honor multiple times. Currently,
he is pursuing new educational goals at the College of Southern
Maryland in Spanish and Accounting. Bob lives in
Waldorf with the CCAA President (Diane Rausch) and "Da Boys" (Kasper and
Jasper) his Dalmatian sons.
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Sue Belmore,
Historian |
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Sue
wrote and applied for her first CCAA grant in 1983. In 1988, she held
her first VSA Arts Festival (formerly called "Very Special Arts") at the
F.B. Gwynn Center with Nancy Carsey's guidance. Sue has held VSA Arts
Festivals almost every year since, including one in conjunction with the
CCAA ArtsFest 2002 at the Village Green Pavilion. Since 1984, she has
been actively involved with the Port Tobacco Players (PTP), where she
performs mostly in musicals, and paints many background sets as
well. She also takes tap at her daughters dance studio - Judy's - in La
Plata, MD. Her children, Sean, age 17, and Anna, age 14, attend La
Plata High School, and have also been very active with PTP. Her
husband, Glenn, keeps her busy with the Charles County Fair. Sue has
lived in Charles County for 24 years, and now teaches art at T.C. Martin
Elementary School in Bryantown.
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Amy
Blessinger,
Member |
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Frank
Comstock, Member |
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Frank Comstock took up writing
after retiring from the Air Force.
His first published novel, Charlie's
Gift is set for publication in early 2008 with more novels to
follow. Frank has
published fiction in Connections
and Types and Shadows and
has had non-fiction published in Old
Cars Weekly and Municipal
Maryland. Frank has
recently returned to photography and has shown photos at
Mattawoman
Creek
Art
Center
. Although born into a typical New England
family with more than three hundred and fifty years of growth (and a
bit of rot – he admits to at least one witch in the Massachusetts
witch trials in the 1600s) on the family tree, Frank spent most of his
youth in South Carolina learning and observing Southern ways of the
1950s and 1960s. Frank
blends his Southern and Yankee experiences in a writing style that is
direct and touching at the same time.
Peace, serenity, hope, and small-town values permeate his
novels and short stories. Living
in Waldorf since 1993, Frank has served
Charles
County
as a member of the Charles County Comprehensive Land Use Board, St.
Charles Planning and Design Review Board, Westlake Village Association
Board, and in various other charitable and fund-raising activities.
Frank has been married to his wife Terry for more than thirty
years; their daughter, Kathleen, is finishing graduate school at
Westminster
Choir
College
where she majors in voice performance and vocal pedagogy.
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Steve
Cavanaugh,
Member |
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Steve Cavanaugh is an entrepreneur and musician born and raised in La Plata, MD. He is the President of Southern Maryland Home Buyers, Inc., a real estate investment company.
Steve has a BA with a Jazz Guitar Performance Minor from Salisbury University.
He founded Southern Maryland's only "jam band", the Nanjemoy Creek Boys in 1997. In 10 years NCB toured the East Coast, produced two full length albums, a live DVD, and six
"Wathfest" music festivals. He teaches "The Art of Jamming" at the College of Southern Maryland, a class based
solely on a method he developed, that teaches musicians how to play improvised music with one another.
He plans to retail his "Jam Method" in 2008. Steve, whose hobbies
include reading and working out, also works in IT with Garcia Information Systems Corporation in Indian Head, MD.
Steve and his beautiful wife Keri are expecting their first child in February 2008.
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Elaine Moses, Program Committee Chair |
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Elaine Moses is a
retired postal service employee who has been married to Lemon Moses for
63 years. They have a daughter, Yvonne, who is a federal government
retiree and son, Michael, who is a computer specialist and private
school teacher. There are also two granddaughters and two great
grandchildren in the family. Elaine was a
substitute teacher for a number of years and later attended CCCC (now
the College of Southern Maryland) and graduated in 1991 having received
an Associate of Arts degree in General Studies. She also attended St.
Mary's College of Maryland from which she graduated in May 1999 and
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Development. While
acquiring an education, Elaine was quite active with El Circulo
Cultural Hispanico (the Spanish Club of CSM) serving as its
president for ten years. Through the club and its members, she was
instrumental in arranging many concerts featuring Hispanic performers
and musicians to entertain the tri-county communities of Southern
Maryland, introducing the culture of all Hispanic countries, and
raising funds for the Bill Wood Memorial Scholarship. Elaine says she is
slowing down now but she is still active as a Board member of the
Charles County Arts Alliance, line dances at the Clark Senior Center
when she has the time, attends Spanish classes, and often exercises in
the Center.
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John
O'Loughlin, Membership Committee Chair |
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John O'Loughlin is a musician and lawyer in
La Plata
,
Maryland
. He is a graduate of
Georgetown
University
Law
Center
and the
College
of
William
and Mary. His orchestra, The Capital Quicksteps Quadrille Orchestra,
performs traditional American dance music, and he plays many
instruments in both classical and traditional styles. Currently he is
President of the Board of Directors of The Jude House, a recovery
program in Bel Alton, Maryland. John lives on
Cobb
Island
with his wife, Marcia Keeth and enjoys singing, playing guitar, fiddle
and tinwhistle, composing music, and studying local history. |
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Jennifer
Pinto, Member |
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Jennifer is
a graduate of George Mason University with degrees in Studio Art and Art
& Visual Technology. Jennifer's Resume includes Time Life Books,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Travel Media, and
KEI Pearson (as Graphic Support for the Army Materiel Command). At the
present time, she is launching a new business "Corner Studio ArtWorks,"
which deals in fine art printing and personalized notecards. Jennifer is
from Charles County. |
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Therese Thiedeman,
Administrator |
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Therese
Thiedeman is the wife of active duty Coast Guardsman Edwin Thiedeman,
and mother of Mary and William. Therese has been active with the
Port Tobacco Players since 1993, directing the ENCORE KIDS and TEENS,
performing in a variety of shows, serving as director, music director,
pit conductor, pit musician (clarinet and saxophone), directing the
summer theater camp, and serving on the Board of Directors. She is
also an active ALTO with the Chesapeake Choral Arts Society, and
guitarist/vocalist with the 11:30 am choir at Our Lady Help of
Christians Church. Therese enjoys serving as Administrator for the
Charles County Arts Alliance and using her talents to help promote the
Arts in all its forms within this county. Although her background is in
the performing arts, she is enjoying learning more about the
literary and visual arts as well.
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Susan Burch,
Staff Assistant |
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Susan enjoys the arts and has participated in dance and art classes
throughout her life. Growing up in
Annapolis
, her mother plunged her into many imaginable activities: drawing and
painting to ballet and gymnastics and even horseback riding and piano
lessons, to name a few. Her parents also took her to many stage
performances at Maryland Hall and the
Kennedy
Center
. As a child a memorable trip to
Lincoln
Center
in
New York City
with her father gave her the once in a lifetime chance to see Mikhail
Baryshnikov dance. Currently Susan is introducing her own husband and
children into arts related activities such as ballet and attending
local cultural events. She has working experience with ad layout and
graphic design with local newspapers plus secretarial experience. She
is excited to put these skills to work for the Arts Alliance.
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