Americans for the Arts Action Fund is pleased to announce the addition of four new members to its board of directors: Nolen V. Bivens, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts; Patrick Brien, executive director of the Riverside Arts Council; Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, vice president for cultural affairs for Arizona State University and executive director of ASU Gammage; and Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.

“I am pleased to welcome these four tremendous leaders to our board of directors, who each bring a diverse range of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds to the collective voice of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund,” said Nina Ozlu Tunceli, executive director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. “The Arts Action Fund is committed to promoting more vibrant and livable communities throughout the country and mobilizing the largest grassroots arts advocacy network in America to help advance the arts on both the electoral and legislative landscapes. These new members will be an asset and I look forward to working with them in the years to come.”

The biographies of the new members of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund board of directors are:

Nolen V. Bivens, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, is a former U.S. Army Brigadier General and serves as chair of the National Leadership Advisory Council, the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military; military community advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network’s Creative Forces program; and senior Policy Fellow on Arts & Military. Bivens is president of Leaders Six, Inc., and has executive leadership experience delivering successful results for public, private sector, and nonprofit organizations with over $1billion in annual revenue, including strategic business development and sales at the VP level for a top-four defense corporation, General Dynamics Mission Systems.

Patrick Brien has been the executive director of the Riverside Arts Council for the past 17 years. In addition to conducting capacity building workshops and providing private consultations throughout Riverside County, he has developed programs that include art as therapy for dementia patients and arts in corrections within the state penitentiary system. Sporting a long list of acting, directing, and producing credits that span from Hawaii to Germany, Brien ran theater companies in various parts of the world before entering the local arts agency field. On the side, he is founder and artistic director of The Gestalt Theatre Project, where he has directed and produced several regional and West Coast premieres.

Colleen Jennings-Roggensack is vice president of cultural affairs for Arizona State University and executive director of ASU Gammage. She has artistic, fiscal, and administrative responsibility for ASU Gammage, ASU Kerr Cultural Center, with responsibility for Sun Devil Stadium and Desert Financial Arena for non-athletic activities. She oversees the activation and transformation of Sun Devil Stadium into a year-round hub of cultural activity as ASU 365 Community Union. Jennings-Roggensack was also appointed to co-lead the Advisory Council on African American Affairs. The council will enhance diversity, growth and opportunity for Black undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff.

Felix Sanchez is chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) and a veteran media and communications expert, who consults regularly on Latino programming and content. Sanchez has created a number of impactful programs focused on creating diverse content and a new generation of diverse content creators. He launched the NHFA scholarship program with eight esteemed universities: NYU, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, USC, UCLA, and UT Austin; created the PitchNY program with Governor Cuomo’s Office of Motion Pictures and Television, NBCUniversal, and industry leaders to cultivate the talent of higher ed students throughout New York. He developed PitchDC—a content pitch program—and PitchLA with ViacomCBS to connected development executives at CBS, Showtime, and CW, with NHFA’s artists. In June, PitchTexas with TelevisaUnivision will launch in Houston.

Visit this page to learn more about Americans for the Arts Action Fund's current board of directors.

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