Board Members

Board of Directors

Nick Kite, President

Some of my fondest memories as a child were that of my mother volunteering in my classroom to teach art. To this day I still have former class mates coming up to me saying how they remember my mother and loved every minute of her teaching.

I hope to continue her legacy and provide ways for our local youth to be creative and express themselves through art.

"Art is a place for children to learn to trust their ideas, themselves, and to explore what is possible"

- MaryAnn F. Kohl

Nancy Amadeo, Vice President

As a child, I was exposed to the arts from the earliest years of my life. My dad was involved in community theater as an actor and director. My mother, grandfather, and great aunt were all artists. Singing and learning to play an instrument seemed as important as breathing. It was an essential part of life.

As a result, when I was asked if I was willing to be a founding board member, I was excited to say yes and helped to develop this amazing nonprofit organization.

I am honored to continue to participate in our ongoing effort to bring arts programs to our youth.

"You put the STEAM in STEM when you include the Arts in education"

Cheryl Swix, Secretary

Gail Youngblood, Treasurer

Mia Nguyen

Excited to be joining the Marina Youth Arts, Mia enjoys sharing her passion of art with others. She spends her free time creating artwork, traveling, reading, gardening, hiking, biking and being outdoors. During her world travels she’s come to realise that Art is an essential key to a happy society and mental health. Art is mathematics in motion. From her personal experience art can be healing, nourishing and fun. It’s an important part of growing up as well as managing a stressful life into adulthood. For the elderly it’s wonderful to help with memory and cognitive functions.

Heidi Humphreys

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Eric Huerta

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Cristina Medina Dirksen

Art is otteragious!

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

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Remembering Lenore Masterson

Lenore Masterson has been a resident of Marina for 30 years. She is a Custom Cartoon Illustrator with a BA in Commercial Art and a Graduate Degree in Fine Art and over 40 years as a professional illustrator with 5 books to her credit. She, along with Nancy Amadeo, founded Marina Youth Arts and has been its President for 13 years.