Cathy Edwards comes to Portland having been Artistic Director of Dance Theater Workshop (DTW) in New York and, most recently, in her current role as the Director of Programming for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT. While at DTW, Ms. Edwards was recognized by The New York Times for supporting “provocative, experimental choreographers,” and for “daring curatorial choices [that] showed her to be as creative and imaginative as many of the artists she booked.” She was also recognized for her support of international artists and her dedication to commissioning and presenting work from a next generation of important performing artists.

During her first two years at the International Festival in New Haven, Edwards designed innovative programming initiatives in dance and emerging performance forms including such diverse performers and companies as the dance group Headlong Dance Theater (Philadelphia), Aurelia Thieree with a nouveau cirque production (France), dance company Chunky Move (Australia), the Apparatus Theatre Group (Russia), the theater ensemble Siti Company (New York), the sound and performance artist Ray Lee (UK) and a new play by Sebastian Barry produced by Fishamble (Ireland). While at Dance Theater Workshop, Edwards was instrumental in bringing the work of artists such as Meg Stuart / Damaged Goods (Belgium), Rachid Ouramdane / Association Fin Novembre (France), Maria Hassabi and Miguel Gutierrez to the DTW stage as well as for her commitment to residencies and commissions.

Edwards was appointed DTW Co-Artistic Director in 2001 and DTW Artistic Director in 2003. In 2003, while Edwards was Co-Artistic Director, DTW opened its new facility in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, which includes a 200-seat state-of-the-art blackbox theater, a digital laboratory, two dance studios, a gallery/café, as well as administrative and technical offices.

As PICA’s Executive Director, Victoria Frey is responsible for all aspects of the organization’s operations and fiscal management. Prior to her tenure at PICA, Frey was the owner and director of Quartersaw Gallery for sixteen years. As one of the first galleries in Portland’s Pearl District and among the most influential galleries in the Pacific Northwest, Quartersaw was responsible for launching and furthering the careers of many Northwest artists. A pioneer on the Portland arts scene, Frey has been a long-standing arts advocate in our community. Like Edmunds, Frey has served numerous boards and commissions that focus on the arts landscape locally, regionally and nationally.

In 1993, Frey was appointed by Governor Barbara Roberts to serve a four-year term on the Oregon Arts Commission, a nine-member panel that determines arts policies for the state, establishes long-term goals, oversees grants panels and appropriates funds. She currently sits on the board for the NW Business Committee for Culture and the Arts. Frey was a founding member of PICA's Board of Trustees, has served on the Executive Committee as Development Chair and was founding Secretary. In addition, she has been involved in strategic planning and fiscal oversight from the time of PICA’s inception.

Erin Boberg has worked alongside Executive/Artistic Director Kristy Edmunds on PICA’s Performance and Residency Programs since it’s inception in 1995. In 1999 she was invited to participate in the National Association of Artist’s Organizations Co-Generate program, which identifies and fosters new leaders in the arts. She is one of 6 U.S. delegates to the International Leadership Development Forum, a multi-national platform for professional and artistic exchange in dance. Boberg has also served on several artist selection panels and awards juries for the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Creative Capital, and other local, regional and national organizations in the performing and visual arts.

Prior to joining PICA, Boberg was an intern for Kristy Edmunds at the Art on the Edge program and served as the Education Outreach Coordinator for the Northwest Film Center’s Video/Filmmaker-in-Schools program, where she directed the Young People’s Film and Video Festival. Boberg is an independent performance artist and has studied dance, music and theatre at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors in Theatre from Lewis & Clark College in 1994.

Kristan Kennedy moved to Portland the year PICA was born. Her career as an artist and an arts advocate has been informed and fueled in part by PICA’s programming and impact the organization has had on Portland’s burgeoning arts community. She started at PICA as a volunteer and joined the Board of Trustees in 2002, before transitioning onto the staff in 2003, where she was responsible for managing Press and Public Relations and marketing campaigns for the organization. In Summer 2005, Kennedy moved positions to manage the Visual Program.

Kennedy is a graduate of the New York State College of Art and Design at Alfred University, and is an exhibiting artist represented by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Oregon. She is also co-founder of the artist collective Swallow Press (x2), whose printed ephemera and public art projects have been exhibited in PICA’s 1999 exhibit, CounterCanvas and internationally. Swallow Press (x2) projects have been published in Émigré, I-D Magazine, and Surface, and Swallow Press (x2) Printed Matter is in the special collections of Dartmouth College, the New York State Public Library, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Kennedy’s own work was included in the 2006 and 1999 Biennials at the Portland Art Museum, and she has lectured at Oregon State University, Portland State University, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and her own alma mater. She is the former Board Chair of the Independent Publishing Resource Center, where she presently serves on their advisory board, and is also a former member of the Tri-Met Public Art Advisory Committee.