The Arts & Culture Working Group, made up of community leaders with a high level of expertise in arts and culture issues, oversees grantmaking and donor engagement strategies to meet the most critical needs of San Diego’s arts and culture nonprofits and creates partnerships and initiatives to support those strategies.

Current Working Group Members
Roger Cornell, MD	Osborn L. Hurston
Martha Dennis, PhD	Paul Meyer
Colette Carson Royston, RN, MN	Manuel Oncina
Joyce Gattas	Vivien Reznik
Jill Hall	Linda Satz
Victoria Hamilton	William Virchis
Judith Harris	Michael Yee

Roger Cornell, MD, Chair
Dr. Cornell has practiced dermatology with Scripps Clinic for 30 years. He has served on volunteer boards including the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture for eight years, the San Diego Performing Arts League, and the UCSD Art Gallery, and is currently on the boards of Mingei International Museum and the Alliance Healthcare Foundation.
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Martha Dennis, PhD
Dr. Dennis is a Venture Partner with Windward Ventures which funds early-stage technology companies in Southern California. Dr. Dennis is President of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Telecom Council and Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Appointed by Mayor Dick Murphy, she also serves as chair of the City of San Diego Science and Technology Commission. In addition, Dr. Dennis is a member of the Board of The San Diego Foundation.
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Victoria Hamilton
Victoria has been the Executive Director of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture since its inception in 1988 With nearly thirty years experience as an arts administrator, she has served in similar positions for the County of Santa Barbara, California and the City of Tacoma, Washington. Victoria served on the executive committee of the Americans for the Arts, formerly National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, was President of the California Confederation of the Arts and Chair of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies
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Jill Hall
Jill Hall spent over 20 years as a public school educator.  She has taught fourth grade, middle level dance, drama and history as well as been coordinator of an elementary visual and performing arts magnet school in southeast San Diego.  She has also been on staff with the California Arts Project at San Diego State University.  Currently, she is a creativity consultant, working with individuals and facilitating groups and workshops for writers and artists of all types.  She is an accomplished mosaic artist and crafting the second draft of a novel.  She is board President of San Diego Writers, Ink, serves on Eveoke Dance Theatre's board and Young Audiences Program Advisory Committee.  In addition she volunteers for San Diego's Student Shakespeare Festival and with Mo'olelo collaborating on an outreach curriculum project.  Her B.A. and M.Ed. are from the University of San Diego and her doctorate is from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.  She is a native San Diegan and lives in Point Loma and Descanso with her husband Jerry who is Chief Operating Officer for Alliant Insurance Resources, Inc. 
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Judith Harris
Judith served as Chair of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture for three years, and was on the Commission for eight years. She has chaired fundraising capital campaigns for the Scripps Memorial Cardiac Clinic KPBS and Chair of San Diego Public Library. Has serves on the boards of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Scripps Foundation, La Jolla Playhouse and the Center for Community Solutions. The City of San Diego Animal Welfare Complex. Mayor Susan Golding declared October 2, 2000 “Judith Harris Day” for her activism and volunteer efforts in the San Diego community.
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Colette Carson Royston, RN, MN (Ex-Officio)
Colette has been involved in Cancer Health Care for many years, in clinical practice, research and education. She is currently on the Board of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art and The San Diego Opera and sits on the Public Art Master Plan Steering Committee for the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. She is ex-officer of The San Diego Foundation’s Board of Governors.
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Linda Satz
Linda Satz has been actively involved in the San Diego arts community for fifteen years. She was a trustee of the San Diego Repertory Theatre and has also served on the board of the La Jolla Playhouse. She is presently on the board of Mainly Mozart. For the past three years, Linda has chaired the annual arts fundraiser at The Neurosciences Institute to raise money to support the free use of the auditorium by the arts and culture community. She is a Trustee of the Mandell Weiss Charitable Trust, which donates the majority of it's funds to San Diego's arts organizations.
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Joyce Gattas
Joyce Gattas has served San Diego State University as Dean of the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts since July 1988. In her role as Dean, she manages 11 diverse departments that include three research centers, 4,700 majors, and 400 faculty and staff. Before assuming her current managerial position, Dr. Gattas taught at California State Universities and was the Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs at SDSU. She has been active in community and professional organizations, including President of the Board of Trustees for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, International Rotary, Secretary/Treasurer of the San Diego-Baja Communications Council Executive Committee, San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau. Most recently she served as past Chair of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, a mayoral appointment. She holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Gattas is a resident of San Diego, California.
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Osborn L. Hurston
Osborn L. Hurston, a San Diego resident has served as vice president and senior portfolio manager at Highmark Capital Management, a subsidiary of Union Bank of California since 1981. Prior to joining Highmark, he was an investment officer at Security Pacific National Bank and securities analyst at Ameritrust Corporation. He also shares his expertise in the financial field as a graduate level instructor at the California School of International Management. Mr. Hurston has a long history of community involvement having served as past president of the San Diego Urban Bankers, former trustee of both the San Diego City and San Diego County Employees’ Retirement Systems. His love of arts and culture is evidenced by volunteer service as past president of the San Diego Performing Arts League, trustee and immediate past treasurer of the La Jolla Playhouse and trustee and vice president of the Balboa Art Conservatory. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA degree in economics and UCLA with an M.B.A. in Accounting.
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Manuel Oncina
Manuel Oncina, a La Jolla resident is a well-known and prolific architect who has been responsible for a number of high profile community and municipal projects throughout the region. Projects include: the Tecolate Canyon Nature Center, the Natural History Museum’s Fossil Mysteries Exhibit and Birdrock Area Streetscape. Libraries include the Cardiff by the Sea Branch Library and Earl & Birdie Taylor Branch Library in Pacific Beach. He is also responsible for several public works projects, such as the Miramar Water Treatment Plant and Adobe Falls Pump Station. Currently under construction are the Encinitas Community Library and Carlsbad City Library Learning Center. In addition to his professional career, Mr. Oncina has supported the community through his volunteer service as a member of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and as chair of the Society of American Registered Architects.
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Paul Meyer
Paul I. Meyer is a partner in the San Diego office of Latham & Watkins.  He has served as a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee and as Chairman of its Real Estate Department.  Mr. Meyer is a graduate of Harvard College (Phi Beta Kappa, 1966) and Harvard Law School (1969).  After Law School, and before entering into private practice, Mr. Meyer served for three years on active duty as an officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, completing his service as a Captain in 1973. Mr. Meyer is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and has repeatedly been listed among the nation’s leading real estate lawyers in The Best Lawyers in America.  In his real estate practice, Mr. Meyer handles the development, financing and leasing of major office, commercial, industrial, shopping center, hotel, sports and entertainment properties, with a particular emphasis on “public/private” projects involving California redevelopment law and finance.  His recent projects include (1) the Staples Center sports arena in downtown Los Angeles, (2) the San Diego Padres’ 26-block development of a major league ballpark and related hotel, office, retail and residential projects in downtown San Diego, and (3) the 9-block Santa Fe Rail Depot office and mixed-use project in downtown San Diego. Among his civic activities, Mr. Meyer serves as President of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, as a member of the Board of Overseers for the University of California at San Diego, as a Trustee of the San Diego Foundation, and as a Trustee of the San Diego Charitable Real Estate Fund.  He has also served as President of the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, as President of the San Diego Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and as a member of that organization’s national Board of Governors.
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Vivien Reznik
Vivien Reznik is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and a Professor of Pediatrics and Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, School of Medicine and practices pediatric nephrology at Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center with a focus on congenital and chronic renal disease.  In addition, she has a longstanding interest in public health promotion and prevention, community based research, faculty development and leadership training.

In conjunction with her leadership service within the University of California,  Dr. Reznik has served in the community locally; including the Board of LEAD, San Diego, Vice-Chair of the San Diego County Commission on Children, Youth and Families and Chair of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. Dr Reznik was awarded the Women Together Woman of Distinction, the UCSD Healthcare Diversity Award,   National Community Leadership Association Distinguished Leadership Award, Yale University Tercentennial Award, UCSD Chancellor’s Associates Faculty Excellence in Community Service Award, the UCSD Diversity Award, the Children’s Hospital and Health Center Physician Leadership Award, and UCSD Equal Opportunity and Diversity Award. Dr Reznik is a graduate of  Yale College where she was a member of the first undergraduate  co educational class, received her medical degree from Yale Medical School and a Masters of Public Health from San Diego State University.
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William Virchis
William Virchis, a Chula Vista resident, has served as director of Visual and Performing Arts at the Sweetwater Union High School District for six years. He was formerly a professor at Southwestern College and artistic director of the theatre department since 1973. He earned both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees at San Diego State University wtih post graduate work at the University of Mexico City. Mr. Virchis has directed numerous productions at note-worthy organizations including the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, and Civic Light Opera. He is co-founder artistic director of Teatro Mascara Magica a multi-cultural theatre company. In January 2001, Mr. Virchis was honored with the Shiley Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre at the Fourth Annual KPBS Patte Awards for Theatre Excellence. He was also recognized for his service to the community as a recipient of the George W. Bush’s President’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
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Michael Yee
Michael Yee is a 13-year resident of Poway, California. Since 1996, he has served as Technical Lead – Instructional and Information Technology Services at Cal State University San Marcos where he provides database programming, systems analysis and software applications support for the university. Mr. Yee was the lead author and analyst for the procurement of the university’s first administrative software. He received his Bachelor’s in Business Administration Information Systems from San Diego State University, graduating cum laude and Masters of Business Administration from San Diego State University. Mr. Yee’s commitment to community has been demonstrated through service as past president and vice president of the San Diego Chinese Historical Society and Museum, as founding chair of the Asian Pacific Historic Collaborative and as past president of the San Diego Chinese Center. He has served on numerous grants panels and committees, most recently with the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
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