WAM Theatre Appoints Two New Board Members
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LENOX, Mass. — WAM Theatre has appointed two new board members.
Erica Barreto and Toni Buckley join board President Wendy Healey, Vice President Arwen Lowbridge, Carolyn Butler, Margaret Fluhr, Ellen Ring, Diane Scott, and WAM Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven as the Berkshire-based company starts its second decade.
"We are excited to welcome these two passionate new advocates to our board," van Ginhoven said. "We look forward to continuing to strategically expand our board as we build deeper relationships with people across a range of perspectives who are interested in helping WAM’s work of creating brave spaces of civic dialogue through an intersectional feminist lens."
"We are tremendously proud of the two new board members we are adding this year," Healey said. "They each bring different expertise to the table, but also share a passion for the art WAM creates, and the organizations we support with a portion of our box office proceeds. As we start our second decade, we are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported our growth, and to old and new friends who will join the WAMily and help us continue our work.”
Barreto is an alumna of the Creative Community Fellows Program (2019) through National Arts Strategies, an advisor to the Multicultural Alliance program at Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School, and the coordinator of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. As a multicultural educator, arts administrator, and experiential workshop facilitator, she is a creative rulebreaker and community changemaker interested in promoting the arts and humanities as equity-centered strategies for systems change.
"The staff and artists at WAM are committed to using theater to exhume people's stories—to give voice to those histories that have been systematically silenced," Barreto said. "As the youngest member on the WAM Board of Directors, I am grateful to have a seat at the table and proud to support an organization that does not hesitate to demonstrate, with responsibility and transparency, a critical understanding of how the arts can and will be leveraged in service to all humanity."
Buckley, a Syrian raised in the Rhineland of Germany, is grateful to have found home, happiness, and community in the Berkshires. She holds a master's in communication design and is nearing completion of her master's in management of nonprofits and cultural organizations. She currently works as director of Alumni Relations at Berkshire Community College, sharing the powerful stories of BCC alumni and how accessible education has changed and bettered their lives. Among her many volunteer interests, Buckley co-founded the Hoping Machine at the Guthrie Center, a group of activists and songwriters working to foster social justice through the power of music and storytelling; is a member of the Mass MoCA Community Advisory Network; represents the immigrant community on the Impact Council of Berkshire Leadership; and is a member of Pittsfield Moves by Jacob’s Pillow.
"WAM combines two of my deepest passions: activism and art," Buckley said. "While social justice and equity are essential functions of the arts, the way WAM embraces its mission and turns it into action is unique – not just here in the Berkshires but around the globe."
