About
Who We Are
Arts Council Napa Valley (ACNV) began in 1963, and obtained 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 1981. Today ACNV is Napa County’s designated arts agency, executing programs and services countywide benefitting and uplifting our local arts and culture sector and community as a whole.
Our primary focus is increasing public access to the arts. We do this by supporting the creative industry through our programming, accessible services, and advocacy efforts. Our programming works to increase visibility and funding for local artists while our services aim to inform and connect creatives to opportunities in their fields. Our advocacy efforts work to both support and uplift emerging and mid-level artists while increasing access to arts education for students countywide.
More about our programs, services and advocacy work can be found under the “What We Do” section of the website.
Mission
Arts Council Napa Valley provides leadership that unites, supports, and enhances our exceptional arts and culture community.
Vision
Throughout Napa County the arts are celebrated, fostering a cultural center that inspires the world.
Values
Innovation. Inclusivity. Collaboration. Integrity. Strategy. Fun.
Staff
Christopher DeNatale
President & Chief Executive Officer
Chris DeNatale has worked for 20 years in the areas of Event Production, PR, Media Marketing, Non-Profit Leadership, Fund Raising, Venue Management and Audience Development. He has worked for CBS, iHeartMedia, Granite Broadcasting, Entercom Communications, Cumulus Radio, and The SF Media Company where he rose to the position of Vice President of Integrated Marketing. He has also held the position of Marketing Director for City Winery Napa, a national music venue, ArtistWorks, an online music learning start-up, and at Lincoln Theater where he was promoted to the position of Foundation Director. He most recently served as the Marketing & Events Director at Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley. He has produced events with and for Live Nation, This Is My Brave, Symphony Napa Valley, the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco Giants, San Jose SaberCats and the Oakland Athletics. He is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College of California with a degree in English and Communication. He currently serves as Chair of the Napa County Arts and Culture Advisory Committee, is a former member of the City of Napa Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission and is a graduate of Leadership Napa Valley Class 30. He lives in Napa with his wife Julia and three children all of who are active participants in the performing arts in Napa County.
Crysta Tim-Ruiz
Programs & Administration Manager
Crysta has always been invested in the arts. She grew up in Napa, taking part in various arts programs, courses, and internships centered around different artistic media. She continued pursuing education in the field and obtained a BA in English from CSU, Sacramento in 2019.
Crysta has returned to Napa to employ her learned skillset to benefit the community of artists she grew up surrounded by. She spent 2019 – early 2021 as ACNV’s Programs & Administration Associate and now holds the position of Programs & Administration Manager. She puts her experience to use in maintaining & improving programs, marketing, researching, and continuing to seek new methods to uplift Napa County’s Arts & Culture sector.
Beyond her professional involvement in the arts, Crysta continues to pursue her creative passion through drawing, painting, and writing.
Terese Edestam
Education Alliance
Coordinator
Terese is an artist and art instructor born and raised in Sweden. Before moving to Napa in 2017, she spent 11 years in Chicago where she studied art, worked as a graphic designer, and started a family.
Terese studied Information Design with emphasis on Illustration at Malardalen’s University in Eskilstuna, Sweden, including a year at Columbia College in Chicago, covering Fine Arts and Graphic Design. In addition, she has taken classes inter alia Philosophy, Art History and Art Therapy. Having learned art from a broader perspective in a multi cultural setting has given her valuable insight when developing her own work as well as curricula.
In 2020 Terese founded edestam ART with the intention to offer young students contemporary art classes. Structured to give students a well rounded experience of theory and practice of art through self expression, the main purpose is to aspire capabilities and visions within the students themselves as well as within their works. Terese sees art as an excellent arena to push boundaries and dilate the way of thinking, and she values the importance of seeing the student as whole, without judgement. She knows not to underestimate how much we can learn from our differences, and values this as a great source of insight in a multicultural community.
Since 2020 Terese has expanded her education experience to invite diversity, serving a wider demographic of all ages and backgrounds in the Napa Valley community. Today she consults teachers in Artful Learning and provides art classes to over 900 students from ages 5-19 at different schools, including a community school for teens who have not thrived in a traditional school setting.
Dareydy Rojas
Education
Associate
Hi! I’m Dareydy Rojas, a passionate youth development professional and proud alum of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley. As a former Youth of the Year and Keystone President, I’ve dedicated myself to empowering young people through leadership, mentorship, and creativity.
Currently, I serve as a Youth Fun Facilitator at the Boys & Girls Clubs, where I create safe, engaging spaces for kids to grow, learn, and express themselves.
Beyond my professional role, I’m active in the community through cultural dance, leadership programs, and volunteer work. I’ve been recognized with awards such as the Heart of Napa Valley Youth Volunteer of the Year and the BGCA National Keystone Awards in Career Preparedness and Teen Outreach.
I believe in the power of youth, culture, and connection—and I’m here to help inspire the next generation to shine.
Board of Directors
Arts Council Napa Valley’s board of directors represent a diverse cross-section of Napa County’s local arts, business, education, and community leadership. Together the board of directors are responsible for governing the organization through financial oversight, strategic vision, and policy – guiding ACNV’s direction for advocacy and services in the community, relevant to the current and future needs of the arts.
Arts Council seeks a wide range of candidates who reflect the diverse landscape of Napa County through an open call for nominations. All nominees must be a resident of or employed in Napa County. Self-nominations are welcome. Annually, new directors are elected by a majority vote of seated board members at the June meeting.
If you are interested in serving on the board, please download the application and review responsibilities packet for further information. Contact our CEO at chris@artscouncilnv.org to ask questions or set up an informational interview.
Andy Starr
Chair, Arts Council Napa Valley
Owner, StarrGreen LLC
Andy Starr, owner of StarrGreen and www.winetankbroker.com is an entrepreneur, marketing manager and winemaker, He is best known as Founder and President of Neocork Technologies, the synthetic wine cork pioneer. Andy has written and executed business plans for many early stage companies in the and wine, beverage alcohol and green technology sectors. His ecological experience was highlighted by two years as the head winemaker at the Golan Heights Winery, Israel’s first super-premium winery. He also writes about new technology and industry best practices for Wine Business Monthly.
A passionate supporter of the arts, Andy previously served as Board Chair and Treasurer for VOENA, one of America’s most innovative children’s choirs. He received a BS degree in Fermentation Science from U.C. Davis, and an MBA from UCLA. A lifelong Californian, Andy lives in Yountville with his wife Debbie Alter-Starr, a community activist and social worker. His two grown children, both raised in Napa, graduated from Vintage High.
Andrea Saenz
Vice-Chair & Secretary, Arts Council Napa Valley
Senior Manager Education & Community, Festival Napa Valley
Andrea Saenz has dedicated almost three decades to developing a career in art education in public and community spaces. With an M.A. in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a B.A. from the University of San Diego, and a Multiple Subject Clear BCLAD Teaching Credential, Andrea brings a multi-faceted approach to her work and enjoys designing interdisciplinary arts experiences for all ages.
She is currently the Senior Manager of Education & Community at Festival Napa Valley. Before joining the Festival team, Andrea was Deputy Director at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, responsible for broadening the scope and scale of the organization’s public access, programmatic offerings, and partnerships. Prior roles include positions within the Education Departments of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In addition to Arts Council Napa Valley, Andrea is the representative for Education of Arts & Culture on the Napa County Arts & Culture Advisory Committee and serves as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Museum Education.
Richard Hall
Treasurer, Arts Council Napa Valley
Executive and Strategic Financial Adviser, WeinStrategies LLC
Richard Hall is a strategic finance and executive management consultant to the wine industry. His career began with Siemens AG in Erlangen Germany working with advanced robotic inventory systems, prior to transitioning into accounting/finance and corporate business planning. Working in the health care industry until 2002 for both private and publicly held companies, his introduction to the wine industry was working with Leslie Rudd Investment Company. He continued his career in the wine industry as Chief Financial Officer for Cliff Lede Vineyards for 14 years, and since that time he has advised in executive financial and operational roles for over a dozen wineries in CA and internationally.
Richard has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from UC Santa Cruz and his MBA in Finance from St. Mary’s College of California. He was elected twice and served as a Town Councilmember and Vice Mayor in the Town of Yountville. He serves on several local non-profit boards and is the treasurer for the Yountville Chamber of Commerce. He resides in Napa with his wife, children and fur babies. He is a soccer fanatic, an avid gardener and spends each Sunday solving the world’s problems with his mother over a glass (or two) of wine.
Philippa Ward
Immediate Past Chair, Arts Council Napa Valley
Global Real Estate Advisor, Engel & Völkers
After graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara, Philippa Ward returned to St. Helena in the Napa Valley to start her real estate career in her hometown. After nine years of brokering estate homes, vineyard land, and wineries, she moved to Manhattan, where she focused exclusively on the townhome and co-op markets. Philippa then moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where she added to her real estate proficiency by serving as the president of the Commercial Industrial Division of the Tri-County area. She also became a CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) candidate as a result of her work in commercial real estate development and with investment clients. Philippa looks forward to working with Engel & Völkers for its extensive technology platforms and focus on providing clients with a customized, highly targeted “boutique” experience—in line with her professional values. When not helping clients realize their real estate goals or representing her family’s winery, Saintsbury in Napa, Philippa enjoys travel and professional sports as well as offshore fishing.
Andres Agustin Barrera
Director, Arts Council Napa Valley
Co-Founder & Artistic Director, Alebrijes del Valle
Andres Agustin Barrera (he/him/el) is a Latino stage director, dramatist, and associate artistic director and co-founder of Teatro Alebrijes del Valle. As Napa Valley College student, he served as an assistant director on several Napa Valley College productions, including the 2024 Arty Award-winning production of Spring Awakening and a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery. In 2025, Andres was headlined as an emerging theatre maker at Napa Valley College’s 2025 Emergence Festival of New Works, and directed a provocative and compelling production of Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story. He has also directed his own original work for the festival, most notably Moises and Ella, a short play which opened the festival in 2024. Andres also served as an assistant director for Shakespeare Napa Valley’s site-integrated production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Nightat di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.
Additionally, Andres wrote and directed a staged reading of Enemigo del Pueblo, a riveting and timely reimagining based off of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 classic political drama. It premiered at Napa Bookmine in June 2025, serving as Teatro Alebrijes del Valle’s first public event as a theatre company.
Andres firmly believes in theatre accessibility for all, on and off stage. He hopes to encourage and inspire new generations of theatre makers to bring the performing arts to their parks, theaters, bookstores, venue, and shared community gathering spaces.
He is currently co-directing Belly of The Beast, a new play by Aisha Rivera, premiering at SF Playground’s Portero Stage for their 2025 Free-Play Fringe Festival, starting performances in August.
He will be attending UCLA starting Fall 2025 to further his theatre studies.
Tere Charney
Director, Arts Council Napa Valley
Visual Arts Educator and Artist
Tere Charney was born in San Francisco and raised in Redwood City, California. She had amazing art teachers at Sequoia High School and was able to flourish as an artist during those years. Tere has a degree in Liberal Studies and a California Multiple Subjects K-8 Life Credential from California State University, Chico. She’s taught in elementary and middle schools in California and Ohio. Currently, Tere is employed by Napa Valley Unified School District funded by Prop 28 at Bel Aire Park IB Elementary School. She’s taught visual art education at Bel Aire Park for thirty years and taught Kindergarten through 6th grade. She has had many mentors, one being Lynn Tuft, a fierce supporter of arts education for children in Napa. Like her, Tere believes in supporting children through their creative process and celebrating their individuality.
Tere has lived in Napa, raising four children in the public schools, with her husband, Mark, since 1991. They live in the same home in Browns Valley since they moved to Napa.
Tere’s passion has been education, especially arts education, as all four of her children have participated in band and dance in middle and high school. She has been a dance and band booster mom especially as a chairperson for fundraising events. Tere knows first-hand the importance of a well-rounded education that includes the arts, other academics and sports.
She has created art since childhood and loves painting in watercolor, acrylics, multi-media, collage and mosaics. She was humbled and honored to be accepted to the 2023 de Young Open where she represented Napa County with her mixed media art piece, Savannah, which was exhibited with 882 other artists’ works.
Tere also loves travel, gardening, raising all their family dogs, skiing, and hiking. As an art educator, she has nominated art students for the VAPA Student of the Month since the program’s inception. Tere fully supports the efforts of the Arts Council Napa Valley and is honored to be on its board.
Melodie Hilton
Director, Arts Council Napa Valley
DTC Manager, John Anthony Family of Wines
Melodie is a long-time Napa resident who has been lucky to spend much of her working life in the Valley – First as a journalist, and then for such awesome companies as NapaValley.com, Napa Valley Wine Train, and Napa River Inn. She is currently on staff with John Anthony Family of Wines as DTC Manager.
Her professional journey includes helping wineries set up some of the first industry websites (before WordPress!) and ecommerce; guiding diverse businesses in global digital expansion and creating national press awareness.
She says if growing up is what happens after 21, then she grew up in Napa. Her time before she reached 5’ tall was spent in The Deep South.
She loves soccer and played aggressively (but perhaps not elegantly) up until the pandemic sidelined her tourney team. She spends her free time RVing the US in a camper van. #vanlife.
She has two grown children, a 4-month old grandbaby (who is on track to be POTUS), two dogs and a new husband (whom she has known since she was 17).
Aisha Rivera
Director, Arts Council Napa Valley
Poet, Actor, & Artist
Aisha Rivera is a poet, actor, and artist who grew up in Napa and has always had a passion for the arts. Aisha holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Theatre Arts from California State University, Fullerton and two Associates degrees from Napa Valley College (Psychology and Natural Sciences and Mathematics). Aisha has acted in many local plays and short films, their poetry can be found in the bilingual anthology: Poetics without Borders/Poetica Sin Fronteras, and they are also an illustrator who works by commission.
They recently worked for Arts Council Napa Valley as the Equity and Inclusion Committee Head and previously as a Diversity Consultant. Aisha is now a Board member for Arts Council Napa Valley. They have a diverse background which includes working in local government (City of Napa and County of Napa) and LGBTIA Non-profits. Aisha hopes to utilize and continue to build the professional skills they have acquired to continue to give back to the arts community in Napa County.
Aisha firmly believes in constantly working towards increasing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the arts. They believe that all art forms should be accessible to everyone of all backgrounds, and that they are not only welcomed at the table but celebrated, respected, and understood with what they contribute. It is a beautiful diverse world out there and they believe we can always strive to make our organizations reflect and protect it like it deserves.
Lisa Sullivan
Director, Arts Council Napa Valley
Dance Teacher, Vintage HS & Redwood MS
Lisa Sullivan comes to the ACNV with over 40 years of dedicated experience in the arts world. At the age of four she first started training and performing, inspired by Shirley Temple and Bo Jangles. Her devotion to the art of dance has never wavered. The past 30 years have been dedicated to teaching and choreographing in both the private and public sector, as well as the professional world. As a competitive dance coach she has guided her teams to 7 National First Place Titles, among hundreds of State and Local Awards, Trophies and Recognitions. Lisa just celebrated her 20th year as the Dance Director at Vintage High School. In more recent years her career has evolved and taken on the shape of research and leadership. She has eagerly served as both Professional Learning Community Leader and Department Leader for the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Vintage High School and holds a position on the Napa Valley Unified School District Arts in Education Leadership Team. Lisa was an instrumental key player in the construction, development and approval of the NVUSD Board adopted Arts in Education Master Plan. By doing so, was honored with the Recognition of Excellence Award by both the State and National Congress. Her passion and love of everything Dance has in recent years carved a pathway toward Advocacy in Art and Curriculum. She has appeared as a guest speaker on several accounts advocating for arts educational access and equality for all public eduction students. Lisa knows that joining the ACNV is the perfect next step in her journey to support youth and art. She is thrilled to be a part of such a phenomenal Organization and hopes to live up to the ACNV’s expectation. Lisa’s long term goal is to see the NVUSD Arts Master Plan realized in full.
Join The Board
Board Roles and Responsibilities
‘Join a Committee’ If you are interested in serving as a non-board member of an Arts Council committee, please contact the current board chair for more information about responsibilities and openings.
Marketing Committee: Chair, Melodie Hilton
Advocacy & Organizational Sustainability Committee: Chair, Terese Edestam
Review our Bylaws