Bio
Lex Leifheit provides artistic vision and strategic direction for SOMArts Cultural Center (South of Market Arts, Resources, Technology and Services). Over the past two years, SOMArts has established the Studio Series and Commons Curatorial Residency, increased participation in the Affordable Space Program, renovated its ceramics studio, launched a new website and received more than $300,000 in grants and in-kind donations from previously untapped resources.
Lex has been a passionate advocate for the arts as a catalyst for change and community building for more than ten years. As an outreach coordinator, festival planner, teaching artist and assistant director, she helped launch Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center. As producer and host of The Art Agenda, a radio show on WESU, she interviewed hundreds of artists about their work and helped community-based art find a wider audience in central Connecticut (2006–2008). As an artist and teacher, Leifheit directed award-winning plays while an artistic associate at Secret Theatre (1999–2004), taught playwriting to teenagers, founded the High Street Writers Collective, lived and worked in an artist co-op, and studied at the Moscow Art Theater.
Previous employers include Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center and Center for the Arts in Middletown, Connecticut, as well as the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. Leifheit has served as an artistic associate of Secret Theatre, board member for the Middletown Foundation for the Arts, and vice president of the North End Artists Cooperative. She served on the steering committee of Emerging Arts Professionals, San Francisco Bay Area and was vice-chair of the Emerging Leaders Council of Americans for the Arts. She loves radical collaborators, storytelling, and art that explores boundaries, and is continually amazed by her good fortune to be living in San Francisco with her husband Dan McKinley.
Education
Leifheit received her Master of Arts Liberal Studies degree from Wesleyan University and attended Drake University on full scholarship, where she received a BFA in Theater Performance.
Here is a recent video of Leifheit talking about her work at SOMArts.
Skills
Ten+ years of performing, visual and literary arts programming experience; curricula development for all ages; fluent in community arts and arts advocacy; award-winning theater director and published arts writer; experienced fundraiser and teacher.
Social Networking Links
LinkedIn
Flickr
Facebook
Contact
desk@lexleifheitNOSPAMPLEASE.com (hint: remove part of address)
