DORF / BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sara Vanderbeek (Executive Director, DORF Founder and Curator) is an artist, organizer, and advocate based in Austin, TX. Her work responds to place, politics, motherhood, mental health, and trauma. Her work has been shown at venues nationally, including The Contemporary Austin (TX); Bentonville Film Festival at Cache (AR); Facebook Open Arts (TX), and Tiger Strikes Asteroid (TSALA) (CA), among others. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, City of Austin Economic Development Department, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and was a finalist for the 2022 Artpace International Artist-In-Residence Program. She received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.
Eric Manche (DORF Founder and Creative Director) is an artist, filmmaker, animator, and creative director living in Austin, Texas. His first feature length film, “Slimed,” was released by cult film company Troma Entertainment in 2018. He is a founder of satirical video collective Basic Cable Television, a group formed in 2006 while a student at Rhode Island School of Design. He is currently finishing Basic Cable Television’s first full-length episode, and recently completed the 10-episode children’s art education series, A Day at Laguna Gloria, in collaboration with The Contemporary Austin. Manche is the Founder and Creative Director at Bingo Bango Creative, a boutique video/audio production house providing visually compelling video, animation, and creative content to help their clients’ brands shine.
Emmy Laursen (Board Member) is Curator of Programs & Engagement at The Contemporary Austin. She curates programming that brings audiences closer to the themes of the museum’s exhibitions through performances, artist talks, and other opportunities. Since receiving her BFA in Studio Art at The University of Texas at Austin in 2015, she has served the Austin art community through exhibition curation, event organizing, and artist engagement at organizations including Landmarks, Pump Project, Art Alliance Austin, Print Austin, George Washington Carver Museum, Prizer Arts & Letters, grayDUCK Gallery and Elisabet Ney Museum. She currently serves on the board for DORF. Her experience has reinforced her commitment to advocating for programs and space at the intersection of people and community. She recently received her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and runs a private therapy practice.
DORF / ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS
Lee Ann Scotto Adams brings nearly 20 years of expertise in nonprofit management, higher education, and the arts. She holds a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and an M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University.
As the executive director of SNAAP (Strategic National Arts Alumni Project), Lee Ann is committed to promoting the value of arts education and supporting and advancing the arts research ecosystem. Previously, she served as executive director of the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) and assistant director of programs and operations at the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD) - making meaningful contributions to the field in each of these roles. Her career also includes roles in admissions at RISD and as an administrator in the Fine American Paintings Department at Christie’s Auction House.
Lee Ann is deeply engaged in the arts community, having served as treasurer of the Rhode Island Art Education Association and currently serving as Vice President for DownCity Design, an organization that empowers young people to strengthen their communities by harnessing the creative power of design. In addition to her leadership roles, she maintains an active creative practice as a painter and is passionate about strengthening the arts through her professional contributions and board service.
Meg Furey is a creative’s creative and Austin native. She is a pro with wide-ranging expertise who also happens to have 10+ years under my belt across both B2C and B2B industries including medical, tech, real estate, and more in locations like New York City, San Francisco, Austin, Toronto, and St. Petersburg, Russia.
Her clients include Outdoorsy, Bain & Company, Reelgood, Broadvoice, Alice, Orion Marketor, Included Health, Delta Dental, The Peak, Discovery Land Company, Den Property Group, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Noom, Austin Parks Foundation, Monday Girl, The American Nurses Association, Endeavor Real Estate, Zilker Belts, and more.
Alexis Hunter is an identity-based, multidisciplinary artist currently living and working in Austin, TX. She earned her BFA from Texas State University in Studio Art, with a concentration in painting, graduating summa cum laude (2022). Recent solo and group exhibitions include INVASIVE SPECIES, ICOSA Collective Gallery, Austin, TX; Own it, examine it, and confront it head on, DORF, Austin, TX; Collective Thoughts, Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, LA; and SBMRPVII, the Carver Museum, Austin, TX. She was selected to participate in Big Medium’s LINE Residency (2022), vol. 2 of the George Washington Carver Museum's Small Black Museum Residency Project (2022) and, most recently, Mass Gallery’s Hot Box Residency (2023). Alexis is a member of the artist-run collective, ICOSA, and a painting instructor at The Contemporary Austin's Art School at Laguna Gloria. She was named The Austin Chronicle’s Best Visual Artist of 2023 and was a finalist for Big Medium’s 2023 Tito’s Prize. Her work explores self-image through racial identity, mental health, the female body, and the male gaze.
Paloma Mayorga is a Mexican American interdisciplinary artist and independent curator born and based in Austin, Texas. She earned a BA in Painting from the Sarofim School of Fine Arts at Southwestern University, and has gone on to exhibit her work across Texas and nationally. Most recently, her work was exhibited at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, MI, Artpace in San Antonio, TX, The Contemporary Austin, and Big Medium in Austin, TX. Mayorga also received the Emerging Artist Award from the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, Best Visual Artist by the Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll, and Southwestern University’s 18 Under 40 Award.
In 2022, Mayorga began an ongoing curatorial project titled Yo trabajo con la tierra / I work with the earth that brings ecofeminist perspectives to the forefront. The first iteration of this project was presented at Big Medium in Austin, TX. The work exhibited included performance, photography, video, installation, and sculpture, and evoked a collaborative relationship with nature prompting a sense of kinship to the earth, and consequently, a more empathetic understanding of ourselves and each other.
Lise Ragbir has dedicated her 20-year career to creating access to a range of art experiences. She has worked with corporate and public collections, non- and for-profit organizations, and organized exhibitions featuring artists Dawoud Bey, Genevieve Gaignard, Jacob Lawrence, and Deborah Roberts, among others. She is the co-editor of Collecting Black Studies: The Art of Material Culture (2020), and her essays about race, identity, immigration, and cultural representation have appeared in Hyperallergic, Frieze, Artnet, The Guardian, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Boston Globe and other publications. Lise is a graduate of Harvard University’s Museum Studies program.
Celina Zisman (they/she) is a small business strategist working alongside makers, musicians, and creative solopreneurs within Austin's arts ecosystem. Through one-on-one sessions, lectures and workshops, they empower artists across disciplines with the tools to establish, grow, and maintain a business, all while developing professional best practices.
Celina has been an active member of the Austin arts community since 2008, having worked in non and for-profit galleries, as well as a nationally recognized craft academy. They serve as the Chair for the City of Austin's Arts Commission. Celina is also the recent recipient of the First Annual Oliver Franklin Award. An annual recognition that celebrates a woman leader in the arts, established by Big Medium and the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum.