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Who we are

The Light Overcomes by Marsha Pippenger

Support the Arts
Nonprofit Arts Organization

MISSION STATEMENT

Culture Works is the funding, advocacy, and service organization that passionately inspires, supports, and sustains arts and culture in the Dayton Region. As the united arts fund and arts service agency for the Dayton Region, Culture Works believes that creating and maintaining a vibrant and attractive community filled with quality arts brings measurable and immeasurable value to our citizens. From providing inspiring educational opportunities for our children, to attracting and retaining employees in our region, to adding beauty and entertainment to our lives, arts and culture reflect all the best and most beautiful parts of who we are.

Culture Works is proud to be the largest provider of general operating support for many nonprofit arts organizations operating in the Dayton Region. We are privileged to partner with corporations, foundations, and individuals like you to secure a flourishing and creative environment for area residents of all ages and backgrounds.

Our History

FOUNDED IN 1974

In 1974, The Dayton Performing Arts Fund was founded to provide operating support for the Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Opera, and Dayton Ballet. In 1989, recognizing the need to expand the number of organizations served, it was renamed ArtsDayton, and additional organizations were chosen as recipients of funding. In 1993, The Miami Valley Arts Council and ArtsDayton merged to become Culture Works, expanding the scope of services and the geographic reach of the organization.

Culture Works continues to build on this collaborative legacy, seeking even better ways each year to serve as a cultural catalyst for the Dayton Region.

 

OUR BOARD OF TRUSTEES

CHAIR

Eileen Carr
Retired, University of Dayton
Community Volunteer

VICE CHAIR

Stacey Lawson
System Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer
Premier Health

SECRETARY

Cheri L. Williams
Community Volunteer

TREASURER

Matt Scarr
CPA
Matthew J. Scarr, CPA LLC

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR

Sheri Sword
VP Communications & Executive Director, WiBN
Better Business Bureau of Dayton and the Miami Valley

TRUSTEES, EX OFFICIO

Matt Dunn
Executive Director, Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District
Patrick Nugent
President and CEO, Dayton Performing Arts Alliance

TRUSTEES

Jim Ahrns
Controller, Think Patented
Brandy Bates
Director, Human Resources, CareSource
Mary Bane, M.D.
President, Concentric Solutions
Emily Broughton

Dirrector of Marketing & Outreach, Preschool Promise
Sarah Jo Chapman
Senior Director of Digital Strategy , CareSource
John Curran
Technical Director, Town Hall Theatre/Washington Township
Greg Ewers
Shareholder, Coolidge Wall Co., LPA
Bryan Greene
Principal, Champlin Architecture
Johanna L. Hartley
Dayton Business Development Manager, Messer Construction
Michael W. King
Executive Engineer, Messer Construction 
David Litteral
Market President, iHeart Media
Carol Loranger
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Wright State University
Jessica Meyerhofer
Senior Task Order Manager, KBR, Inc.
Brian Nelson
AVP, Fifth Third Bank Private Bank Retail Delivery Advisor
Melissa Riley Patsiavos
Business Development Manager, Dayton Business Journal
Paul Spain
CEO, PUI Audio, Inc.
Sally Struthers, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Sinclair Community College
Adjunct Professor, Wright State University
Thomas B. Thickel
Retired, Levin Porter Architects
Community Volunteer
Richard F. Valentine
Vice President, Senior Relationship Strategist, PNC

Our Team

Lisa Hanson
President/CEO
Read Bio
x
Lisa Hanson
President/CEO

937-222-2787 ext. 101
lhanson@cultureworks.org

Lisa Hanson has served as Executive Director of Culture Works since April 2017. Lisa is an entrepreneur, educator, performer, and business professional. Lisa received her Bachelor of Music Education Degree from University of Miami, School of Music in Miami, FL. The focus of Lisa’s graduate work was vocal performance and pedagogy at Northeast Louisiana University. An award-winning, classically trained vocalist/recording artist, she has performed in Carnegie Hall as well as internationally. Here in Dayton, Lisa enjoys performing with the Dayton Opera Chorus and as a professional soloist. In addition, Lisa has served as both director and clinician for several national vocal performance workshops. As a public speaker, Lisa speaks on a local, state, and national level on such subjects as community engagement and fundraising.

Though a native of South Florida, Lisa has lived in Dayton for 22 years with her husband Mark and four children. She has served as a nonprofit executive for nearly a decade. Prior to Culture Works, Lisa served as executive director for the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Ohio. Her visionary leadership maximized community engagement over 11 counties, executing key impact strategies to increase the effectiveness of the agency’s programs and services. As a public speaker, she was most recently invited to speak at a national conference on growing community engagement through successful fundraising events.

Lisa is a life-long advocate for the arts. She is excited to dedicate her time and talents to advocating for the arts, building support and engagement for Dayton Region’s arts scene, and improving quality of life by expanding access to the arts for all citizens of the eight-county service area of Culture Works.

Karen Maner
Director of Grantmaking
Read Bio
x
Karen Maner
Director of Grantmaking

937-222-2787 ext. 104
kmaner@cultureworks.org

Born and raised in Dayton, Karen Maner earned her MFA in creative nonfiction at Eastern Washington University, where she served as the region’s Poetry Out Loud coordinator and the assistant coordinator of Get Lit!—a nonprofit that engages the Inland Northwest in celebration of the written word through educational outreach and community events. Since returning to Dayton, she’s dedicated herself to organizations that unite the community through storytelling, arts, and culture, serving as Vice President of the Friends of the Dayton Metro Library, as a board member and program chair for UpDayton, and as a marketing committee member for TEDxDayton. Her writing has appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Colorado Review, Sonora Review, and The Rumpus and made the Notable Essays list in Best American Essays 2014.

Bill Perry
Director of Development & Marketing
Read Bio
x
Bill Perry
Director of Development & Marketing

937-222-2787 ext. 102
bperry@cultureworks.org

Bill lived in Texas, Illinois, and England before a transfer to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base brought his family to the Dayton region more than 30 years ago. His creative spirit emerged at a young age, and his parents fostered his interests in writing, photography, and the visual arts throughout his life. When he saw a production of “Once Upon a Mattress” at age ten, he immediately fell in love with musical theater, and to this day he will proudly broadcast Broadway show tunes from his car on his daily commute.

Bill originally attended college with a goal of becoming a journalist, but an internship with a local foundation turned into a nonprofit career spanning nearly two decades. Prior to joining Culture Works, he managed the marketing and communications programs for Clothes That Work, and he held various positions in marketing and resource development at United Way of the Greater Dayton Area for more than ten years.

Bill was named one of the Dayton Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” in 2015, and he has stayed active in our community by giving his time to serve on multiple boards and committees for organizations such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Better Business Bureau, and the Dayton Art Institute. He and his husband JT enjoy an active social life and keep their calendars filled with special events, trips to the theater and our museums, and vacations throughout the country. They own a home in Kettering and share it with two spoiled cats.

Dorie Watts
Director of Program Operations and Advocacy
Read Bio
x
Dorie Watts
Director of Program Operations and Advocacy

937-222-2787 ext. 103
dwatts@cultureworks.org

Dorie Watts was born in Boise, ID and lived in Las Vegas and her father’s native country of the Philippines before settling down in Dayton for most of her life. She has been a resident of the Dayton Region since childhood, earning her B.S. in business administration from the University of Dayton with Summa Cum Laude honors. After dabbling in the business world for a short time after graduation, she heard the call of the skies and became a flight attendant for what she thought might be “a year or two.” Over fifteen years of flying all over the world gave her the opportunity to experience and appreciate arts and culture in many different countries, understand the importance of a world view, and learn about and appreciate cultural differences. She continues to travel whenever she gets the chance and thinks you should, too!

Dorie and her husband, Jim, have lived near Springboro since 1999. They have three almost-grown children that are in the midst of college or recently graduated.

Dorie has been working in non-profit arts since 2013, supporting fundraising in the workplace, the operational duties of the organization, and managing the strategic aspects of the cultural planning process undertaken by Culture Works in 2015. Dorie is also a longtime volunteer and has served on the Executive Committee for the Springboro chapter of Terrific Women in Giving (TWIG) , which raises a substantial amount of financial support for Dayton Children’s each year.

Benjamin Baugham
Community Outreach Coordinator
Read Bio
x
Benjamin Baugham
Community Outreach Coordinator

937-222-2787 ext. 107
bbaugham@cultureworks.org

Born and raised in Dayton, Benjamin is a well-known local artist and street performer, creating chalk art and other works as "Boy Blue." Benjamin headed up the artistic team that created The Underground graffiti themed mural located at the lower level entrance to The Tank Inspired by Centerpoint Energy in the Arcade and you can often find him creating both temporary and permanent art on the streets of the Dayton Region with a mission to increase awareness of art in the private and public sectors. Soon to graduate from Wright State University with a degree in Human Resources, Benjamin serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Culture Works, working as a representative of other artists and the arts organizations in our region and reaching out as a liaison to the business community.

Vanessa Black
Donor Relations Specialist
Read Bio
x
Vanessa Black
Donor Relations Specialist

937-222-2787 ext. 106
vblack@cultureworks.org

Vanessa Black, from Marysville, Ohio, has been surrounded by the arts, specifically dance, from a very young age. Vanessa started ballet lessons at three years old and knew she wanted to pursue a full-time career in ballet at the age of thirteen. In 2018, Vanessa achieved her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music with a minor in Marketing. Throughout college, Vanessa had the opportunity to perform with Dayton Ballet as a guest artist in ballets such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Shortly after graduation, she moved to Dayton to dance as a full-time company member with Dayton Ballet. Vanessa has enjoyed performing highlighted roles in ballets such as Adam Sage's The Little Mermaid, Nicole Haskins' La Linea Scura, Septime Webre’s Carmen, Stephen Mills’ Red Roses, and Ron Cunningham's The Great Gatsby. In April 2022, Vanessa retired from dancing professionally and now continues to work in the arts industry as a Donor Relations Specialist at Culture Works while pursuing a degree in Visual Communications from Sinclair Community College.

Curtis Bowman
Contract Grant Writer
Read Bio
x
Curtis Bowman
Contract Grant Writer
grants@cultureworks.org
Hannah Gregory
Contract Grantmaking Associate
Read Bio
x
Hannah Gregory
Contract Grantmaking Associate

hgregory@cultureworks.org

Hannah grew up in Louisville, Kentucky but now calls Cincinnati home. She received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Northern Kentucky University and has performed professionally for over twenty years throughout the Louisville and Cincinnati area. In 2019, she produced her first original musical, Descent: a Murder Ballad, at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, which received the Producer's Pick of the Fringe. Her playwriting, songwriting, and producing work has yielded multiple awards at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, including back-to-back Critic's Picks (The Belle and Boone Helm, 2021; Wuthering: a musical on the moors, 2022). She is a 2019 recipient of Kentucky Foundation for Women's Artist Enrichment grant.

Hannah found a love for grantmaking during her time as a Mad Philanthropist-turned-Community Manager with People's Liberty, a five-year experimental lab in Cincinnati dedicated to funding community members to implement creative projects; and she now splits her professional time between theatre and arts-based philanthropy. Her work as the Grantmaking Associate at Culture Works focuses on preparing a successful and organized grant experience for the organizations and individual artists who bring the magic of arts, culture, and humanities to the Dayton region.

Our Team

Lisa Hanson
READ BIO
LISA HANSON
President/CEO
Karen Maner
READ BIO
KAREN MANER
Director of Grantmaking
Bill Perry
READ BIO
Bill Perry
Director of Development & Marketing
Dorie Watts
READ BIO
Dorie Watts
Director of Program Operations and Advocacy
Team Placeholder
READ BIO
Benjamin Baugham
Community Engagement Coordinator
Team Placeholder
READ BIO
Vanessa Black
Donor Relations Specialist
Team Placeholder
READ BIO
Hannah Gregory
Contract Grantmaking Associate
Image
Arlt & Company, LLC
Contract Finance Team

OUR SUPPORTERS

Our supporters believe in the transformative power of the arts. Their investment in arts and culture strengthens our economic ecosystem, stimulates creative thinking in our community, and creates opportunities for enrichment and engagement for people of all ages.

Support the ArtsSee our Donors

CORPORATE & FOUNDATION DONORS

  • care source foundation
  • Dayton Magazine
  • The Dayton Foundation
  • Fifth Third Bank
  • Lexis Nexis
  • Messer We Are Building
  • Montgomery County
  • Ohio Arts Council  
  • Premiere Health

ALLIANCES & MEMBERSHIPS

  • Association of Fundraising Professionals
  • BBB accredited charity
  • Combined Federal Campaign
  • Downtown Dayton partnership

FINANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY

Culture Works takes its responsibility to be good stewards of the funds entrusted to us by the community seriously.

Click the image below to view the latest version of our Annual Report:

2022 Annual Report

You may also click here to download a PDF version of this report.

2019-2020 Annual Report
2019-2020 Audited Financial Statements
2019-2020 Form 990

YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY
Support the Arts

Location

We’ve moved into our new office
at the Dayton Arcade!
Culture Works
31 South Main Street, Suite A210
Dayton, OH  45402

PH 937-222-ARTS (2787)

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POWERED BY THE X THEME

Lisa Hanson
Lisa Hanson
President/CEO

937-222-2787 ext. 101
lhanson@cultureworks.org

Lisa Hanson has led the Culture Works team since April 2017. Lisa is an entrepreneur, educator, performer, and business professional. She received her Bachelor of Music Education Degree from University of Miami, School of Music in Miami, FL. The focus of her graduate-level work was vocal performance and pedagogy at Northeast Louisiana University. An award-winning, classically trained vocalist/recording artist, she has performed in Carnegie Hall as well as internationally. Here in Dayton, Lisa enjoys performing with the Dayton Opera Chorus and as a professional soloist. In addition, Lisa has served as both director and clinician for several national vocal performance workshops. As a public speaker, Lisa speaks on a local, state, and national level on such subjects as community engagement and fundraising.

Though a native of South Florida, Lisa has lived in Dayton for 22 years with her husband Mark and four children. She has served as a nonprofit executive for nearly a decade. Prior to Culture Works, Lisa served as executive director for the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Ohio. Her visionary leadership maximized community engagement over 11 counties, executing key impact strategies to increase the effectiveness of the agency’s programs and services. As a public speaker, she was most recently invited to speak at a national conference on growing community engagement through successful fundraising events.

Lisa is a life-long advocate for the arts. She is excited to dedicate her time and talents to advocating for the arts, building support and engagement for Dayton Region’s arts scene, and improving quality of life by expanding access to the arts for all citizens of the eight-county service area of Culture Works.

Karen Maner
Karen Maner
Director of Grantmaking

937-222-2787 ext. 104
kmaner@cultureworks.org

Born and raised in Dayton, Karen Maner earned her MFA in creative nonfiction at Eastern Washington University, where she served as the region’s Poetry Out Loud coordinator and the assistant coordinator of Get Lit!—a nonprofit that engages the Inland Northwest in celebration of the written word through educational outreach and community events. Since returning to Dayton, she’s dedicated herself to organizations that unite the community through storytelling, arts, and culture, serving as President of the Friends of the Dayton Metro Library, as a board member and program chair for UpDayton, and as a marketing committee co-chair for TEDxDayton. Her writing has appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Colorado Review, Ninth Letter, Sonora Review, and The Rumpus and made the Notable Essays list in Best American Essays 2014.
Bill Perry
Bill Perry
Director of Development & Marketing

937-222-2787 ext. 102
bperry@cultureworks.org

Bill lived in Texas, Illinois, and England before a transfer to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base brought his family to the Dayton region more than 30 years ago. His creative spirit emerged at a young age, and his parents fostered his interests in writing, photography, and the visual arts throughout his life. When he saw a production of “Once Upon a Mattress” at age ten, he immediately fell in love with musical theater, and to this day he will proudly broadcast Broadway show tunes from his car on his daily commute.

Bill originally attended college with a goal of becoming a journalist, but an internship with a local foundation turned into a nonprofit career spanning nearly two decades. Prior to joining Culture Works, he managed the marketing and communications programs for Clothes That Work, and he held various positions in marketing and resource development at United Way of the Greater Dayton Area for more than ten years.

Dorie Watts
Dorie Watts
Director of Program Operations and Advocacy

937-222-2787 ext. 103
dwatts@cultureworks.org

Dorie Watts was born in Boise, ID and lived in Las Vegas and her father’s native country of the Philippines before settling down in Dayton for most of her life. She has been a resident of the Dayton Region since childhood, earning her B.S. in business administration from the University of Dayton with Summa Cum Laude honors. After dabbling in the business world for a short time after graduation, she heard the call of the skies and became a flight attendant for what she thought might be “a year or two.” Over fifteen years of flying all over the world gave her the opportunity to experience and appreciate arts and culture in many different countries, understand the importance of a world view, and learn about and appreciate cultural differences. She continues to travel whenever she gets the chance and thinks you should, too!

Dorie and her husband, Jim, have lived near Springboro since 1999. They have three almost-grown children that are in the midst of college or recently graduated.

Dorie has been working in non-profit arts since 2013, supporting fundraising in the workplace, the operational duties of the organization, and managing the strategic aspects of the cultural planning process undertaken by Culture Works in 2015. Dorie is also a longtime volunteer and has served on the Executive Committee for the Springboro chapter of Terrific Women in Giving (TWIG) , which raises a substantial amount of financial support for Dayton Children’s each year.

Team Placeholder
Benjamin Baugham
Community Engagement Coordinator

937-222-2787 ext. 107
bbaugham@cultureworks.org

Born and raised in Dayton, Benjamin is a well-known local artist and street performer, creating chalk art and other works as "Boy Blue." Benjamin headed up the artistic team that created The Underground graffiti mural located at the lower level entrance to the Arcade's Tank Inspired by CenterPoint Energy and you can often find him creating both temporary and permanent art on the streets of the Dayton Region with a mission to increase awareness of art in the private and public sectors. Soon to graduate from Wright State University with a degree in Human Resources, Benjamin serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Culture Works, working as a representative of other artists and the arts organizations in our region and reaching out as a liaison to the business community.
Team Placeholder
Vanessa Black
Donor Relations Specialist

937-222-2787 ext. 106
vblack@cultureworks.org

Vanessa Black, from Marysville, Ohio, has been surrounded by the arts, specifically dance, from a very young age. Vanessa started ballet lessons at three years old and knew she wanted to pursue a full-time career in ballet at the age of thirteen. In 2018, Vanessa achieved her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music with a minor in Marketing. Throughout college, Vanessa had the opportunity to perform with Dayton Ballet as a guest artist in ballets such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Shortly after graduation, she moved to Dayton to dance as a full-time company member with Dayton Ballet. Vanessa has enjoyed performing highlighted roles in ballets such as Adam Sage's The Little Mermaid, Nicole Haskins' La Linea Scura, Septime Webre’s Carmen, Stephen Mills’ Red Roses, and Ron Cunningham's The Great Gatsby. In April 2022, Vanessa retired from dancing professionally and now continues to work in the arts industry as a Donor Relations Specialist at Culture Works while pursuing a degree in Visual Communications from Sinclair Community College.
Team Placeholder
Hannah Gregory
Contract Grantmaking Associate
hgregory@cultureworks.org

Hannah grew up in Louisville, Kentucky but now calls Cincinnati home. She received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Northern Kentucky University and has performed professionally for over twenty years throughout the Louisville and Cincinnati area. In 2019, she produced her first original musical, Descent: a Murder Ballad, at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, which received the Producer's Pick of the Fringe. Her playwriting, songwriting, and producing work has yielded multiple awards at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, including back-to-back Critic's Picks (The Belle and Boone Helm, 2021; Wuthering: a musical on the moors, 2022). She is a 2019 recipient of Kentucky Foundation for Women's Artist Enrichment grant.

Hannah found a love for grantmaking during her time as a Mad Philanthropist-turned-Community Manager with People's Liberty, a five-year experimental lab in Cincinnati dedicated to funding community members to implement creative projects; and she now splits her professional time between theatre and arts-based philanthropy. Her work as the Grantmaking Associate at Culture Works focuses on preparing a successful and organized grant experience for the organizations and individual artists who bring the magic of arts, culture, and humanities to the Dayton region.