About

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Liam Harney

President

 

Miriam Jirari

Treasurer

 

Dr. Becca Rodriguez

Secretary

 

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EXECUTIVE:

Kevin-Charles Patterson

Chief Executive Officer

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FOUNDING ADVISORY BOARD:

Fringe Festival founding Advisory Board (The Think Tank as of 2012), which included:

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• Alan Ziter (NTC Foundation)

• Chelsea Kaufman (Rising Arts Leaders)

• Bill Eadie (SanDiegoStory.com)

• Carolyn Passeneau (UC San Diego International Center)

• Cecelia Kouma (Playwrights Project)

• Kevin Leap (San Diego Film Festival)

• Joseph Altar (San Diego State University)

• Patrick Stewart (Producer / TartSanDiego)

• Patricia Frischer (San Diego Visual Arts Network)

• Sandi Buehner (San Diego Shakespeare Society)

• Jean Isaacs (San Diego Dance Theatre)

 

The ContactArts organization was founded in 2003 as "Xdrop", by PhD Candidate Lili Ana (arts visionary): 

As a teenager, Lily Ana began to present her art in coffee shops in her hometown of San Diego, California. With an honest movement vocabulary and compelling storytelling made of her own experiences, she explores dance, performance art, and music with an emphasis on making art an accessible value, not a commodity. At 18, she garnered a Tommy Award for "Emerging Choreographer" from the San Diego Dance Alliance.

 

In 2003 she founded contACT ARTS; a California 501 (c) 3 Non-Profit Arts Organization. In theaters, her work has been presented at La Alborada (Tijuana), CA Center for the Arts (San Diego), Highways (Los Angeles), Triskelion (New York City), Centro Cultural Los Talleres (Mexico City), Dance Mission (San Francisco), Centro Estatal de las Artes (Mexicali), Museum of the Living Artist (San Diego), Ivar (Los Angeles), Kulas Stage (Cleveland), Sushi (San Diego), Electric Lodge (Los Angeles), World Beat Center (San Diego), Ortspace (Tucson), and CounterPULSE (San Francisco) among others.

 

Lily’s work has been commissioned by the Coronado School of the Arts and the University of California, San Diego. Her work has appeared at Miami Dance Festival, Sonoma Arts Fringe Festival, Oregon Country Fair, Festival de Danza Contemporanea (Tijuana), Brooklyn Nights Music Festival (Spokane, WA), Wild Dancing West Festival (Albuquerque, NM), First Friday Art Event (Missoula, MT), Brewvies (Salt Lake City, UT), and Wade Oval Performance Series (Cleveland, OH) among other site specific performances.

 

In 2014, Ciurlino became the Director of Special Events for the San Diego International Fringe Festival where she created and developed World Fringe's first Bi-National Festival in Tijuana, Mexico. and the Emerging Fringe Program; a platform for local teenage performing artists to create and present original work.

 

Since 2003, ContactArts has successfully facilitated eleven Fringe festivals in San Diego as well as Nations of San Diego Nations International Dance performances to showcase the region's incredible cultural diversity.  As members of international organizations such as World Fringe, Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, & United States Association of Fringe Festivals. ContactArts has had a mission to help facilitate bringing original theatrical and performance acts from all over the world to San Diego via the San Diego International Fringe Festival, giving San Diego a critical role in bringing exciting live theater to the west coast, joining Hollywood Fringe & Baja Bi-National Fringe, to provide additional opportunities. 

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​Future endeavors include plans to bring back pre-COVID programming, including: Emerging Fringe (for youth), Family Fringe (performances & experiences for the whole family), Bi-National Fringe (with Venues in Baja California, MEXICO). Holiday Fringe, another part of ContactArts' plan to increase its presence in San Diego debuted in 2022 during the iconic Balboa Park December Nights event, bringing local playwrights together to create original pieces centered on December holidays from diverse cultural viewpoints. 

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