Melissa Marceau
Executive Director
YouthARTS Director
(518) 364-3605
missy@grandarts.org

Born and grown in Bennington, Vermont, 1953, Melissa has been a part of the Grand Street community since 1979. She taught at the Free School and completed her BA in 2007 in Fine Arts at SUNY Albany. She is an oil painter. GSCA and AmeriCorps encourages her discovery into the many aspects of a vibrant and growing art center. Currently she is taking on the new responsibilities of Tom McPheeter’s Executive Director position in addition to creating art classes for kids in our after-school  art program. She is continuously making outside connections and is strongly supporting programs and artists that are connected or could possibly be connected to GSCA.

Tom McPheeters
Development Director
(518) 433-0679
tom@grandarts.org

Tom McPheeters became the first executive director of Grand Street Community Arts in 2004, and participated in the organization’s rapid and exciting growth in programs and in the development of our community arts center. Tom is stepping out of that role to become Director of Development, focusing on putting GSCA on a more sustainable, professional footing, and on raising money for the capital improvements needed to make our building, the former St. Anthony’s, a year-round, fully functioning arts center. Tom’s previous careers include 25 years as a journalist, working as a reporter and editor on local newspapers, and as director of community ministry for the FOCUS Churches in downtown Albany. Tom has also been active in ARISE, the faith-based community organizing project in the Capital Region, the Capital Area Council of Churches, Westminster Presbyterian Church, the Mansion Neighborhood Association and the many enterprises of the Free School community.

Jennifer Simek
Siena College AmeriCorps*VISTA
Development and Volunteer Coordinator
(518) 463.2222
jennifersimek@grandarts.org

Jennifer is from Seattle, WA and went to school at the University of Washington where she received my BA in Law, Societies, and Justice. She relocated to Albany, NY to become an AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) in the Siena College AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows Program. She is working with Siena College to grow their DEEP (Developing Engaging Educational Partnerships) Service Initiative in conjunction with volunteering at Grand Street Community Arts. Her responsibilities include volunteer recruitment, resource mobilization, and strengthening local community partnerships.

Bhawin Suchak
YouthFX Director
(518) 221-8343
bhawin@grandarts.org

Bhawin Suchak is an educator, filmmaker and multimedia producer who works with emerging digital technologies as tools to further expression, communication and connection. Bhawin has been a teacher at the Albany Free School for 10 years and is the founder and project director of Youth FX, a summer filmmaking programs for teens based out of Grand Street Community Arts, a neighborhood based non-profit arts center in the South End of Albany, NY. He has worked with adults and youth in digital film production and multimedia at several locations including: The Albany Free School, 1skate Media Arts in Albany, the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy and the Museum Club after-school program at the New York State Museum. Bhawin has produced several short films and is the co-director of Free to Learn, a feature length documentary about the Albany Free School.

Gaetano Vaccaro
YouthFX Co-Director
Web Developer
(518) 331-1989
gaetano@grandarts.org

Gaetano is the YouthFX Co-Director and Web Developer. He is currently working for GSCA through Albany United Methodist (AUMS) AmeriCorps National Program. More information coming soon.

Rana Morris
Youth Organics Director
(518) 495-5055
rana@grandarts.org

Rana Jennifer Morris was born on a farm and grew up in Valatie, NY. She studied water ecology, climbed giant trees, and did lots of protesting while at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. She has been working with Youth Organics since 2007 and thinks that growing your own food and eating healthy are great ways to subvert the system and sharing the knowledge of how to do so is an important step towards remedying the inequalities in our society. Rana is also a knitting, fire-spinning, accordion-playing mother of one.

Elizabeth Geras
Youth Organics Co-Director
liz@grandarts.org

Liz Geras was raised in Lloyd Harbor, NY. While earning her BA in Religion at Vassar College and a certificate in Holistic Health Counseling from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Liz grew interested in food, politics, environmentalism, community work, and their intersections. With a few years of farming, counseling, and cross country traveling under her belt, she moved to the area to earn her Masters in Social Work at SUNY Albany. Excited to hear about GSCA and Youth Organics, she started working in the program in June of 2009.

La’Toya Robinson
BoardedUP Director
YouthARTS Co-Director
latoya@grandarts.org

La’Toya is from the Bronx, NY and relocated to Albany in June 2009. She is currently working for GSCA through AUMS Americorps mainly Co-Directing the after school art program. She has been working with children and youth for 11 years and she is excited to be a part of this organization. Service unto others isn’t just a job for her but it’s a way of life!

Rebecca Platel
Vacant Lot Project Director
rebecca@grandarts.org