Biography

As assistant director for the Community Services Department for the City of Palo Alto, Rhyena oversees many of the department’s budget and personnel matters. She also manages the Arts & Sciences division, which includes a science museum, zoo, children’s theatre, community theatre, arts center, artist studio program and a public art program. With a budget of 20 million dollars and over 500 employees and contractors, the department offers the type of services and programs that makes it the heart of the city. In addition to arts management, marketing and fundraising, she has expertise in organizational development. Rhyena worked as executive director and grants and cultural programs coordinator for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission for ten years She led major initiatives in Sacramento’s Creative Economy, public private partnerships, public art, arts marketing, arts education, grants programs to artists and arts organization, technical assistance to nonprofit cultural groups and the Poet Laureate program. She increased revenue for the Commission’s nonprofit arm 400%. Rhyena began her life-long career in the arts as an adolescent working as a ceramicist, painter, sculptor, photographer, theatre technician, and textile artist. She then studied documentary, experimental, and narrative forms of film and video. She worked for over twenty years as a producer and director of documentaries for the non-profit and private sectors where she garnered an Academy Award nomination and a national Emmy nomination. She also served as a manager and executive producer for public television. She taught college-level media courses at USC School of Cinema and TV, SDSU and CSUS Departments of Communications, and American River College. As a Fellow in the Kellogg National Leadership Program, she trained in organizational development, non-profit management, and transformational leadership. She has her MFA from California Institute of the Arts and BA from Evergreen State College in Washington, as well as a Certificate in New Media from UC Davis. She is a board member of the California Arts Advocates.