about/staff

Board of Directors

Jeff Garvens (Chair) is the President of Acme Holdings, Inc. (www.electro-coatings.com) a locally headquartered company that owns and manages several industrial metal finishing operations. Despite his degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA and his Masters in Business from UTSA, Jeff has a rich respect and appreciation for art and its role in society, most particularly for live theater and the passion and dedication it inspires in its actors and the community. Jeff serves on the Economic Development Corporation board for Hill Country Village. He is from the San Francisco Bay Area, and has lived in San Antonio since 2001. He is married to Renee Garvens with whom he has three youngish children.

Colleen Casey a native of Illinois, Colleen studied design, politics, and history at Southern Illinois University before establishing her own firm and completing many high-profile design projects in the Chicago region. Upon moving to San Antonio, she became a licensed REALTOR® and a consistent multi-million dollar producer. Colleen currently serves on the Boards of Family Violence Prevention Services, Planned Parenthood and the Government Affairs Council at Planned Parenthood, and the COLFA Arts Advisory Committee at UTSA. Colleen is active in issues and politics locally, statewide, and nationally, is the Vice-Chair of Annie’s List statewide Board of Directors, and was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Presidential Rank Review Board during his first term in office. A Majority Council member of EMILY’S List, she has served on the Executive Board of the Women’s Leadership Forum and on the Board of Directors of Blue Star Contemporary Art for San Antonio. She recently served a year-long internship at Archeworks – An Alternative Design School, where she produced designs for Women’s Self-Employment Project while also collaborating on curriculum design for Connections, a Chicago Public Schools Small School. Colleen lives in Monte Vista with her husband, Tim Maloney, while enjoying life and work in this beautiful city with its friendly people.

Mike Casey was a founding board member for 24th Street Experiment Theater Company and for Jump Start Theater Company and was a supporter of Felipe Santander’s International Theater Festival at the Mexican Cultural Institute in 1999. A resident of King Willliam since 1972, he has been a supporter of the local artist community since joining the Blue Star Art Center’s board of directors in 1985. Casey is currently president of the board of Sala Diaz, Inc. a non-profit artist-run alternative contemporary art space and president of the Hollomon-Price Foundation which focuses on environmental issues. In addition, he serves on the board of the Artist Foundation, the San Antonio-Mexico Friendship Council, the San Antonio-Mexico Foundation for Education and the Amigos de Plaza Mexico.

Bethany Bohall Prestigiacomo began her career as an Actors’ Equity Association actress where she worked onstage in Miami and New York for ten years performing primarily in classic/contemporary plays and new works. She won New Theater’s Award for Best Actress of 1998, where she was a resident acting company member, and the South Florida Critic’s Association Carbonell Award for Best Actress in 2000. She taught acting and drama at a variety of institutions including New World School of the Arts, Orange County High School of the Arts, Nova Southeastern University, and for Miami-Dade Public Schools where she coached high school students to first place awards at the Florida Thespians state contest. Moving into arts education administration in 2000, Bethany worked for the Orange County Performing Arts Center as the Assistant Director of Education Programs, and was Director of Artist Residency Programs for Davidson College where she managed the internationally recognized Royal Shakespeare Company Residency at Davidson. Bethany is currently the Director of Fine Arts at Saint Mary’s Hall (SMH) where she oversees the largest Fine Arts Department in the region with five Fine Arts programs and over thirty faculty members. Bethany enjoys working with SMH’s dedicated arts students and faculty, many who have won recognition at the local, state, and national level.

Frank Castro is Vice-President and General Counsel for the San Antonio Water System. Mr. Stenger-Castro returned to his native city of San Antonio after serving as a Clinton appointee to the position of Deputy General Counsel for the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., and has served as General Counsel and Counsel to various other entities, including the FDIC. He received his Bachelor of Arts and his Jurisdoctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a participant in the United Nations Leadership Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. He has served on the Blue Star Art Center’s Board of Directors, is a member of Rotary International and is a past president of the Texas Human Rights Foundation.

Elie Guggenheim (Bio and Photo coming soon)

Nina Hassele (Bio and Photo coming soon)

Aaron Eckman (Bio and Photo coming soon)

Andrew Hansen has his M.A. in Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and PhD in Speech from The Pennsylvania State University. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech and Drama at Trinity University, Andrew publishes on the analysis and criticism of rhetoric and aesthetics.

Roberto Prestigiacomo (See Above-Staff)

Rick Frederick (See Above-Staff)

Chuck Ramirez is an artist and designer who lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. His large-scale photographic portraits of banal objects are humorous, yet poignant metaphors for the transient nature of consumer culture and the frailty of life. He resides in the Baja King William neighborhood with his three cats Leo, Marble Kitty, and Gray Kitty. He loves cooking and entertaining, and is often seen wandering aimlessly about the wine, meat, and cheese departments of Central Market. His motto: “When I’m empty please dispose of me properly.”