Address
528 Hennepin Avenue
Suite 303
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Staff
Melissa Ferlaak, Education Manager
Colin Hamilton, Director of Advancement/Shubert Capital Campaign
Jessica Hennek, Assistant to the Executive Director
Kimberly J. Motes, Executive Director
Sarah Thompson, Associate Director
Wendy Thompson, Business Development Manager
Melissa Ferlaak
Education Manager
(612) 465-0220
melissa@mnshubert.org
Melissa Ferlaak joined Artspace Projects in 2006 to oversee the Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center’s Education Program. Under her leadership, the program has tripled in size and greatly expanded its range of programming.
Prior to joining Artspace, Ms. Ferlaak was Development Associate at MacPhail Center for Music supporting fundraising efforts for their annual fund and capital campaign. Ms. Ferlaak received a Bachelor's degree in Music from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a Master's degree in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Colin Hamilton
Director of Advancement and Minnesota Shubert Center Capital Campaign
(612) 465-0248
colin@mnshubert.org
Colin Hamilton joined Artspace Projects in 2007 as the Director of Advancement and the Shubert Capital Campaign. He is responsible for overseeing the capital campaign’s final $11 million push to its $37.1 million goal.
Previously, Hamilton was executive director of the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library, where he led the $16.4 million capital campaign for the new Central Library. Under his leadership, membership increased from 1,500 to 5,300 and the annual budget from $500,000 to $2.2 million. In 2007, the organization was honored with the Baker & Taylor Award for the country’s most outstanding Friends group.
Prior to joining the Friends, Colin was a Senior Consultant at Burges & Burges, a public sector marketing firm in Cleveland, OH. He has also served as the Communications Director for Citizen Action, a national consumer and environmental advocacy group.
Colin graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Anthropology. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa.
Jessica Hennek
Assistant to the Executive Director
(612) 465-0231
jessica@mnshubert.org
Jessica Hennek joined Artspace Projects in 2007 as the Assistant to the Executive Director for the Minnesota Shubert Center. She is a recent graduate of the University of St. Thomas, where she received a Bachelor in Arts in Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations. Previously, Ms. Hennek worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as a Marketing Intern.
In college, Ms. Hennek was active in choir at St. Thomas, leading the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers as a soprano section leader. She was also an executive board member of the St. Thomas chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America and the honors society, Omicron Delta Kappa.
Kimberly J. Motes
Executive Director
(612) 465-0242
kim@mnshubert.org
Kimberly Motes joined Artspace Projects in 2002 to lead the effort to create the Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center. Upon completion of the $37 million campaign, the new three building performing arts center will be a flagship for dance and home to more than 20 Minnesota arts organizations and will serve as a statewide arts education resource.
Ms. Motes served as the Director of Development at Arena Stage in Washington, DC from November 1997 until February 2002. Arena Stage is one of the oldest producing theaters in the country and has a $12 million annual operating budget. As part of the senior management team, she was responsible for increasing annual contributed income from $2.9 million to $4.3 million. Highlights of her tenure include producing Arena’s 50th Anniversary Gala, which grossed over $1 million and increasing the number of donors from 3,600 to over 4,000, reversing a five-year downward trend.
For six years Ms. Motes was the Program Manager of Performance Plus and Special Projects at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She designed adult arts education programs in ballet, modern dance, theater, classical music, and jazz that reached 10,000 people annually. As part of this effort, she initiated a four-year national study of adult arts participation. This project led to the publication and a course for arts administrators called “Learning Audiences,” a partnership between the Kennedy Center and Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
At the Kennedy Center Ms. Motes collaborated with legendary ballerina Suzanne Farrell to create a ballet-training program which began as a local initiative and quickly grew into a national summer ballet training program that still is offered today.
Ms. Motes spent two and a half years at the Washington Ballet serving as the editor of the quarterly newsletter and as the in-house booking agent for the company’s national tours.
In addition to her work at Artspace, Ms. Motes is a Community Council member of Theater Latte Da and Board member of the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association. She was also in the 2003 class of Leadership Twin Cities, a program of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Kimberly Motes is a native of Minnesota and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the College of Saint Benedict.
Sarah Thompson
Associate Director
(612) 465-0241
sarah@mnshubert.org
Sarah Thompson joined Artspace Projects in 2004. As Associate Director, she is responsible for annual fundraising, oversight of the education program, and marketing and operational efforts. Previously Ms. Thompson was responsible for capital campaign fundraising as well as the development of the Minnesota Shubert Center Education Program, website, and newsletter.
Prior to joining the Minnesota Shubert Center, Ms. Thompson worked in the development offices of the Guthrie Theater supervising telefundraising staff as part of the Guthrie’s annual fundraising efforts. Prior to the Guthrie Theater she worked for the international textile company Red Rock Clothing as customs manager and international trade liaison.
In addition to her work at the Minnesota Shubert Center, Ms. Thompson is Vice Chair of the ARENA Dances Board and Board Member of the Twin Cities Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.
A graduate of the University of St.Thomas, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Justice and Peace Studies, was editor of the literary journal “Summit Avenue Review,” and co-founded PSST: Poetry Slam St. Thomas.
Wendy Thompson
Business Development Manager
(612) 465-0230
wendy@mnshubert.org
Wendy Thompson joined Artspace in 2002. In 2007, Ms. Thompson assumed a new role as Business Development Manager for the Minnesota Shubert Center. She is responsible for the asset management of Hennepin Center for the Arts (one of three buildings that will be part of the new Minnesota Shubert Center) and new business development for the Center, including: theater and facility rental for performances, meetings, and special events.
Previously, Ms. Thompson was the Director of Asset Management for Artspace Projects where she was responsible for Artspace’s real estate assets across the country. Before joining Artspace, Ms. Thompson spent twenty years in the shopping center industry focusing in specialty leasing, construction management, accounting, operations, marketing, community/government relations and tenant relations.
She worked as general manager for CBL & Associates a national real estate investment trust based in Chattanooga, TN. She also held management and marketing positions with a privately owned real estate developer, Corporate Property Investors in New York and General Growth Companies, a national shopping center developer in Chicago, IL.
Ms. Thompson is a graduate of the University of North Dakota where she received a BA in Journalism.
For press enquiries contact:
Sarah Thompson
(612) 465-0241
sarah@mnshubert.org