President – Currently open

Vice President, Interim President – Grace Stiller

Grace is currently Interim President of Burien Arts, filling the position in June, 2017, when the exiting President Lance Haslund moved from the area. She has worked extensively in non-profit management since the 1980s and serves on several local non-profit boards and two county boards. She holds degrees in Education and Art and has taught in a third world country. Now retired, Grace volunteers her time for both arts and environmental organizations.

Secretary –  Eric Mathison

Eric was editor of the Highline Times (now the Westside Weekly) for 13 years. He has previously served on the Burien Advisory Parks Board and as a Trustee of the Burien Arts Association. His family donated the land for Mathison Park in Burien.

Treasurer –  Charles Schaefer

A lifetime Burien resident, Charles is an accountant for several local small businesses and nonprofits. He previously ran for Burien City Council and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Burien Planning Commission. He also volunteers in the clothing bank at Transform Burien, serving our unhoused and low income neighbors.

Trustee – Cydney Moore

Cydney is a long-time community organizer who has worked with a variety of nonprofits over the course of more than a decade. She is a member of the Burien City Council. In addition, she serves as a Lead Organizer for ACLU Burien People Power and has held positions on many other steering committees, boards of directors, and organizational governing bodies. She authors an ongoing series on the B-Town Blog profiling shelter pets at Burien C.A.R.E.S. and has a background in journalism and digital marketing.

Cydney maintains a fervent life-long love of art in all mediums and strives to support her local art community through her volunteer efforts and her avid appreciation.

Trustee – Claire Yurdin

Claire has served as the Burien Arts webmaster since 2015 and chairs Shakespeare in the Park. Her father was an English professor at the University of Washington for 30 years where he taught courses in Shakespeare. She is happy to continue presenting the Bard to the world.

She volunteered at the Burien Arts brick-and-mortar gallery in Olde Burien and assisted with art exhibit openings at City Hall and the Burien Community Center for several years.

She has worked in marketing and web for over 20 years, most recently ten years for a business broker in Bellevue, WA.

Trustee – Devrim Ozkan

Devrim has been an active community and event organizer for over fifteen years. She’s curated art shows, organized live painting and music eventsm and served on multiple art boards. Since graduating from the University of Washingtons art department in 2003, she has dedicated her time in various forms to helping emerging artists find their footing in the art world.

Since joining us in 2020, she has directed our online and in-person BAM! events, assembled panels for our Vision fundraiser, and built our art supply library. She helped create and taught our weekly art workshop series and is currently the host and committee lead for that program. Devrim maintains the BAA online Square shop, handles most of our social media presence, and continues to create most of our graphics.

In her own studio she works mostly in oil paints, but is versed in mixed media, wood burning, ceramics, photography, sculpture, weaving, jewelry and installations.

Trustee, President Emeritus – Lance Haslund.

A musician, Lance was a BA trustee since 2009, then later President until his retirement in 2017. He and his wife Laurie, also a musician, produced a major jazz event for Burien Arts for 12 years (first the Highline Classic Jazz Festival 2006-2014), then the Burien Jazz Walk (2015-2017).

Advisers:

Amaranta Sandys, Curator, Burien Arts Pop-up Art Exhibit Program Curating Committee Chair

Ken DeRoux, Former BAA Gallery Curator, Adviser as needed

Garreth Schuh, Former BAA Gallery Curator, Adviser as needed

Susan Woltz, Former gallery owner, Adviser as needed

Sybil Davis, Former BAA President

John Unbehend, Former BAA President

Lance Haslund, Former BAA President