Amy is an actor, singer, and educator from Dallas, Texas. After receiving her BFA in Acting from Ithaca College she moved to New York where she worked as a local and touring performer before moving to Austin in 2004. In Austin she began her teaching career with many arts based non-profit organizations. She also continued to perform with a myriad of theatre companies, while also working in customer service. Her career with Creative Action began as an after school teaching artist and as an actor/educator in Interactive Performances. She has also assisted with volunteer coordination, event planning, and enrollment. As the Enrollment Coordinator she loves connecting families with Creative Action Programs! She continues to perform professionally. In 2017, the Austin Critics Table awarded her the John Bustin Award for Conspicuous Versatility.

Anabel co-leads Color Squad, a collective of teen visual artists, and also serves as a support for Teaching Artists through facilitating training, 1:1 meetings, and classroom observations.

Carl Gonzales is an actor, singer, and director in Austin and surrounding areas. He has appeared on The Daily Show with John Stewart, and has appeared on stage in productions such as “Into The Woods”, “Honk!” and “Doper than Dope” (Austin’s own “In Living Color”).

Carol grew up in San Antonio but moved to Austin for college and has been here for 23 years. She enjoys going to see live music, checking out a movie at Alamo Drafthouse, hiking the greenbelt, going to the craft breweries in town, and eating at great local restaurants. She’s also a big Star Wars geek and enjoys sewing, drawing, painting, and needlepoint and crochet. Carol joined Creative Action as Office Manager in August of 2014. Her previous experience was in various administrative and student affairs roles at the University of Texas since 1995. Carol received her Masters in Education and BA in Sociology and Mexican American studies from the University of Texas.

Christie helps to support community engagement with a focus on volunteers, interns, and our intergenerational programs, including Continuing Creativity and Legacy Leaders. She began working for Creative Action in 2014 as an Interactive Performance Teaching Artist in the schools. After graduating from the Otterbein College Theatre Dept., she performed throughout China, Russia, the Caribbean, and across the U.S. with Disney Live, Disney Cruise Lines, Universal Studios, American Family Theatre, and The Black Stallion Literacy Foundation. Most recently she choreographed musicals for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin. In her spare time, she loves to get out in nature with her 2 children, hiking and exploring beauty in the world.

Freddy has worked at Creative Action since 2005!  Freddy is an actor, producer, director, writer, composer, and teacher who has won several awards and recognition for his work with children, including special recognition from Mayor Will Wynn and many B. Iden Payne award nominations. He has co-written and directed over 40 operas with elementary school children and has produced several CDs of his original songs.  Freddy was named the 2009 “After School Staff Member of the Year” by the Central Texas After School Network (CTAN) for his work teaching children Shakespeare and Greek mythology.  Freddy also has his own theater company, Freddy Carnes Productions, and has written and produced many original musicals including the Trojan War Trilogy: The Odyssey, Iphigenia and Aeneid full-length musicals (with script, music and lyrics by Freddy) for adults performed at the Dougherty Arts Center from 2010-2016.

Hanna teaches an overview of filmmaking, engaging students to think critically about the media they consume and foster a newfound passion for the arts.

Ish supports Creative Action’s OST team at Blanton, Brentwood, Maplewood, and Winn as well as our partnership programs at Del Valle ISD, ACE, and Andy Roddick Foundation schools.

Over the past two decades, she’s worked or volunteered for some of the best arts, educational, and progressive non-profit organizations in Austin. In her free time, Ish can be found anywhere near water, live music, and puppies & her pockets are probably full of poems, photographs, rocks, wildflowers, and chocolate.

“I believe that the art & artists you need in your life depends most upon the moment you’re in.” – Ish Kundawala

Keri is an educator with 15+ years experience working with students of all ages, with specialization in early childhood development. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, and a graduate of the University of Texas, she has also lived in NYC and Chicago. Currently, she is the Site Coordinator for Becker Elementary. Go Bobcats. In her free time, she loves gardening with her toddler.

Laura Spraggins has a background in teaching art classes after school, touring immersive theater performances for youth, and facilitating arts-integrated curriculum in schools. She has a passion for storytelling in all of its forms. She believes that by sharing our stories and creating new ones together we can produce a more compassionate and just world.  She has a B.A. in theater, arts administration, and Spanish from Drury University. In addition to being an arts educator, she is a professional actor, stage manager, and props master.

Lindsay Palmer is an artist and educator working in Austin, TX. She received her BFA in sculpture from Texas Tech University, as well as receiving her MFA, also in sculpture, from The University of Colorado in Boulder.  Her work has been shown across the country and internationally, at galleries such as Box 13 Gallery in Houston, TX, The Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque, NM, The Ice Box Gallery in Skagastrond, Iceland, and the University of Texas, San Antonio. She has completed residencies in Houston, Iceland, Nebraska, and North Carolina. Since 2013, she has been the Director of Color Squad with Creative Action.

Lise Wilson is a Canadian transplant to Austin with a BA in First Nations Studies/Native Studies with a focus on ethnobotany and deconstructing colonialism. She also has a background in dance, singing, theatre, and multi-media arts. Lise has a passion for guiding young people to find their voices and explore their creative selves through the arts. She also loves to get her hands dirty, building things, creating gardens or gathering medicinal plants in wild places. Hiking, swimming, camping, canoeing, singing with friends or dancing in her kitchen with her kids are some of the ways that she finds peace and joy.

Lynn Hoare is the Senior Director of School-Based Programs, where she oversees Interactive Performance residencies, Professional Development, and Spark Schools, an arts-integration model in partnership with local schools. Lynn is passionate about using theatre as a tool for engagement, dialogue and community building. She was previously the Theatre For Dialogue Specialist with Voices Against Violence at UT Austin, where she taught and directed interactive performances with graduate and undergraduate students. Lynn received her MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth from the University of Texas at Austin, and has taught for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Lynn is also the co-director and co-founder of the Performing Justice Project (PJP) which devises original theatre with young people to explore gender and racial justice. Lynn was a co-founder and co-director of Theatre Action Project (now Creative Action) where she was Executive and Artistic Director from 1997-2003. She is thrilled to be back.

Marcelo Teson is an award-winning sound editor, filmmaker, and film instructor. As an instructor, he has taught film and radio to young people for over 15 years and across four states, and is entering his 8th year at Creative Action, where he founded the Creative Action Youth Cinema Collective to give teens around Austin an opportunity to tell stories that impact their community. His teaching brings the Hollywood experience to his students, combined with a focus on helping students find their inner voices while appreciating the broad spectrum of filmmaking history and tradition. As a sound editor, Marcelo is a 15-year veteran of professional post sound, with stints at Sony Pictures Studios, 424 Post, AnEFX, and Universal Studios, He is a three-time nominee for the MPSE Golden Reel Award for sound editing. His professional sound credits include television shows such as “Law & Order,” “Arrested Development,” “Life,” “Rome,” and “Psych,” as well as the feature films “Hostel,” “Grandma’s Boy,” and the Peabody Award winning documentary “Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four.” Marcelo is a proud alumnus of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, and has previously served as the President of the USC Alumni Association of Austin.

As the Director of Annual Giving, Michelle helps in stewarding individual donors, managing the Board of Directors, and updating our CRM system, Donor Perfect. Prior to her employment with the organization, she worked closely with the Membership Department at the Blanton Museum of Art and interned with the Screenplay Department at the Austin Film Festival. Michelle finds that while she is a fan of various artforms, film and theatre both have special places in her heart. She has been involved with theatre for about 12 years and had the honor to serve as publicist as well as direct a play and a children’s show for the University Theatre Guild. She is a proud graduate of UT Austin, where she received BA degrees in both History and Psychology.

Mylo Mendez is an illustrator, muralist, and zine maker. Their work centers around queer POC liberation and radical education methods. Mylo holds an MFA from Parsons School of Design.

Nadia is a local Austinite who graduated with a BA in Sociology from Saint Edward’s University. She has taught in preschools for several years and has been with Creative Action since 2011. She worked as a teaching artist at various elementary schools and served as a site director for after school and summer camp before becoming the Director of Program Operations. In 2016, she won the Central Texas Afterschool Network (CTAN) award for Out-of-School Time Staff Member.

Noah Martin is a teaching artist, director, and theatre maker based in Austin, Texas. His work with youth and adults is focused on collaborative theatre-making processes and arts experiences that build community and foster meaningful social dialogue. He is Director of Teen Programs at Creative Action and the Artistic Director of Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble, a creative youth development program that brings together teens from around Austin to create and tour original shows about violence prevention and healthy relationships. He has created and directed dozens of original shows with people of all ages in Austin, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, including an annual bicycle pageant seen by hundreds of pedaling audience members. Noah holds a degree in theatre education from Western Washington University and a Masters degree in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from the University of Texas at Austin.

Curly Fries is an award-winning performer whose one-man show tours nationwide. He works with young people to spark their academic, social, and emotional development using professional techniques and joy in the creative process. Curly Fries is in his twelfth year guiding and engaging youth for Creative Action. He oversees the robust platform for training, coaching, and curriculum development for part-time Teaching Artists in the Out-of-School Time department; and leads the development and delivery of Creative Action’s high-quality School Year Camps and Summer Camps.

As an artist, educator, and leader with more than 15 years of experience, Patrick believes in the power of the arts to transform lives and impact communities. In fact, Patrick joined the Creative Action team in 2011 as the Middle and High School Program Director where he developed and oversaw a number of youth focused programs, including an LGBTQ+ youth theater ensemble and a theater ensemble for formerly incarcerated youth. Most recently, Patrick served as the Artistic Director of the Raleigh Little Theatre in North Carolina and through the early part of COVID, served as the Interim Executive Director (January-June 2020). 

Robyn is an executive-level professional with 20+ years’ experience in nonprofit leadership, relationship building, and revenue generation. She most recently served as the VP of Philanthropy & Engagement at the Long Center where she designed and implemented a comprehensive fundraising program.

In 2014, she founded Philanthropy Ventures, a results-driven consulting firm focused on helping clients identify their goals around social change, revenue, and company culture. Acting as the catalyst, Robyn brought together social causes, businesses, and philanthropists to help each maximize their desired outcomes.

Earlier in her career, Robyn spent five years in Institutional Advancement with her alma mater, Southwestern University, a private, liberal arts college located in Georgetown, Texas. During her tenure, Robyn served as the Director of Leadership Gifts and Director of Gift and Estate Planning, where she worked with the University’s President and executive leadership team to prepare and execute a $150 million fundraising campaign.

Robyn also spent 10 years with Dell, Inc. in sales roles of increasing responsibility. As a sales manager, she created and piloted a unique customer engagement model that amplified the efficiency of the inside sales organization and changed the way Dell executed business. Her achievements led to numerous awards, including “Sales Manager of the Year” and “Circle of Excellence.”

In her free time, Robyn enjoys practicing yoga, hiking Austin’s expansive trails with her husband, Steve, watching their daughter, Addie, play soccer, and chasing after their two rambunctious Wheaten Terriers, Quigley and Eisley.

Sam is a Las Vegas native with a BA in Studio Art focusing on painting/drawing. She has been in numerous solo and group shows and has a passion for poetry, politics and punk rock. Sam has an extensive background in nonprofits—from the arts to conservation to health and human services—and loves being a part of organizations that make a difference. Sam is using her knowledge and expertise at Creative Action to develop and implement new systems, streamline technology, and create a work place culture that is diverse, dynamic and fun.

Samantha Apodaca is the Grants Manager. She has her B.A. in Anthropology/ Journalism from New Mexico State University, focusing on cultural studies while living in both Italy and Thailand. Her professional work experience is focused on management of non-profit and philanthropic social services. She managed an agency in the border town of Puerto Palomas, Mexico, bringing programming that focused on community health and wellness; as well as a domestic violence community program and survivor shelter in Southern NM.

Her passion lies in this storytelling of nonprofits’ missions and stories through grant writing. She has written, administered, and managed many local, state, and federal grants throughout her career. She is new to Austin and is excited to embrace and serve the community.

An artist at heart, graphic designer by trade and growing communications professional, Savannah is a Dallas-native with an MA in Advertising from UT Austin. Savannah combines her skills as a passionate creator with her desire to serve youth as Creative Action’s Marketing and Communications Coordinator.

Savannah is also a small-business owner, providing graphic design services to individuals, businesses, and organizations. In her free time, Savannah loves arts and crafts activities, and catering to her foodie lifestyle.

Stephanie Chavez Noell is the Senior Director of Community Programs at Creative Action. Stephanie oversees Creative Action’s work to support the community through sustainable and accessible programs, strategic partnerships, and intergenerational learning and connection through the arts. She also serves as a project manager and creative collaborator focussing on creating high quality and responsive community engagement opportunities for the organization and the greater Austin area.

Prior to her current position, Stephanie served as a Teaching Artist for Creative Action and as an independent artist and choreographer. Before moving back to Texas, she served as the Assistant Director of Development for the Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles where she developed project management and fundraising experience producing its record-breaking biannual gala and auction. She was a performing artist and company member of CASA 0101 (LA), The Americas Theatre Foundation (LA), Hereandnow Theatre Company (LA), and Artistic Director of Woven Feet (Austin). Her experience as an arts educator goes back to her home, the border town of Brownsville, TX where she had her first job teaching dance at the age of 15. Arts education and practice continues to fulfill and support her life-long leadership development. Stephanie loves to make things with her hands like mending clothes, making piñatas, playing with her children, and painting with her family.

In addition to being the IT/ Data Director at Creative Action, Stephen Belyeu is an Austin-based filmmaker, storyteller, and podcaster. He received his Bachelors in Film & Media Studies from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2005. Stephen has taught filmmaking and storytelling in Austin through organizations such as Totally Cool Totally Art, Austin School of Film, and the Austin Film Society. His debut feature film DIG won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at the 2010 Austin Film Festival. Stephen has also served as Film Competition Programmer and Young Filmmakers Program Director for the Austin Film Festival. In 2017, Stephen launched his independently produced series, The Night Owl Podcast, which has been voted BEST PODCAST in the Austin Chronicle’s 2019 and 2021 readers’ poll.

Victor is in charge of running the Out-of-School-Time Creative Action Program at Reilly Elementary.