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MEDIATE Art Group is pleased to announce the addition of new board members for 2015. Katie Fahey, Sarah Holcomb, Barry Threw, and Elia Vargas collectively bring their many years’ experience in arts and event productions, curation, marketing and communications, technological innovation and multi-media work to help us continue to expand our reach and strengthen our internal governance.

Katie Fahey has long been a MEDIATE supporter and trusted advisor. She brings her experience in non-profit organization management as well as her knowledge of key grantmaking bodies in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently a Program Officer in the Kenneth Rainin Foundation’s Arts program. Previously, she was Managing Director of the Red Poppy Art House, a multidisciplinary arts space in San Francisco. Prior to relocating to California, she worked at the Art Institute of Chicago, supporting business, civic, and donor relations. Earlier in her career, Katie held positions with the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs as well as the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. She has also worked in galleries as a curator and arts consultant. Katie holds an MA in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Political Science and English from Acadia University.

Sarah Holcomb was first introduced to Mediate’s Soundwave Festival back in 2012 when she worked at the California Academy of Sciences, leading the marketing efforts for NightLife. After nearly five years at the Academy, Sarah was provided the opportunity to join the Google[x] team, where she currently manages brand events and partnerships. In 2014, Sarah was able to partner with Mediate once again, collaborating on the festival’s AudioBoat event. As a longtime San Francisco resident, Sarah believes deeply in investing, developing and promoting cultural programs in the Bay Area that inspire and delight audiences of all backgrounds.

Barry Threw is an artist and technologist working in immersive and interactive experience. Focused on forward-looking artistic projects creatively (mis)using experiential technologies, he leaves behind installation, performance and artefact. He has worked with a variety of organizations stationed at the crossroads of art and technology — as Software Director for Keith McMillen Instruments, developing advanced technology to bridge traditional string instruments with the computer; Software Architect with Recombinant Media Labs, presenting multi-channel surround cinema at installations and festivals around the world; and, as a Technical Advisor with the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. He works with Fabricatorz to advance projects that evolve our cultural ecosystems through freedom and sharing. Most recently he is the Director of Software at Obscura Digital.

Elia Vargas is an Oakland based artist and curator. His work investigates new ecologies of human identity, and is interested in culture, code, cities, and cells as new landscapes and new organisms – or the narrative byproducts. Vargas has shown internationally and received numerous awards, including the SF Foundation Murphy Cadogan MFA Fellowship and has collaborated with artists such as Bjork and Vincent Moon, among others. He gives frequent talks on the subject of signal flow, objects, and landscapes, most recently at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Gray Area foundation Bjork Creators Panel, and the 2014 College Art Association Annual Conference. His current work explores interactive projections on canvases of mist and water. This work was recently performed at Santa Cruz MAH and for Mediate’s Soundwave Biennial 2014. In 2014, Vargas co-founded a monthly salon focusing on new media, the Living Room Light Exchange, and his work is displayed at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, and other exhibitions. \Additionally, his work can be viewed in the myriad music videos and live visuals he directs and designs.