Our Leadership
Nina Schmidbaur, Chair
The reality is, art is all around us – it is in the design of our streets, the signage of a local bookstore, the decoration of a homemade pie, music echoing from a car, a window shop display, the arrangement of flowers on a restaurant table.
Nina Schmidbaur is a psychotherapist specializing in attachment and somatic healing. She has been practicing therapy for ten years and community engagement for twenty years – starting by volunteering at the Saugerties Boys and Girls Club and Family of Woodstock’s homeless shelter. She’s currently using her creative vision to renovate an historic property that stood vacant for thirty years. This property has historic significance for Saugerties and is reflective of the industries that shaped the town. Clovelea will house her holistic practice.
LISA NICHOLAS, member
Saugerties has a rich culture of artists in a multitude of disciplines—I’m passionate about supporting artists and being a part of the SAC to build community, collaborations and to work with other SAC members to expand opportunities for artists and arts institutions.
Lisa Nicholas is a Mexican-American, Arts Educator, Creative Producer, and Actor. Lisa was the founding Director of Syracuse University’s Tepper Semester Program in NYC, working in collaboration with the founder, Arielle Tepper Madover, a Tony Award-winning producer, where she oversaw the development of this full-semester, residence immersion experience for drama students in New York City for twenty years. She also served as Director of Creative Development for the Araca Project, a new producing program that discovers and produces the next generation of theater-makers in New York City. For over five years, Lisa served as the Cultural Liaison for Syracuse University’s NYC Architecture Program. She is currently completing a master’s degree from Harvard University. Lisa trained and worked as an actor in Canada, England, and New York City. Lisa has had a residence in Saugerties for 12 years.
AUTUMN FARINA, Secretary
Autumn Farina is a writer and curator living in Saugerties, New York. Her work focuses on the intersections between creativity, motherhood and nature. Before becoming a mother, she was the Creative Director at the Brooklyn Art Library and ran her own internationally-circulated magazine, Canvas and Cassette. Autumn has over 10 years of experience in community engagement and is incredibly passionate about fostering communities filled with creativity, not just for the creators, but for the residents and visitors who interact with their work as well. When she isn’t writing about herself in the third person, she enjoys watching Seinfeld re-runs, contemporary illustration, discovering new flowers and long walks with her family in the Catskills.
