Staff
Kira Burge
Executive Director
Derek Franklin
Artistic Director
Danica Sachs
Outreach & Engagement Director
Ilsa Payne
Associate Director
Board
Charlie Dobson, Chair | CFP, Dobson Asset Management
Lory Johansson, Secretary | Owner, Just Joh
Eddie Reed EdD, Treasurer | Artist & Retired Educator and Public School Administrator
Golnaz Armin | VP, Nike Color, Materials, Trend & Sustainable Design
Lindsey Bastani | Executive VP, General Manager WE Communications
Jessica Decker | Sr. Relationship Manager, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Juliet Ashby Hillman | Philanthropist
Nasir Rasheed | Award Winning Creative Brand Strategist & Cultural Engineer
History
Converge 45 was founded in 2016 by Elizabeth Leach and a coalition of arts professionals and business leaders committed to supporting the Pacific Northwest’s creative community by creating new opportunities for increased engagement with critical issues in contemporary art. Operating on a three-year cycle, the first artistic director and curator, Kristy Edmonds, held an artists’ congress in the organization’s initial year, four days of public programs featuring twenty-six artists its second year, and a multi-venue exhibition series in its third that featured artists Melody Owens, Jenny Holzer, and Ann Hamilton, which was augmented by a concentration of public programs focused on discussing critical issues of aesthetic, societal, and global significance.