Board of Directors

Ron Bechet
Director, Fine Art Department, Xavier University

Dorian Bennett
Dorian Bennett Sotheby’s International Reality

Vivian Cahn
Interior Decorator/Community Activist

Don Marshall
Executive Committee
Director, Jazz & Heritage Foundation

Vicky Mayers
Assistant Chancellor, Tulane University

Gregory M. Morey
CEO & Founder, Zero Touch Digital, Inc.

Monique Moss
Adjunct Professor of Dance, Tulane University
Dancer, Educator

Chuck Perkins: Co-Chair
CEO of Café Istanbul, Poet, Musician

Sandra Pulitzer
Executive Committee
Artist, Music Producer

Carol Reese
Professor of Art History, Tulane University
Associate Professor of Architecture, Tulane
School of Architecture

Joel Ross
Executive Committee
Architect, Concordia Architecture

Timmolyn Sams
Director of Community Engagemest, Inspire
NOLA Charter Schools – SUNO

MK Wegmann: Treasurer
Arts Consultant, former E.D.
National Performance Network

Rosie Wilson
Entertainment Producer, Real Estate Broker

Marcel Wisznia, Co-Chairman
Architect, Wisznia Architecture +
Development

Staff

Jeanne Nathan
Executive Director
nathan@cano-la.org

Jeanne Nathan’s career and experience spans decades of work in journalism, marketing and public relations, community organization, and arts advocacy. As a broadcast journalist for WDSU in New Orleans she covered government, economic development and politics, producing the news on weekends and ultimately as managing editor. She produced weekend profiles of artists among many special cultural productions. She co-founded the Contemporary Arts Center with her husband, Robert Tannen, inviting artists and arts supporters to help, opening the center at its present address within a four month start up process. She produced the first CAC fundraising concert with Allen Toussaint; an annual late night jazz jam festival called the Dew Drop Inn, and won the center’s first NEA grant. As President of Events in Media, the Nathan Bering Agency, and Creative Industry, she launched numerous cultural events and projects in support of clients, the administrations of three mayors in New Orleans and New York City, and business improvement districts, including the Art Exchange show, a Wall Street art fair presented in empty office spaces, helping to transform a dying financial district into a 24/7 live/work neighborhood. As the Founder and Executive Director of the Creative Alliance of New Orleans she has catalyzed a deepened appreciation for the city’s creative economy and helped advance the careers of young, emerging, and under recognized artists of all disciplines. She has won numerous awards for her professional and civic work, including the city’s annual arts award, YLC’s Leadership award, and City Business’s Women of the Year award. Her firms have secured top honors in pubic relations and marketing.

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Geneva W. Coleman
Manager of Public Involvement and Outreach for Breakthrough Coalition

Geneva W. Coleman, founder and president of The Hawthorne Agency, Inc., brings a wealth of experience, insight and sensitivity to community/public outreach efforts, allowing her to quickly identify the strategies that fit best.  She understands that every neighborhood is inimitable, and therefore strongly believes that the “one shoe fits all” approach to communications misses the mark.  Mrs. Coleman and her staff have received National Environmental Policy Act and Title VI training via the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.  Whether acquisitions, displacement, noise, traffic, air quality, or neighborhood specific social issues are involved, she and her staff realize that the people impacted by a project want to feel that special attention is given to their unique needs.  Mrs. Coleman continues to successfully enhance the methodology and implementation of services in managing community/public outreach programs for major environmental and infrastructure projects, which has established The Hawthorne Agency, Inc. as a proficient leader in this industry.  In addition to providing outreach services, Mrs. Coleman has also worked extensively on strategic marketing initiatives for local agencies such as the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and the Regional Planning Commission.  Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Mrs. Coleman was the host and producer of Spectrum 50, a half-hour, weekly, public affairs program on WDSU-TV, the NBC affiliate station in New Orleans.  She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications as well as an Associates Degree in Business Administration from Xavier University of Louisiana. 

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Matthew Foreman
Graphic Designer

Matt Foreman is a studio artist and graphic designer based out of New Orleans, Louisiana.  He specializes in wide range of studio art including large portraits, as well as stenciling, screen printing and digital photography. With an AA in Visual Communication He completed an internship at the Creative Alliance Of New Orleans in 2016. Matt’s work has hung in dozens of shows throughout the southeast, including 5 solo exhibitions, and multiple successful collaborative exhibitions with artists Andrew Dyck, Bob Tannen, and Nate Phelps. 

In 2010, his work was chosen to hang beside the artwork of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, at the Vaughn Christopher Gallery in Houston, Texas, for their show “Four Decades of American Pop”. Matt was awarded 2nd Place in the 2011 “Charleston Portrait Slam” sponsored by Redux Contemporary Art Center. 

His work can be seen on display at Gasa Gasa, as well as online. Instagram @mattforemanart, Facebook, as well as  www.matthewforeman.com for graphic design work, and www.mattforemanart.com for a look at his studio art.