The Music Center Appoints Six Southern California Professionals to its Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of The Music Center announced the appointment of filmmaker Kristin Burr; entrepreneur, writer and arts supporter Elizabeth Khuri Chandler; healthcare management CEO and consultant Joan Herman; attorney Richard Kendall; non-profit organization CEO Corinne Sanchez; and financier Michael Stockton to The Music Center Board. As one of the nation's largest performing arts organizations, The Music Center presents world-class dance performances, nationally recognized K–12 arts learning programs, digital arts experiences, and free and low-cost public concerts and events. In addition, The Music Center manages four theatres, Jerry Moss Plaza and Gloria Molina Grand Park on behalf of the County of Los Angeles.

“Each leader of our newest cadre of Board members has been positively impacted by the arts throughout their successful lives and storied careers. Some have immersed themselves fully in the arts as performers, while others serve on the boards of some of our arts organization peers. Their rich experiences with the arts, coupled with their professional expertise, will be a tremendous benefit for The Music Center's continued growth and evolution,” said Cindy Miscikowski, board chair of The Music Center. “These six new appointees make The Music Center's Board of Directors 48 members strong. All of us are ready to lead The Music Center into its next era as we prepare for its 60th anniversary in 2024 and look ahead to many more years of enriching the lives of Angelenos through the arts.”

Growing up in Santa Monica, film producer Kristin Burr would ride a bus from the Westside to Downtown Los Angeles to attend performances at The Music Center. It was quite the trek for a teenager at the time, but Burr cherished every visit. Her memorable experiences of the grandeur of The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, heightened by the world-class ballet performances she experienced, made an indelible mark on her; Burr would aspire to join The Music Center's Board of Directors decades later. The former Walt Disney Pictures executive, who now helms her own film production company, wants to introduce associates and colleagues from the film industry, who work at the heart of Hollywood, to the bountiful performing arts experiences that The Music Center provides in the heart of DTLA. Burr, whose Burr! Productions developed Cruella and most recently The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, owes her altruism and philanthropic work to her brother with special needs. He inspired Burr to appreciate life's many gifts and serve others with compassion. Her first time serving on a board of directors, Burr aims to help expand The Music Center's core of supporters. She resides in Los Angeles' Larchmont Village and is an alumna of the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor's degree in communication studies.

Elizabeth Khuri Chandler's passion for the arts came early in her life and helped to mold her livelihood as an entrepreneur and a writer and supporter of the arts. She began gymnastics at the age of three, learned how to play the violin at nine and took up dancing when she was 12. Chandler later wrote for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine and Orange County Weekly, where she covered ballet and contemporary dance (many of these performances were held at The Music Center) as well as fashion. In 2006, she and her husband Otis co-founded Goodreads (now owned by Amazon), an online book club and social networking website to encourage reading. With the experience she gained at Goodreads in how to bring communities together, Chandler aims to cultivate a new group of performing arts aficionados during her tenure on The Music Center's Board of Directors. She hopes her three young daughters are inspired by their great-great-grandmother Dorothy Buffum Chandler, who had the vision and tenacity to serve the greater Los Angeles area by building The Music Center, a cultural anchor in the county. Chandler holds a bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University and a master's degree in journalism from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She resides in Santa Barbara, California.

When Joan Herman moved to Los Angeles from the East Coast more than 25 years ago, she was astounded by the lack of a robust dance scene until she discovered The Music Center. Herman, who is president and CEO of Herman and Associates, LLC, a healthcare and management consulting firm, once trained as a dancer. Not only has she recently joined The Music Center's Board of Directors, she also serves on the board of The Music Center's support group Center Dance Arts, which strives to inspire and engage dance enthusiasts and audiences as well as elevate and advance Los Angeles as a vibrant hub of high-quality international, national and local dance. Herman considers the performing arts a major part of her life and wants all Angelenos to feel the same way. In addition to leading her company and her position with The Music Center Board, she serves as immediate past board chair for the Venice Family Clinic, as a board member of Everybody Dance LA! and Thrive Scholars, and as a member of the Board of Councilors at USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Herman holds an M.B.A. from Western New England University and an M.S. degree in mathematics from Yale University. She completed her undergraduate degree at Barnard College of Columbia University. Herman and her husband, Richard Rasiej, reside in Pacific Palisades.

Attorney Richard Kendall attended his first opera, Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly, when he was 12 years old. Accompanying his grandmother to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Kendall recalls how stirred he felt while watching the fabled production—the experience cemented his lifelong dedication to the arts. Kendall, a partner at Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP, with more than 30 years of complex litigation experience, joins The Music Center's Board of Directors alongside his wife, Lisa See. Kendall has his finger on the pulse of the performing arts field; he serves concurrently as a board member of BroadStage. Having witnessed firsthand some of the challenges facing performing arts venues and theatrical stages following the pandemic, he is determined to help The Music Center and Gloria Molina Grand Park thrive. Kendall is also a member of the Human Rights Watch Southern California Committee and has served on the boards of Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Western Center on Law and Poverty. He holds a juris doctor from the USC Gould School of Law and a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University. He and his wife live in Brentwood.
 
 

While studying at California State University, Long Beach, community leader, artist and activist Corinne Sanchez was an enthusiastic participant in teatro, a form of activism during the 1970s and 1980s popular among Latino and Chicano communities. She and her fellow classmates conveyed social awareness and political messages through their mesmerizing street performances. Sanchez co-founded the university's United Mexican American Students Association (UMAS). These experiences led her to a career spanning four decades in non-profit organization administration; currently, she is president and CEO of El Proyecto del Barrio, Inc., which provides health and human services in Los Angeles County's underserved communities. Similar to taking up causes during her collegiate years, Sanchez is ready to root for The Music Center as it continues to emerge fully from the pandemic. By joining The Music Center's Board of Directors, she will strive to make the performing arts more accessible to the county's BIPOC Angelenos and to showcase the arts as an impactful way to convey uplifting and thought-provoking messages—teatro still flows through her veins. Sanchez, who lives in Glendale, also serves as vice chair of the Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board, is on the board of the California Primary Care Association and is a founder of the Latina Lawyers Bar Association (LLBA). She received a juris doctor from San Fernando College of Law.
 

After relocating from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles more than a decade ago, business leader Michael Stockton and his wife found a sense of community within The Music Center. They now consider the premier performing arts organization as the fabric that binds Los Angeles together. As the father of two boys whose high schools heavily included the arts as part of their curriculum, Stockton is impressed by The Music Center's involvement and commitment to bring the arts into Los Angeles' classrooms. He remembers how the arts made such a positive impact on his sons; one of them would eventually become a teacher dedicated to inspiring the next generations. Stockton, who currently serves as a senior vice president in the Fund Business Management Group of Capital Research and Management Company, dabbled in the performing arts when he was a young adult in the suburbs of Detroit: He joined a Bay City Rollers cover band and played the electric guitar. Stockton has served and supported several educational and community programs, including the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA's work to develop a community board-member sponsorship initiative. As one of The Music Center's newest Board members, Stockton looks forward to helping inspire more local youth through the performing arts, especially through The Music Center's Spotlight program. Stockton holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from California State University, Fullerton. He and his wife reside in Los Angeles near West Hollywood.

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