This summer, the staff and Commissioners of the Arizona Commission on the Arts say farewell to two longtime staff members as they welcome aboard two new additions to the Arts Commission team. With the recent retirement of Diana Udy and the upcoming retirement of Virginia “Ginny” Berryhill the agency has undergone a minor restructuring, with Molly Crum and Anastasia Freyermuth joining the staff.
Diana Udy was hired as an Artist Programs Assistant in 2005 before assuming the position of Executive Associate in 2006. She took on the additional duties of Human Resources Generalist in 2009. Her duties included managing human resources, staff travel and agency meetings, acting as liaison between the agency and its Governor-appointed board of Commissioners, and providing general office support. Diana also acted as the agency’s Accessibility Coordinator and Creative Aging coordinator.
“For more than ten years, Diana provided skilled support and frank counsel as the agency faced a multitude of recession-era challenges, including significant reductions to resources and staff,” said Arts Commission Deputy Director, Jaime Dempsey. “She became a trusted professional ally for board members and other partners, and for staff, she became a champion and guide, in agency work and other life transitions. We will miss her, and we are excited to see what sorts of opportunities she explores next.”
Ginny Berryhill first joined the Arts Commission staff as a typist in 1977, using a mimeograph machine to make copies and maintaining a shoebox of notecards that comprised the agency’s mailing list. In the early 1980s, she worked on the agency’s traveling exhibitions program, going so far as to learn basic woodworking so that she could personally build the crates used to ship artworks throughout the state. In the months leading up to the birth of her son, she took a desk-bound position as the agency’s first computer operator. Over the next three decades, Berryhill played an increasingly central role in the agency’s transition from analog to digital, integrating new technologies and implementing processes that greatly streamlined grant operations. In 2003 she began an ambitious two-year project to custom-build an online grants management system for the agency. Launched in 2005, the Electronic Grants Online Resource (EGOR) revolutionized the way grant records were recorded, stored and retrieved.
“The true impact of Ginny’s contributions cannot be measured,” said Arts Commission Executive Director, Robert Booker. “Nor can we fully express our gratitude for her thirty-nine years of service to Arizona’s residents and arts sector. Ginny has long been the institutional memory of this agency, serving with meticulous care and good humor, shaping countless programs and processes over her tenure. We congratulate her on her retirement. The agency’s work is better for all of the ways she has contributed to it.”
In May, 2016, Molly Crum joined the staff as Office Manager and Human Resources Generalist. Crum has over ten years of experience focused on performance management, recruitment, employee relations and benefits administration. Most recently, as a Program Manager at Arizona State University, she managed HR programs for a diverse group of Facilities Development and Management employees across all campuses. Crum earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Brigham Young University. She is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and a Society for Human Resources Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP).
Anastasia Freyermuth was hired as Arts Learning and Grants Coordinator. Freyermuth graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Social and Behavioral Sciences and Media Arts from the University of Arizona in 2013. Since graduating, Freyermuth has been working in the field of freelance arts advocacy work with a variety of arts organizations.
