For Immediate Release
June 30, 2016

Contact: Steve Wilcox
602-771-6536
[email protected]

Arizona Commission on the Arts Announces New Hires and Departures

The Arizona Commission on the Arts today announced the addition of two new staff members as part of an agency restructuring prompted by the retirement of two longtime staff members.

Molly Crum was hired 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.

The new hires were made as part of a minor restructuring of the agency as a result of the recent retirement of Diana Udy and the upcoming retirement of Virginia “Ginny” Berryhill.

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.”

About the Arizona Commission on the Arts

One of 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies across the United States, the Arizona Commission on the Arts is a 49-year-old agency of the State of Arizona and a leading force in the creative and professional development of Arizona’s arts sector. Through robust programs, research initiatives and strategic grantmaking, the Arts Commission catalyzes arts-based partnerships that strengthen Arizona communities through the arts.

For more information about the grants, services and programs of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, visit www.azarts.gov.

We imagine an Arizona where everyone can participate in and experience the arts.

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To request this or any other agency publication in an alternative format, contact the Arts Commission offices at (602) 771-6502. Images available upon request.