About Ted

To balance out these nutty psychology and whacky artist influences, I have served in a variety of
management and executive positions as a creative, dedicated, and proactive self-starter with experience
in business, public, and non-profit settings. Along with cultural arts and heritage services, I have worked in
and with advertising and marketing; travel, tourism, and public recreation; hospitality, food, & beverage;
natural resource management; financial services; and social and human services. Some people view this as
someone who can't hold a job. But I know it helped me become an innovative and visionary administrator
and has given me a solid sense of what is needed to build a successful organization.

Community Arts Manager

I have spent over 30 years as a community arts groupie with almost
half of that time as a hired hand and the rest as a
volunteer/participant. I love the unifying impact community arts
could have on the common good. I have long been an advocate of
using the arts as a tool for community revitalization, which has in
more recent times been validated by the work of urban studies
theorist Richard Florida in his groundbreaking book, The Rise of the
Creative Class. The really great thing about community arts is that it
cuts across any boundary you might otherwise want to construct:
ethnic, religious, socio-economic, political affiliation,
psychotherapeutic diagnosis - you get the idea.

Fiscal management and reporting systems
Strategic planning
Marketing orientation and strategies
Staffing patterns
Qualitative and quantitative product/service enhancements
and expansion
Facility management and development
Community outreach and networking

Theatrical Artist

I have been an actor, director, writer, teacher, juggler, and mask-maker in educational,
community, and professional settings. In addition to working within the traditions of scripted
drama, I have also been extensively trained in and have performed using the spontaneously
creative techniques associated with improvisational and interactive theatre.

The Creative Process

With a degree in psychology and theatre, the role of Creativity Guide takes me back to some of
my earliest professional roots. While my passion as a theatrical artist lasted for over 35 years,
my early years also included intensive work and training in a number of counseling and
psychotherapeutic techniques. Not only did I use my theatre training in my counseling work, but
I also began to explore and apply my counseling and psychotherapeutic experience to the
theatre. More specifically, I researched, explored, and experimented with the creative process
as it applied to the performing artist. Just as athletes talk about "getting into a zone", I was
looking for ways that performing artists could find and enter their "creative zone". I have
adapted this work and broadened its application to a variety of creative endeavors.

Marketing management & planning
Marketing communications
Sales (outside sales, retail sales, and trade show
selling)
Advertising & promotion
Customer Service
Media relations
Event planning & implementation