HOBT Board of Directors
Join the HOBT Board of Directors
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater is seeking new members to join our Board of Directors!
Learn more and apply here!
Or contact [email protected]
Meet the HOBT Board of Directors
Malia Araki Burkhart
Board Co-Chair, Executive Committee
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2019
Malia's lineage is Japanese-American and German/English American. Her ancestors' bones also rest in Iowa and Hawaii. Malia has worked with HOBT since 1999, as an Associate Artist, Residency teacher, MayDay Parade Artist, and has been a board member since February 2019. Her websites are www.artsbymalia.com and www.kochikara.com. Since COVID, her work has been focused on food resiliency and racial justice.
"Puppetry activates our imaginations to believe in the life of something we know can't be alive, and yet it lives! It is a folk art, that can be made by anyone using just about anything to be a puppet. This art form has powerful ways of bringing people together in the process of creating it and in the act of witnessing it. I'm excited to be part of helping shape this new chapter of HOBT's story."
Ade Salami
Board Co-Chair, Executive Committee
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2020
"I remember taking a field trip to HOTB when I was in elementary school and being absolutely shocked that masks and puppets could be so large! We saw the tree of life mask and I remember thinking I could fit inside it because it was so big!"
Tia Lauve
Board Secretary
External Affairs Committee
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2021
Tia took a lifelong love of the performing arts into a career in communications—telling stories to clients and customers in lieu of theater-goers. As an elementary student at F.A.I.R., she was introduced to HOBT in childhood and marked the passing of years with the first Sunday in May. After a brief respite from cold winters in Tucson, AZ, Tia moved back to the Twin Cities with a reignited passion for community work and was led back to HOBT's work virtually.
"I was motivated to join the board after witnessing how art has inspired, healed, and transformed us through lockdowns and uprisings. Art serves and nourishes our community, bringing us together to share stories and experiences and advocate for a better world. I'm honored to walk with HOBT as we navigate new ways to show up for each other through art."
Scott Muskin
Chair of External Affairs Committee
He/Him/His
Start Date: 2021
Scott is a 15-year south Minneapolis resident, advertising professonal, published novelist, and lover of theater and grassroots community. He found his way to the Board after several years on the Development/External Affairs committee, contributing messaging expertise, bucket brigade organization, and event coordination. He is moved to join the board by many years experiencing joy at both many MayDay Sundays and unforgettable puppet and mask perfornances.
“My favorite MayDay memory is attending the workshops—just soaking in the joy of an open, welcoming space for hands-on creation.”
Laci McBride
She/Her/Hers or They/Them/Theirs
Start Date: 2022
"Within hours of my birth I was surrounded by the artists and makers of HOBT. I am a peaceful and persistent educator, artist, observer and explorer. I plan to engage purposefully with the regenerative and unexplored work ahead for the HOBT board. Uplifting accessible outlets for community artistic expression and liberation is very important to me."
Anita Newhouse
Board Treasurer
Internal Affairs Committee
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2021
Anita’s trained as an educator and occupational therapist but spends the majority of her time thinking about ways to build healthy communities. As a social work and public policy grad student, she spends her days pondering data and governance with recent political nonprofit leadership experience.
“I can’t even remember how I first experienced May Day in Minneapolis-was there when my kids were small alongside neighbors, watched my teenage kids play in the community band and eventually saw my daughter come out over the course of their work in their H-ART class that marched and performed. It’s always been my community.”
Kallie Melvin
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2022
Kallie is a Twin Cities-based performing artist and puppeteer, who has been working professionally for the past 20 years in the Twin Cities. She has performed theatrically with companies including the Guthrie, Mixed Blood, and Pangea World Theater. She discovered her passion for puppetry three years ago through the Monkey Bear Harmolodic workshop and has gone on to create her own puppet shows, including collaborations and performances with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater, Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Museum of American art, Barebones Puppets, Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, Puppets and People, the MayDay Festival and more. Kallie is currently the regional director of the Great Plains Region of Puppeteers of America.
Kallie was adopted from Kolkata, India, and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her art typically centers on subjects and themes that are close to her heart, such as home, transracial intercontinental adoption, finding identity and voice, and experiences around growing up and existing as an IBPOC artist.
“I was motivated to join the board because I truly believe in the magic of puppets. More so, I believe in the beauty and magic of puppets through community making and storytelling. In the Heart of the Beast was a place I could see stories I could relate to and could tell my story. I want to see and be a part of making more art, puppets, and stories that haven’t been told yet and have a space and community to share it with.”
Katie Peacock
Chair of Governance Committee
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2017
Katie is a white adoptee, mother, spouse, experiential educator, learner, facilitator, Powderhorn resident, and someone who relishes in long hellos and goodbyes. She works at the intersection of higher education and community and civic engagement to build connections and possibilities for shared learning, growth, and work. She has served on the HOBT board since 2016.
"Every MayDay is magical for me but I think visiting the warehouse for the first time to get MayDay supplies and having an ah-ha moment about the amount of labor, creativity, and deep legacy of the event."
Alison Bergblom Johnson
She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2022
Alison Bergblom Johnson is an artist whose work explores gender, disability, and sexuality. Some organizations she’s worked with include Patrick’s Cabaret, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, COMPAS, and Strike Theater. She is an Artist Career Consultant with Springboard for the Arts
"I’m thrilled to be a board member as mainstage performances like The Impact Theory of Mass Extinction are so crucial to imagining an inclusive Minneapolis, building community and to making equitable, sustainable opportunities for artists."
HOBT's anonymous report form --- questions, concerns, complaints. This form is reviewed by HOBT's Board Chair. For general questions, please email [email protected]