About BACF
The Bay Area Creative Foundation was established to celebrate the importance of creativity in all our lives. We seek to encourage and support young artists by providing awards programs that promote and honor their creativity.
Sponsors & Support
The Bay Area Creative Foundation is actively looking to grow its Creative Youth Awards sponsorship and our Board of Directors.
If you are interested in being involved, please contact us at info@bayareacreativefoundation.org or DONATE TODAY!
BACF Team
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Lani Rovzar comes to BACF with a deep working history in the Bay Area arts community, as well as expertise in start-ups and Branded Environments. She's worked with organizations such as The Sharon Art Studio, New Langton Arts, Museum of Craft & Folk Art, Headlands Center for the Arts, and served on the Advisory Board for the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery. Passionate about supporting local artists and community, she founded 42 Degrees Arts Agency, an incubator program through Intersection for the Arts. She believes it is especially important to support the wonder, inquisitiveness and joy creativity invites in young people, so that it has the opportunity to grow into a natural modality that shapes the way they approach their lives and the world. For fun, Lani enjoys taking photos with her vintage Polaroid LandCameras on hikes in the Mojave Desert.
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Kirstin Bach is a long-time San Francisco resident, arts administrator and mother of two teenagers. She has organized and produced artist projects and exhibitions in a variety of cultural settings. She formerly headed up the Arts program at the Exploratorium where she led the artist-in-residence program as well as art installations, programs and performances. Previous to her work at the Exploratorium, Kirstin was an exhibition coordinator at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Assistant Director for Administration at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts and Program Director for The Seed Fund. Kirstin has learned through her experience working with artists and scientists, that curiosity and creativity fuel innovative thinking and drive learning. She is fervent in her support of creative youth, and through her work hopes to cultivate an understanding of the value of lifelong creativity.
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Andrea is a creative marketer with over five years of experience working across all areas of marketing—social media, content creation, brand photography, and more! She’s also a freelance content creator in the outdoor and travel world, where she’s worked with awesome brands like The North Face, Osprey, and KIA. When she’s not behind the camera, you’ll find her playing her banjo as an active member of the Bay Area’s bluegrass and old-time music community.
Andrea believes we’re all creatives at heart, and that it’s so important to tap into and follow whatever brings us joy—whether it’s arts and crafts projects or big artistic pursuits. She’s passionate about supporting young people in discovering their own creativity, seeing it as a path for self-expression, personal growth, and connection. Andrea is stoked to be part of an organization that champions young creatives and inspires them to bring their unique voices into the world.
BACF Board of Directors
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As a long-time Bay Area resident and supporter of the Arts, Dr. Emil Kakkis, formed the Bay Area Creative Foundation to establish a non-profit organization promoting creativity in young people in the Arts and Sciences. We seek to inspire local residents, schools and businesses to support creativity and creative efforts of our local creative youth. The goal is to increase the awareness of the importance of creativity in all of our lives and encourage our young creatives by acknowledging that they have a special place in the world and are valued by their community.
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John Ditton is the CEO of Granville Management and serves on the board of directors of the Bay Area Creative Foundation and other biotech and technology start up companies. Before forming the BACF with founder Dr. Emil Kakkis, John worked as a patient group liaison and leader in commercial operations & marketing for rare disease companies. John helped launch the Rare Artist competition and web gallery for the EveryLife Foundation and seeing the joy this brought to the participants, he was immediately drawn to take on the challenge of encouraging creativity in our high schools. John’s passion to develop creative business leaders willing and able to tackle tomorrow’s challenges was formed working with marketing agencies, salespeople and innovative scientists for 20+ years. John is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Duntroon and the University of Tasmania and lives in the Nevada Sierra surrounded by the creative energies of his wife Katie (arts & crafts) and his two sons, Ty (aspiring actor) and Jack (redesigning gaming for the next generation).
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Tishan Cowan is an innovative partnerships leader with over 20 years experience designing impactful partnership strategy roadmaps and building best in class teams that deliver on organizational goals and missions. Having worked at both entertainment media companies and technology start ups, she enjoys building new roadmaps that haven’t existed before. Currently, she serves as the Head of Partnerships at Understood.org, a social impact organization dedicated to helping individuals with learning and thinking differences thrive.
Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
The Bay Area Creative Foundation is a San Francisco Bay Area based organization dedicated to promoting creativity in youth. BACF is a fast-paced and evolving non-profit dedicated to providing a supportive, creative and stimulating work environment where staff are encouraged to reach their full potential and are recognized for their contributions to the organization.
Equal Employment Opportunity Policy
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The Bay Area Creative Foundation is committed to a diverse workplace and strongly encourages applications from all qualified individuals, as such BACF is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all applicants, employees, volunteers, and interns. BACF makes decisions based on the merits of each candidate. The Bay Area Creative Foundation prohibits discrimination based on an individual’s race, color, religion (including all aspects of religious beliefs, observance or practice, including religious dress or grooming practices), sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, pregnancy, and breastfeeding), sexual orientation (including heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality) national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, marital status or registered domestic partner status, uniformed service member or veteran status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic characteristics or information, or any other basis protected by law. BACF will afford equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants, employees, volunteers, and interns as to all terms and conditions of employment, including, without limitation, compensation, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, discipline, and termination.
Current Openings & Opportunities
Please inquire if interested in additional volunteer opportunities.
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To learn more, please view our PDF here.
