THE TEAM
BAARN’s Project Director is Tom Clareson, Performing Arts Readiness project director. BAARN staff includes NCAPER Executive Director Jan Newcomb, NCAPER Fund Development and Program Officer Mollie Quinlan-Hayes, Anna Lisa Escobado, BAARN Local Coordinator, and NCAPER Program Associate Kristen Brewer.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Meet Our BAARN Local Coordinator,
Anna Lisa Escobedo, MBA
A dynamic creative leader and cultural strategist, Anna Lisa Escobedo is a visual artist, muralist, artivist, event producer, cultural worker, and networker. Raised in Los Angeles, CA, she moved to San Francisco in 2008 to pursue her education, becoming the first in her family to graduate from college.
With over a decade of experience, Anna Lisa has played a pivotal role in shaping the cultural fabric of the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the co-founder of Calle 24 Latino Cultural District and served as the chair of its Cultural Arts and Assets Committee, where she led efforts to preserve and celebrate the Mission District’s rich cultural heritage. Her leadership extended to revitalizing community events such as Fiestas de Las Américas, where she successfully raised funds and fostered partnerships to sustain vibrant public celebrations.
A passionate advocate for public art and equity, Anna Lisa has contributed to significant projects, including the restoration of The Women’s Building “MaestraPeace” mural and part of the creation of "Alto Al Fuego." She spearheaded the nationally recognized San Francisco Creative Corps project, which employed artists to deliver health and healing messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative inspired similar programs statewide and is now a case study using art for social impact.
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Anna Lisa has worked with prominent organizations such as the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where she managed engagement programs, produced large-scale performance events, and expanded creative opportunities for BIPOC artists. Her commitment to public service is further reflected in her work with the San Francisco Art Commission, where she recontextualized civic monuments and was appointed member of the District 9 Graffiti Advisory Board.
Through her work, Anna Lisa combines artistic vision with strategic planning to create inclusive, transformative programs and events. She excels in building cross-sector collaborations, activating public spaces, and fostering a profound sense of belonging in the communities she serves. Whether curating exhibitions, producing festivals, or advocating for artists, Anna Lisa’s dedication to making art and culture accessible remains at the core of her practice.
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Reach Anna Lisa at baarn@ncaper.org.
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BAARN is being guided by a Local Advisory Committee​​
​​​​​​​​​​​​BAARN combines the experience and resources of the nation’s two leading organizations promoting readiness, response and recovery in the arts sector. Since 2006, NCAPER has promoted policies which embed the arts in community readiness and crisis response, delivered educational programs which build bridges between the arts and emergency management sectors, and created publications and techniques to speed the recovery of those in the arts and creative sectors. One of NCAPER’s core functions is organizing Response Facilitation Calls following a widespread disaster, allowing those impacted to connect with one another, and with a ‘brain trust’ of those who have disaster experience and expertise to share. For this project, NCAPER will team up with the Performing Arts Readiness project (PAR). Since 2017, PAR has been adapting and applying the emergency management expertise of the cultural heritage community to the country’s performing arts sector. PAR grants have supported the creation of “Circuit Rider” mentoring programs in rural and urban communities, and individual readiness plans for dozens of performing arts organizations. An expanding roster of professional development offerings ranges from fire safety and cybersecurity to festival security, archiving legacy materials, and community recovery through arts and culture. Particularly relevant to the BAARN project is PAR’s work in developing and funding readiness and response networks in rural and urban communities, and NCAPER’s relationships and experience with the arts funding community. The BAARN project is the most recent, and most ambitious, of their collaborative efforts to pilot and model new practices to strengthen the arts sector.