Please meet the ART Station staff members

David Thomas (Founder, President and Artistic Director) is originally a native of North Carolina, but has been a resident of Stone Mountain (Atlanta) since 1983. Along with a group of five college friends, David founded the ART Station Contemporary Art Center and Theatre Company in 1986 and served as the original Artistic Director and Executive Director for the company. His title was changed to President and Artistic Director in 1996 by the Board of Trustees. He is responsible for creating unity and a positive environment for arts production and education for all aspects of the ART Station organization serving as the leader of an ensemble of artists, managers and trustees. David attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, holds a BA in Communication Arts (Radio, Television and Theatre Arts) from Appalachian State University, and two MFA degrees in Theatre Directing and Arts Administration from Virginia Tech. He is a graduate of the IBM Leadership Institute, Leadership DeKalb and the Middle East Travel Seminar and is a graduate of the Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta. He has directed over 100 productions for the ART Station Theatre and has provided the artistic direction for hundreds of art exhibitions, festivals and education programs in the arts. David was very active in Atlanta’s Cultural Olympiad in 1996 where he directed the Opening Ceremony of the International Olympic Committee and the Nobel Laureates Conference. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Appalachian State University’s College of Fine and Applied Arts for the Department of Theatre and Dance and for the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Loan Fund. He is also a board member with the Stone Mountain Downtown Development Authority. He has served on numerous arts panels for the Georgia Council for the Arts, City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Fulton County Arts Council, the Southern Arts Federation, the National Endowment for the Arts and on various art boards and associations. He is also a playwright (5 plays produced) and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Michael Hidalgo, Associate Producer, is one of the original founders of ART Station. Since July, 1996, Michael has served as the Associate Producer & Director of Development for ART Station. He is responsible for overseeing all administrative aspects of the organization including payroll, bookkeeping, marketing, and development; raising individual, corporate, foundation, and government financial support. Since 1985, Michael has served the art center as Technical Director & Resident Set and Lighting Designer, where he is responsible for the technical direction, design, and implementation of 5 – 8 theatrical productions each year; assuring technical excellence for all the art center’s programs including theatre productions, gallery exhibitions, and the general operations of the center. Michael’s set designs have toured throughout the United States with various ART Station touring productions as well as the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Cultural Olympiads in Lillehammer, Norway and in Atlanta. Michael attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia & Northern Virginia Community College in Woodbridge, Virginia. He is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb, Class of 1998, and serves as Secretary of the Board of ART Station, Inc. Michael’s community involvement includes Treasurer/Secretary of the Board of Main Street Stone Mountain, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission and an alumni of Leadership DeKalb.

Jon Goldstein has been Program Manager for ART Station from 1993 to the present.  He is the arts center’s Resident Equity Stage Manager for ART Station produced theatre, Production Coordinator for presented theatre, Visual Arts Gallery Series Manager/Curator and installation of over 100 exhibitions of a wide-variety of media in contemporary art.  Other duties include contract administrator, rental manager, literary manager, administration liaison between ART Station and Actors’ Equity Association, management of front of house, box-office personnel and facility.  At various times he has also directed, tour managed, performed at ART Station and serves as a visual arts juror for various other organizations throughout Atlanta.  Prior to coming to ART Station, Jon was a freelance Equity Stage Manager in Metro-Atlanta and the Southeast for three years. Previously, he was General Manager/Production & Operations Director and Resident Equity Stage Manager at Theatrical Outfit for 7 years.  Jon completed a two-year intensive arts training program at the Dance Theatre Workshop in Chattanooga, Tennessee and studied Theatre at DeKalb College, now Georgia Perimeter College and has been actively involved in the Atlanta arts since 1972.  Jon served on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts from 1994 - 2002 and served as its President for two years.  Jon also served on the Atlanta Area Actors’ Equity Liaison Committee for 16 years and as the Stage Manager Representative for the Coalition of Atlanta Stage Talent. 

Emily Eigel, Customer Service Manager, grew up in Snellville, Georgia just down the road and came to Stone Mountain Village a lot as a youth. She graduated from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia with a BA in history and a minor in math.  Emily received her Masters of Historic Preservation from Georgia State University and has worked with several preservation-related organizations including Main Street Stone Mountain and now works in a historic building.

Nancy Knight serves on the staff as a special events and projects coordinator.   She has been with ART Station for the past 18 years and heads up the very popular fiction writing classes at the art center and is a property builder in the theatre program.  She served as Director of Education at ART Station from 2001 – 2008 and also curated the ART Station fine arts and crafts showcase and gift shop from 1999 to present.  She is a freelance art instructor in watercolor, oil and acrylic and is a freelance writer, having over 15 novels published.  She is a member of the National League of American Pen Women, Atlanta Writer’s Club, Southeastern Writers Association, Dark River Writers and served as the president of the Atlanta Writer’s Club and on the Board of Directors of Romance Writers of America.  She attended DeKalb College  and the University of South Carolina and majored in Literature at Georgia State University.

Patrick Hutchison is the ART Station Resident Music Director who is the composer of several musicals (including The Harvey Milk Show) which have been produced all across the United States.  He is half of the piano duo "ph Balanced", and a member of the vocal harmony group "SIGHS."  Patrick played keyboards on the Moody Blues "Strange Times" tour, and has also played for such stars as Richard Chamberlain, Keith Carradine and Toni Tennile.  He has sung, danced, conducted and musically directed in Mexico, Greenland and in theatres across the United States, including Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, Symphony Hall, The Atlanta Civic Center and The Fox Theatre.

Geoff “Googie” Uterhardt’s ART Station acting credits include A Broadway Christmas Carol, See Rock City, Uh-Oh. Here Comes Christmas!, Route 66, Godspell and A Tour of Southern Ghosts, as well as teaching drama and dance during ART Station’s summer program for children.  He recently completed Something Wicked... at the Center for Puppetry Arts where he has also been seen in Beauty and the Beast, Brer Rabbit and Friends and Spooky Puppet: the Beginning.  Googie has also performed with Aurora Theatre, Dad’s Garage, Theatre Gael, Actor’s Express and Out of Hand Theatre with whom he is also an artistic associate. Googie has led the ART Station Performance Program for Youth for the past 6 years and is also an instructor in the arts camp program.

Angela Williams graduated from American Inter-Continental University with a degree in General arts. In addition, she earned a business degree from Illinois Central College, and an arts degree from Stephens Institute, Peoria Illinois. Miss Williams teaches pottery and visual art in ART Station’s Summer Arts Camp and also teaches pottery and visual art to both adults and children during the other months as a part of the regular arts education program.
 

Denise Arribas is thrilled to be working here at ART Station with such talented kids. She is a San Juan, Puerto Rico native but has been living in Atlanta for the last 4 yrs. She has worked with the Alliance Theatre Company, Georgia Shakespeare, Aurora Theater, Horizon Theater, Shakespeare Tavern, and Synchronicity Performance Group. Some of her favorite roles include Prima Cochina in Ferdinand the Bull, Gabriela in References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar and Maria in 4 Guys named Jose.

Emma Brooks has served ART Station in the capacity of Facility Manager for the past 12 years. She is a native of Stone Mountain, a graduate of Hamilton High School in Scottdale and an active member of Bethsaida Baptist Church. Prior to employment with ART Station, she was employed with the City of Stone Mountain. Emma is an active member of the community and serves as ART Station’s liaison to the Stone Mountain Civic Club. She is responsible for facility maintenance at ART Station and for supply inventory and requisition.