Homework Club, Junior Acting, Theater, Arts, Visual Arts Classes & Camps in NoHo.
A Non-Profit Dedicated to Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts. Fed. ID #83-3652255
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Village Arts is a non-profit entity EIN: 83-3652255. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
At Village Arts we envision a home for all children 5 to 105 – a place for everyone to experience and explore all art disciplines and where creative collaborations organically fosters meaningful connection, communication and understanding.
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Pam brings over 20 years of experience of developing and teaching performance arts programs in addition to being an actor and mother. She has a deep love of arts education and of developing programs where every child gets an opportunity to shine. In New York she created a jazz dance and theatre program at the Bendheim Performing Arts Center that was a combination of performance and classes. She would go on to direct over 20 productions at the Bendheim.
In Los Angeles she was commissioned by the Hollywood Arts Council to create an educational theatre program to be used in the LAUSD schools. Her program would go on to earn an Educational Achievement Award from State Assemblyman Mike Fuerer. At The Wesley School in North Hollywood, Pam is the Drama teacher for 10 years and is responsible for creating their seventh grade drama program that is a fully immersive program of classes and performance. She penned two plays that were produced in LA, Boston and NY as well as being an actor who has performed in voice overs, commercials, film, television and on stage in NY, LA, all over the country and in Russia!
In 2015 she and her husband decided to create Village Arts to build upon her work in the Valley Village community and her theatre program at Colfax Charter Elementary School. Together they are working towards building an arts center in the community that will offer classes and programs in all performance and visual arts and that will truly be “A place for everyone.”
Theatre and the arts captivated John as a kid when he participated in his mother's free “pop-up” art centers in White Plains, NY. There he would spend afternoons and weekends working with clay, paint and the countless found materials his mother and her colleagues could scrounge up.
Mime, clowning and theatre would then become a passion that led to his working in experimental theatre in college where he discovered the power of how theatre, collaboration and community could be harnessed for change. After finishing his studies at Circle in the Square's Professional Theatre Program he had the good fortune of meeting his wife, Pamela Shafer, at a summer stock theatre. What they both thought would be a summer fling, turned into a life time journey of creating theatre and a family together. Together in New York City they would work on many theatre projects leading to John becoming the Artistic Director of the non-profit theatre company, The Phoenix Ensemble. Their work with Phoenix would lead them to earn an award from The United Nations Society of Writers for their international theatre exchange with the former Soviet Union’s theatre arts school, GITIS. They would also create the two-person musical about ‘20’s silent film star Louise Brook, “Lulu”, that performed in Los Angeles, New York and Boston.
John’s work would lead him to television and film serving as an executive at Hallmark Entertainment, Showtime Networks, Inc. and Participant Media. Some of his most successful projects are the Emmy award winning adaptation Ira Glass’s This American Life and Showtime’s successful line up of documentary films Very Young Girls, Shame, Rikers High and Same Sex America; they all earned numerous awards and nominations and premiered at such film festivals as Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca, IDFA, Full Frame and many more. He’s also developed an extensive slate of critically acclaimed Family Films for Showtime that garnered multiple Daytime Emmys, the Peabody, the Humanitas as well as awards from a variety of film festivals. Most notable among these films are: Bang Bang You’re Dead, Salma Hayek’s directorial début, The Maldonado Miracle, Rod Serling’s A Storm In Summer directed by Robert Wise; John Knowles’ A Separate Peacedirected by Peter Yates and produced by Dustin Hoffman’s Punch Productions.
Chairperson
Parisa Stepanek holds a Bachelor’s of Music from NYU and has performed on stages across the country in such shows as CATS, Chicago, Big, and Barry Manilow’s Copacabana (National Tours), A Christmas Carol (Madison Square Garden) and Follies (Broadway).
Parisa has spent the past decade on the Colfax Elementary Board, Walter Reed Middle School Parent booster clubs, and school leadership councils. Her focus has been on fundraising and event planning.
Secretary
Treasurer
Board Member At Large
Attorney Karla Patricia Avelino was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, and brought to the United States at a very young age fleeing the civil war in El Salvador. She was raised in Los Angeles and is a first-generation college graduate. She received her law degree from Southwestern Law School in 2006 and her B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College, a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, in 2001. Karla has been practicing immigration law since 2007. She is a partner of Rogen and Avelino Law in Encino, California. She spends her time helping people from all walks of life, including individuals in the music, film, and television industry and families who have fled their home countries seeking a better life in the US.
She has been part of Village Arts since 2011, when her daughter Eva Avelino acted in her first play, “Snow Queen.” Following in her mother’s footsteps, Eva has continued at Village Arts as a volunteer, now. And, Karla’s son, Francisco, participates in the Summer, Fall, and Spring plays.
It is essential for her that all children have a safe place where their voices are heard and feel that they are an integral part of the community.
Board Member At Large
Gail Craven is an educator and community leader who has taught at Colfax Elementary and LAUSD for 40 years. Gail is the founder of leads Turning Pages Foundation, a nonprofit which engages young people in the Studio City/North Hollywood community. Turning Pages participated in volunteer programs and community-building activities across the LA area for over eight years.
As a board member for Village Arts, Gail brings her educative and community experiences to our program.
Board Member At Large
Lindsay Gamache is a professional actress in L.A. Originally from Pittsburgh, she earned her BFA in musical theatre from Penn State University. Upon graduating, Lindsay performed in the Japan and North American Tour of 42nd Street the Musical. She then headed to L.A. to continue her career in theatre, tv/film, and voice-over.
Most recently, she performed in the play, Simpatico at the WhiteFire Theater. You can hear her voice on the Kerrygold Butter campaign and see her on the Jersey Mike’s commercial.
She continues to coach students for their acting and singing auditions and support the arts in education.
Village Arts offers year-round arts programs after school, weekends and at our summer camp.
Our arts center is located at Faith Presbyterian Church of Valley Village and offer programs at Colfax Charter Elementary School as well as independent schools in North Hollywood area.Currently, our performance and visual arts programs serve a diverse population of students and offer scholarships to families in need.
We collaborate with the local artists to help teach, develop and create programming and continue to expand the array of classes we offer in performance and visual arts.
In the coming year, we plan to further expand our scholarship program for families and we are currently developing programs in design and technical theatre with the local schools and professional designers.
Pam and John’s creation of Village Arts comes from their passion for theatre and education. Together they decided to build on Pam’s successful approach to teaching that allows each student to discover their way to achievement and success.
The creation of an arts center in North Hollywood is to provide a destination for the Valley Village and North Hollywood community to participate in the arts and expose children to all the arts offer.
Faith Presbyterian Church Space
5000 Colfax Ave.,
Valley Village, CA 91601