Phyllis Rawls Goff serves as a community volunteer with several nonprofit organizations in the Twin Cities area, including the Minnesota Historical Society, the McKnight Foundation, and the Saint Paul YWCA. Prior to retirement, Goff worked as an executive in the industries of telecommunications, higher education administration, and philanthropy. Her career included handling government relations, community affairs and customer service at U S West and Qwest (now CenturyLink); serving as chief of staff to the president at Hamline University; and interim chief of staff at The Saint Paul Foundation and Minnesota Community Foundation.

Phyllis was board chair and is a longtime supporter of Penumbra Theatre. She currently resides in Saint Paul and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, her volunteer work, and promoting Saint Paul.

Janet Wong (elected 2024) is a seasoned performing arts leader with deep expertise in contemporary dance and performance across the U.S. and internationally. From 1995 to 2025, she served as Associate Artistic Director of New York Live Arts and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, where her work encompassed curation, creation, production, education, and mentorship. Her curatorial and artistic interests span intersectional systems, technology, education, environmental justice, international exchange, and, of course, the transformative potential of art and performance. Janet is a mentor at NEW INC, the New Museum’s cultural incubator, and serves on the boards of the Jerome Foundation and Big Dance Theater.

Photo by Stephanie Crousillat.

Dr. Kate Beane (Flandreau Santee Sioux Dakota and Muscogee Creek) holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art and serves as adjunct faculty in the American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota. She is chair of the board for Vision Maker Media, a national organization based out of Nebraska, chair of the board for Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi in St. Paul (Imnizaska), and in 2020 was appointed by Governor Walz to serve on the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB), which oversees Capitol complex preservation and development (including public art) in downtown St. Paul. In 2018 Kate and her father Syd Beane completed a documentary film, Ohiyesa: The Soul of an Indian, which shares the story of her grandfather, writer, reformer, and physician Charles A. Eastman and in 2019 she presented a TEDxMinneapolis talk titled “The Lasting Legacy of Place Names,” which spoke to her family’s work restoring the Dakota name Bde Maka Ska in south Minneapolis (Bdeota).

Salome Asega (elected 2024) is an artist and Director of NEW INC at the New Museum. Her work invites the playful and absurd to critique the speed at which technology develops and poses new consentful tech futures leveraging the power of collective imagination. Salome is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow and an inaugural cohort member of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab developed by Theaster Gates, Rebuild Foundation, and Prada. She is also a co-founder of POWRPLNT, a Brooklyn digital arts lab for teens, incubated at NEW INC in Year 3. Salome has participated in residencies and fellowships with Eyebeam, The Laundromat Project, and Recess. She has exhibited at the Munch Museum, 11th Shanghai Biennale, MoMA, Carnegia Library, August Wilson Center, Knockdown Center, and more.

Photo by Jeremy Grier.

Kristen Marx has spent her career in service to artists and the arts sector for over 15 years through various roles at places such as the McKnight Foundation, Walker Art Center, Park Square Theatre, Ordway, and Jungle Theater. She is a passionate practitioner of equity and social change work fueled by the desire to dismantle “ism’s” and make positive change for current and future generations. 

Kristen is an actress and a playwright. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Arts in Arts and Cultural Management from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.