Help our board reach their fundraising goal!

 Jessica L. Gonzalez is a new board member for Rising Youth Theatre. She was first introduced to Rising Youth when she attended the Light Rail Plays and met the young artists, from there she was transformed. Outside of Rising Youth, she is an equitable economic development professional. Her hope for RYT in the future is that Rising Youth becomes the vehicle for community to continue to tell its stories through performance in a means that is authentic and real, well into future generations. 

 Jeff Goodman is the immediate past president of the Rising Youth Theatre Board. He has been with Rising Youth for about 5 years now. Jeff used to be a former actor, but now he has turned into a nonprofit marketing professional. He has a lovely wife named Erin, and you can always count on Jeff to have dogs, and either making or eating BBQ. In the future, Jeff hopes that Rising Youth grows into a self-sustaining organization that continues to empower and give voices to young artists, encouraging them to push the boundaries on what art means and how it serves the community and world. 

 Lynn has been working with Rising Youth Theatre since October of 2016, and currently serves as the treasurer of the board. She also serves on the board for Ryan House, a respite and hospice for children with life-limiting medical issues. She also as treasurer for the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Phoenix. She hopes for the future of Rising Youth Theatre that the company can have, “a full-time set of staff members and a well-run infrastructure to permit the artistic creativity to flow and intersect with our community of youths and neighborhoods 

Tamika Lamb Saunders is a Mother, a Poet, an Entrepreneur and Educator who uses Art as a tool to make the world and others around me better! Her people are artists, educators, poets, activists and community members seeking to use the Arts to break barriers, inspire youth and create social change. She has been working with Rising Youth Theatre since 2015. It started through a community partnership for the Bi-National Arts Residency in which Yadira de la Riva was the featured artist. Her first production, was in 2016, "Under the Rug." Since then, she has had opportunity to be in "The Kids Table" and "Bodies are Magic." As a board member, her hope for Rising Youth is to have state wide Conferences and workshops that show Youth Servicing Organizations how to truly have shared leadership with youth and successful collaborations in which youth are leading.