Elizabeth Reiss, President & CEO
elizabeth@artscenteronline.org
(518) 273-0552
Elizabeth Reiss is a lifelong arts advocate. Her career has been guided by the simple belief that the arts belong in everyone’s life. Raised in LI, Reiss has worked in NYC, Pittsburgh, and the Capital Region, in art museums, children’s museums, arts festivals, and now at The Arts Center.
Reiss has worked as a museum educator, education department director, exhibitions manager and development and public relations director, as well as organizational leader. Her favorite projects have been developing Craft in the Classroom, a K-12 craft education curricula developed with the NYC board of education, renovating an empty storefront to become the Children’s Museum of the Arts in SoHo, and, as part of the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, presenting public art projects that interacted with the environment, with artists Magdalena Abakanowicz, Patrick Dougherty, Steven Siegel, and Stacey Levy, among others. Reiss continues to also work in Pittsburgh, as the Managing Director of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company.
Reiss has a BA from Bard College and an M.Ed from Bank Street School for Education. She has played an active role in community and professional service organizations and serves as the President of Arts NYS and the Co-Chair of the Troy Cultural Alliance.
Joseph Mastroianni, Vice President of Programs
joseph@artscenteronline.org
(518) 273-0552, x133
Joseph Mastroianni is the Vice President of Programs at The Arts Center of the Capital Region. Joseph leads the Education Department through hiring teaching artists, curriculum/programming development, and contract services with other local organizations or schools.
Joseph received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the State University of Albany in 2010 and his Master of Fine Arts from the State University of New Paltz in 2012. Throughout his academic career, Joseph was a T.A. for foundation art classes at New Paltz as well as the Visiting Artist Coordinator for his master program and later became an instructor at The Arts Center of the Capital Region starting in 2013.
Throughout Joseph’s academic and professional career, he has been a board member of the O+ Music and Arts Festival in Kingston, New York. He also was a recipient of several grants for multiple public art projects in both Kingston and Troy, New York. Most recently he has been an active member of the Troy 100 forum in Troy, New York and assisted with The Arts Center of the Capital Region’s 2019 Public Art programs.
Nicole Peterson, Director of External Relations
nicole@artscenteronline.org
(518) 273-0552, x125
Nicole began her career in the arts in 2005 at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield MA, and has worked in the arts, both in museums and arts centers, ever since. Nicole is now the Director of External Relations at the Arts Center of the Capital Region.
Nicole started her career in the Capital Region at the Albany Institute of History & Art by transcribing letters from the second US Ambassador to Japan. Realizing her comfort with historical research, project management and interpersonal relations, the Institute quickly hired her as a member of the development team. In the matter of a few short years, Nicole rose from Intern to Manager of Corporate Giving and Special Events. After five years at the Institute, she left to become the Director of Development, then Director of External Relations for the Arts Center of the Capital Region. At ACCR, Nicole manages a complex development program, from institutional giving, major grant writing, individual giving programs and special events.
Nicole has a BA in History/Political Science from the College of Saint Rose and an MA in History from the University of St. Andrews. She is part of the Rensselaer County Chamber’s Leadership Academy Class of 2020 and is a member of the Capital Region Chamber’s Young Professional Network.
Jamie Dougherty, Director of Finance and Facilities
jamie@artscenteronline.org
(518) 273-0552, x124
Jamie Dougherty, born and raised in Oceanside, CA, graduated from California State University Long Beach with a BA in Dance. After pursuing a modern dance career in New York City, she decided to move into the admin side of the art world. She completed a bookkeeping certificate program at CUNY LaGuardia in Queens and started as an intern at Dance New Amsterdam in lower Manhattan. She left Dance New Amsterdam as the Business Manager to join the finance team at Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn. In 2015, a desire to move out of the city led Jamie up the Hudson River to Troy, NY where she joined The Arts Center of the Capital Region as the Business Manager.
Greg Back, Development Manager
Judie Gilmore, Director of Special Projects & Partnerships
Jillian Hirsch, Director of Arts Education
Jillian Hirsch is an artist, educator, and currently the Director of Arts Education at the Arts Center of the Capital Region. She oversees all adult classes, youth camps, studios, and teaching faculty at the Arts Center. Before joining the Arts Center, she was a high school art teacher and pottery instructor in Knoxville, Tennessee. Jillian is well known throughout the Capital Region and beyond for her collaborative large-scale mosaic murals and community-based art projects. She received her Master of Fine Arts in 2020 from The University of Tennessee (concentration in ceramics) and is a licensed K-12 visual art educator.
Mary Rozell, Education Coordinator
Taliesin Thomas, Director of Artist Initiative
Gwen Krause, Chair
Dan Centi, Treasurer
Shanelle Carter, Secretary
Amy Williams, Immediate Past Chair
Edwin C. Anker IV
Gabby Calabrese
Elizabeth Callahan
Rhiannon Gifford, Esq
Kevin Houlihan
Sam Judge
James Knox
Mary LaFleur
Jennifer Laflin
Brian McCandless, MD
Sugi Pickard
Jesse Roberts
Starletta Smith
Kimberly Wright
Mark Zielinski
Join The Arts Center’s mailing list to receive invitations to new contemporary art shows, classes, special events, public art events, and more.
265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
Front Desk: 518-273-0552
Send this website to someone you’d like to bring to The Arts Center with you, using these buttons:
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.