Marin Women's Hall of Fame


		Honorees: Arts (Category)

ISABEL ALLENDE Arts 1994	Internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende began writing novels in 1981. Since then her books have been translated into 27 languages; two of the books were made into motion pictures and theater plays. All her works have a common theme: life is precious and should be lived free from oppression. Her novels feature female protagonists whose strength, intelligence and creativity enable them to endure hardships, fight oppression and improve the world around them. A Marin County resident since 1988, Ms. Allende typifies the characteristics of her protagonists. She combines toughness with gentleness, spirituality with independence. A Chilean native, Ms. Allende, through her actions and her novels, fought the Pinochet regime until its downfall in 1988. Originally a journalist, she wrote her first novel, "The House of Spirits", in 1981 to bring attention to the brutality of the Pinochet regime. Since becoming a Marin resident, Ms. Allende has greatly and purposefully lent her support to numerous philanthropic organizations and agencies which enrich our community. Ms. Allende has received several honorary degrees and her books have received numerous awards including: Best Novel of the Year-Panorama Literario, Chile, 1983; Book of the Year, Germany, 1984; Grand Prix d'Evasion, France, 1984, Grand Prix de la Radio Television Belge, Belgium, 1985; Freedom to Write, Pen Club, USA 1991 and many others. To read more about Ms. Allende on her web site. www.isabelallende.com Click here to read more about this remarkable woman.
WINIFRED BAKER Arts 1999	Winifred Baker's musical and conducting excellence has brought the best of choral music works to audiences in Marin, the Bay Area, New York and Europe. For forty years, she has conducted the Winifred Baker Chorale and San Francisco Civic Chorale. The Chorales have performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Marin Symphony, the San Francisco Civic Opera, the San Francisco Pops, and sang twice in New York's Carnegie Hall. Ms. Baker has created a legacy of trained singers throughout the Bay Area and the country. Some of the original members of her Chorales and Children's Chorus still sing with her, as do several of their children. Others continue to bring musical talents they developed under her tutelage to choruses and audiences throughout the world. The world of conducting is one that has been primarily populated by men. Ms. Baker has ignored the musical glass ceiling by her perseverance, her energy, and her attention to excellence. Ms. Baker has won respect from many, including Arthur Fiedler, Sandor Salgo, Peter Toboris (who invited Winfred to conduct in Carnegie Hall) and Gary Sheldon, conductor of the Marin Symphony. In 1976, she became the sixth woman invited to join the London-based Incorporated Society of Musicians in the Conductor's Section, sharing this honor with such notables as Benjamin Britten and George Solti. Her impressive musical skills have dissolved barriers, paving the way for other women to perform and conduct in the great cathedrals and music halls of the world. In addition to conducting her choruses, Ms. Baker is a Professor Emeritus at Dominican College and teaches piano classes on campus. She is an active member of Marin Music Chest, passionately advocating for a return to music education in schools and colleges. She has received numerous awards for her musical contributions including the "Distinguished Women Award" conferred by Dominican College, the San Francisco Arts Commission's "Award of Honor," the Women Musicians of San Francisco's "Musician of the Year" Award and the "Music Educator of the Year" Award, elected by the Marin Symphony, Marin Opera Company, Marin Ballet Company and Youth in Arts. Winifred Baker's passion for musical beauty and her commitment to excellence has inspired her listeners, her students and her colleagues for over forty years. She is a giant among musicians and a beacon for those who aspire to make a mark, whatever their chosen profession. Click here to learn more about this woman.
MARGIE BELROSE Arts 1996	Margie Belrose is founder and director of The Belrose School and Theatre in San Rafael. At The "Belrose", Margie Belrose teaches, performs and directs. Theater colleagues proclaim that Margie exemplifies the stage motto, "The show must go on." Through hard work and steadfast devotion to her dream, she has earned the respect of associates and audiences. In 1954 she and her late husband, David, founded a school for performing arts in Marin. The Belrose School and Theatre today offer Marinites affordable theater, and opportunities to act, write, produce and direct. Belrose has taught dance, music, acting and singing to generations of local families. Her tenacity and perseverance have served her through the years when she has been called upon to surmount overwhelming odds. Abandoned as a child, she lived in an orphanage except for short periods with her aunt and father. After graduating from high school she moved to San Francisco where she met and married one of her dance teachers. The sudden death of her husband in 1971 left her alone to raise her two children while operating The Belrose School and Theatre. Today, with her son, she operates a large non-profit costume shop that benefits the Belrose Performing Arts Center scholarship program. One of her programs is the Belrose Jr. Players for children eight to fifteen years of age. She provides scholarships for children to enable them to participate in Junior Players and the Belrose Musical Summer Camp program that has been in operation since 1978. Click here to read more about this woman.
KAY BOYLE Arts 1995	Kay Boyle was a renowned poet, teacher and author of poetry, short story collectives and numerous articles. For twenty years her short stories in the New Yorker helped to define literary form. As a woman in a man's profession, she served as the New Yorker's foreign correspondent in the 1940's. Encouraged by her mother to become a writer, despite formal education ending at the eighth grade, Ms. Boyle defined her writing as an expatriate in the "lost generation" colony of artist and writers in the Paris of the 1920's. The accomplishments of which she was most proud were her teaching and humanitarian work. She was a professor of English at San Francisco State University for eighteen years, retiring at age 77. As a passionate woman with strong convictions, she sought to better the world by fighting Nazism and McCarthyism, by focusing on the anti-war and civil rights movements, and by founding the San Francisco Chapter of Amnesty International. Her awards and honors were legion: O. Henry prizes for short stories, fellowships, and a California Literature medal. She was one of the few women admitted to the National Institute of Arts & Letters and continued her writing after moving from San Francisco to Marin in 1989. In 1989, she was honored by the Women's Foundation for her contributions to the causes of peace, freedom and human rights. Click here to read more about this remarkable woman.
ANN BREBNER Arts 1989	Ann Brebner is helping to change the face of downtown San Rafael through her successful efforts to renovate and restore the Rafael Theater as a permanent home for the Film Institute of Northern California which produces the Mill Valley Film Festival. As a past Board President and current member of the Board of Directors she has, by the strength of her vision, her sensitivity and integrity helped developed the Film Institute into a substantial, widely respected, broadly-based arts organization. She is a founder of the Marin Shakespeare Festival, and of Northern California Women in Film and has served as an advisor to Bread and Roses and is a director of the Pickle Family Circus. She was also instrumental in the development of the College of Marin drama program and its theater. A native of New Zealand, Ms. Brebner abandoned her pursuit of a career as a concert pianist and applied herself first to medicine and finally to theater arts. She studied all aspects of theater at London's famous Old Vic Theatre School and has directed in New York and the Bay Area. She was President of Brebner Agencies Inc., a respected agency in San Francisco representing writers and actors. Ever fascinated by why we do, what we do and how actors function, she is the author of "Setting Free the Actor; Overcoming Creative Blocks." She as two sons, Alexander and Jay. Click here to read more about this woman.
LESLEY CURRIER Arts 2007	Lesley Schisgall Currier is the founding Managing Director of Marin Shakespeare Company. During her 18 year tenure, she has done everything that needed to be done to get the company on a solid financial and artistic footing. “Everything” includes acting, directing, constructing sets and props, board building, fundraising, special events and development in the broadest sense. Marin Shakespeare Company is widely recognized for its professional productions each summer at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre on the campus of Dominican University of California. Under Lesley’s leadership, MSC has garnered national attention and won many awards. MSC is also renowned for its educational outreach programs for thousands of Marin students each year. Innovative programs are Lesley’s hallmark. In 1991 she began education programs that now serve more than 5,000 students annually with classes, summer camps, in-school and after school programs, student matinees, and a Teen Touring Company. More than 35 schools participate each year. There are free outreach programs to young people from Marin City and the Canal neighborhood, as well as to inmates at San Quentin. Lesley empowers students and instills the desire to use their own abilities and expand their creativity. Directing is another strong point. Her adaptation of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, which she wrote and directed, was nominated for “Best Overall Production of 2002” by the Bay Area Critics Circle. Her original adaptation of Alice in Wonderland delighted audiences at Marin Shakespeare Company in 2006. Lesley took her vision “on the road” by helping start a Shakespeare festival in Los Barriles in Baja, Mexico. For five years Lesley and husband Robert, Marin Shakespeare’s Artistic Director, put on annual Shakespearean productions with the locals, with Lesley co-directing and acting in all five productions. In 2006 Lesley arranged for Marin and Baja Shakespeare to host the Shakespeare Theater Association of America (STAA) conference in tiny Los Barriles. Lesley holds a B.A. in Religion from Princeton University, where she received the Frances LeMoyne Page Award for Theatre. She served on Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Service Committee for six years, is past president of STAA, and has twice been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, an honor bestowed only on the nation’s best and brightest. The proud mother of Jackson and Nate, and only 44, Lesley is an exquisite role model for young women in the arts.
JOANNE DUNN Arts 2006	Describing Joanne Dunn's contributions to Marin is an awesome task. She's served Marin County arts and service organizations as founder, board member, fundraiser, and PR person for 47 years. She's been happily married to Gordon Dunn for more than 50 years. A commitment from Joanne means long-term dedication. Joanne's life is the arts began in the 1960's, when as a board member of the Marin County Junior Theater group, she joined the Masque Unit. This group brings live theater to children all over the Bay Area. Over the years she's been an actress, playwright (10 plays!), director, stagehand, and "gofer." She's still an active performing member. Joanne has co-founded four major arts organizations. In the 1970s Joanne and two friends saw the need to supplement arts education in the schools. The result was Youth In Arts, a highly visible and effectve nonprofit serving 30,000 Marin students annually. Simultaneously Joanne founded its volunteer arm, Youth In Arts Auxiliary, she originally underwrote Youth In Arts and served as its first executive director (40 volunteer hours/week). Both YIA organizations continue to flourish after 35 years, and Joanne is still involved. In the 1980s Joanne and friends who share her love of the arts saw that the county's many various arts organizations were too small and isolated to have significant impact. Thus the Marin Arts Council, bringing these individual organizations together under one powerful umbrella, was born. In the 1990s downtown San Rafael was on the decline. Joanne et al. saw this as opportunity for the arts community to help and be helped, so Art Works Downtown was born. This nonprofit creative haven provides gallery, studio, and living space to artists at reasonable prices. AWD has been a boon not only to artists and patrons, but it has made a positive impact on Fourth Street's appearance and economic growth. AWD is now regarded as one of the Bay Area's premier galleries. Joanne has also worked tirelessly for the Marin Ballet, Marin Wildcare (formerly Terwilliger center), and San Francisco Theological Center's Montgomery Chapel. Joanne is also mother of a grown daughter, Sunday school pageant director, advisor, friend, and more. The common thread is her vision, imagination, skill, and tenacity. Her talent has not escaped notice. Mike Groza, recently retired from the Marin Community Foundation, remarked. "I think we should nominate Joanne to be the next director of FEMA." We agree!
MIMI FARINA Arts 1988	Mimi Baez Farina first picked up a guitar when she was thirteen. By the time she was eighteen, she was performing her music on stage. Since then, Mimi's life has always been close to the performing arts. In 1974, Mimi became the founder and guiding force behind Bread and Roses, a non-profit organization which brings free, live, top-quality entertainment to people confined or isolated in institutions. Over the years, Mimi has made a significant contribution to the lives of people in prisons, convalescent homes, AIDS wards, rehabilitation hospitals and other confined situations. A successful musician with numerous recordings and live performances around the United States and Europe, Mimi has used her own talents and enlisted the talents of others. These artists, by volunteering their time and abilities, have made a positive difference in the lives of an often forgotten population. Bread and Roses currently produces over 400 live shows each year, reaching a total annual audience of about fifteen thousand people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bread and Roses does not charge any fee for its shows. It operates through donations and grants, keeping its entertainment affordable for all people. Mimi Farina's commitment and dedication to the success of Bread and Roses have now inspired other agencies serving many communities throughout the country to establish similar services. To view Mimi's interview with Beth Ashley click on the appropriate format for your computer. Real media file 56 K MPG 6 MB version Click here to read more about this woman.
EMILY GATES Arts 1993	Emily Gates is known not only as a inspirational community member and role model for young women and girls, but also as one of the most respected and beloved chorus and musical theater teachers in Northern California. Born and educated in Ohio, Ms. Gates married her high school sweetheart and began a music teaching career which continued through the birth of four children, a move to California, and twenty years of teaching music in the Novato Unified School District. She currently teaches Concert Band, Concert Choir, Jazz Choir, Show Choir and Musical Theater Workshop at San Marin High School. Ms. Gates serves as a board member and Jazz Show Choir Repertoire Standards Chair of the American Choral Directors' Association, has hosted choral festivals and given workshops for the California Music Educators' Association, and is a member of the Novato Music Educators' Conference, the California Band Directors Association and the International Association of Jazz Educators. Ms. Gates has assembled and coached innumerable musical groups that have achieved regional and state awards. She counts her real rewards through the achievements of her former students in the musical and theatrical fields, many of whom attribute to her the awakening of their talent.
ANNA HALPRIN Arts 1998	Anna Halprin, a Marin County resident for over 50 years, has won national and international awards in recognition of her prestigious achievements as a dancer and choreographer. Halprin is considered to be one of the most highly esteemed 20th century dancers, whose ranks include celebrities such as Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham. She has received the largest dance award in the country, the Samual H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement. Since the late 1930's, Halprin has revolutionized her art form and has inspired fellow choreographers to take modern dance to new dimensions. She has been an innovator throughout her career, experimenting with improvisation, with the audience-performer relationship, and with the place of dance in the social and political realms. In the early 70's, when she was diagnosed with cancer, Halprin's focus shifted to healing, not only for herself, but for others and for the planet. This concern led her to work with cancer patients, and to create healing rituals for the community. One such ritual, the "Circle the Earth" dance, is performed annually at Easter on Mt. Tamalpais and has been introduced in 36 countries throughout the world. Her "Planetary Dance: A Prayer for Peace," was staged in Berlin at an event commemorating the end of World War II. In 1995, Halprin was invited by Mikhail Gorbachev to present an invocation at the State of the World Forum in California. She published Dance as a Healing Art, as a source of guidance and support for those living with a life threatening illness. Click here to read more about this woman.
PHYLLIS THELEN Arts 2000	Phyllis has the extraordinary ability to visualize possibilities, and organize and orchestrate vision to reality. During the past 40 years, Phyllis has committed herself to volunteer community service through leadership in supporting existing cultural institutions and developing new ones. She has worked to further understanding about the role that art plays in quality of life. By learning a new vocabulary to communicate with businessmen and politicians, she has been successful in advancing her culture goals. She welcomes obstacles and challenging barriers. Among her many accomplishments is her 32-year leadership of the Marin Ballet Association during which time she aided in its growth and development, including the purchase of its building. She helped salvage and spearheaded the building of the Civic Center Memorial Theater and served as founding member of what was to become the Marin County Fair and Parks Commission. A fine visual artist herself, she has designed and produced original posters for the Marin Ballet, "Dance Through Time", and the International Dance Alliance. Her leadership and fundraising efforts have enabled the development of many cultural organizations including the Art Works Downtown, Youth in Arts and Marin Arts Council. Phyllis' two daughters, four granddaughters, their friends, ballet school graduates, artists, co-workers and friends declare her as an important role model in their lives. She believes that her most lasting contributions to the community are her four children who are making significant contributions to the community on their own. Click here to learn more about this woman.