Our Mission
ARCAthens’ mission is to provide opportunity and support to Visual Artists, Curators, and Scholars to further their research to focus on bridging international dialogue, cooperation, and understanding.
Our Vision
We are a non-profit organization dedicated to hosting visual artists and curators from all parts of the world to live and create in Athens, Greece, and the Bronx, New York —thereby facilitating a diverse influx of expression, production, and learning.
Our Values
ARCAthens offers creative platforms for the lively exchange of ideas, values, and the expression of our humanity. We join all the voices denouncing racism, injustice, and inequality; and commit to these values in our programs, our organization’s structure, and our workplace environment.
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Nina Embiricos is the founder of Olympia Productions that specializes in brand development, management, marketing, and special event planning. Educated at Paris La Sorbonne, l’Ecole du Louvre and UCLA, Nina’s love for art began at a young age. Through her extensive work experience in art and design galleries and institutions like Sotheby’s, Pierre Cornette De Saint Cyr, and Friedman Benda Gallery, Nina continues to be immersed in the arts and has authored articles in international art magazines. Nina has a deep love for, and connection with Greece where she visits yearly and supports the Cycladic Museum as a Young Patron. Nina is also passionate about pastoral living and yogic philosophy.
Alicia Glekas Everett is an attorney in New York City. She leads the business affairs team for the literary agents at William Morris Endeavor (WME), advising agents on intellectual property matters and contract negotiations on behalf of WME’s clients. Prior, Everett was Acting Associate General Counsel for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Corporate Transactions Counsel at NBC, where she handled corporate legal matters for NBC News and the NBC-affiliated television stations. Everett began her legal career as a corporate lawyer at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Everett graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was on the American Criminal Law Review. She earned her undergraduate degree in French Literature from the University of Virginia, where she was an Echols Scholar. She grew up in Washington, DC, where her extended Greek-American family still resides. Everett is passionate about all areas of the arts.
Allison M. Glenn is the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where she focuses on public art exhibitions and the Artist Residency program. Prior to working at Crystal Bridges, Glenn was the Manager of Publications and Curatorial Associate for Prospect New Orleans’ international art triennial Prospect.4. Her writing has been featured in numerous exhibition publications, including those produced by The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Prospect New Orleans, the California African American Museum, University at Buffalo Art Galleries, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. She has contributed to Hyperallergic, ART21 Magazine, Pelican Bomb’s Art Review, and Newcity, amongst others.
Alexia Valentina Sheinman is the Director of Branding and Communications at Pembrooke & Ives, and also the founder of her own interior design practice, Alexia Valentina LLC. Her passion for the arts has led to her involvement in both Concert Artists Guild and Storm King Art Center, and she is a co-founder of Roadmaps Festival, an annual artistic, humanitarian and cultural event that explores a current crisis through film, music, performance and discussion. Alexia was born and raised in New York to a Greek-Cypriot mother and a British father. She studied in Greece, the United Kingdom and New York, graduating with a BSc in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Bristol and an MFA in Interior Design from Parsons The New School for Design. Alexia currently lives in downtown Manhattan and is working on a hotel development in Greece.
Hume R. Steyer is a partner at Seward & Kissel LLP and the head of the firm’s Trusts & Estates and Charitable Organizations Group. He has practiced law since 1978. Hume is a member of the boards of the Lucretius Foundation, the Open Space Institute, Storm King Art Center, and the Black Rock Forest Preserve where he is currently the co-Chair of the Black Rock Forest Consortium.
Yerassimos Yannopoulos is leading the tax practice of Zepos & Yannopoulos in Athens, Greece. He focuses on tax planning for multi-national personal, active business and investment activities, with a particular emphasis on tax structuring for Greek and non-Greek business owners and investors. He has lectured at the Athens School of Economics on International Tax Law (Post-Graduate program on Taxation) from 2003 to 2011 and is recognized “Leading Individual” by Chambers & Partners Europe and by Legal 500 EMEA. Yerassimos has served on the Greek Advisory Board of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and also serves on the Board of the Benaki Museum, Athens.
Catherine Burns Tremaine graduated from the Louise S. McGehee School in 1942, attended Newcomb College for three-and-a-half years, married, and had one son. She later moved to New York City, a move that would lead her to the two true loves of her life — Burton Tremaine, Jr. and modern art. With Burton, Mrs. Tremaine managed their family’s vast art collection and philanthropic foundation. Ms. Tremaine earned her degree in Art History from the University of Massachusetts and lived in two custom-built homes in Hartford, Connecticut before returning to New Orleans where she currently resides and serves on the Boards New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans Symphony, New Orleans Opera, the Ochsner Clinic.
In Memoriam
During his 50-year tenure with New Orleans Museum of Art, Fagaly organized over 90 art exhibitions. As guest curator, he produced a variety of exhibitions for other institutions—including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, and the Museum of American Folk Art (MAFA) in New York City. In 1976, he co-founded the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. A founding board member of Prospect New Orleans, Fagaly was also board member of Newcomb Art Museum, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school (NOCCA), Congo Square Preservation Society and A Studio in the Woods, an artists residency program in New Orleans.
Lizzy Alejandro is a visual artist from The Bronx. She received her MFA in Digital Media from Lehman College in 2019. Her work explores themes of identity and challenges notions of the status quo.
Alejandro’s work has been exhibited at Fordham University, Taller Boricua Gallery, Lehman College Art Gallery, BronxArtSpace, Andrew Freedman Home, Lincoln Hospital, the Galleries at Krasdale Foods, the Bronx Latin American Art Biennial, Empty Set Gallery, Longwood Art Gallery, El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, RiverFront Art Gallery, Bethany Arts Community, the Photoville 11th Annual Festival, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, and Piano Craft Gallery.
Sesthasak Boonchai is a creative nomad and educator whose work runs the gamut from drawing, painting, time-based media, and installation. He explores the effects of time and distance on how we construct memories. As an educator he has taught at The New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, University of New Orleans, The School of Visual Arts, Tulane University and Maine College of Art. In addition, he has worked with a number of nonprofits and community groups and led workshops centered around visual storytelling. Sesthasak was president of the New Orleans photo Alliance and is based in New Orleans, LA.
Originally born in Cuba, Paola Camba is a multi disciplinary artist based in New York. Paola is interested in curation and community building through art programs.
Mohammed is a college graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and a minor in Japanese Language from Hunter College. He is a New York based software engineer that specializes in building and designing websites and web applications. In his free time he likes to build web apps centered around connecting people.
Konstantinos Kotsis is a visual artist who has collaborated from several work positions, with major cultural institutions and organizations in Greece, with Athens Epidaurus Festival and NEON among them. He also gained experience from smaller organizations and initiatives, and from art education as well. About his artistic practice, Kotsis is elaborating his research in construction. In 2019 he tοοκ part in the SNF Artist Fellowship Program, ARTWORKS. Works of his have been exhibited in several group exhibitions in Greece and abroad.
Juanita Lanzo is a visual artist, educator, and independent curator working in The Bronx.
Using imagery that alludes to living organisms, and the natural world, Ms. Lanzo reflects on themes of body politics, gender identity, desire, memory, the Caribbean and African Diasporic identity, postcolonialism, and racism. Her works have been included in group exhibitions at WallWorks NYC, Bronx Art Space, Hell Gate Arts, and Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, in the Bronx, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey, Taller Boricua, Clemente Soto Velez’s Cultural Center, Bullet Art Space, and Yi Gallery in NYC, and the University of Puerto Rico Galeria Oller, Museo de Arte e Historia, Galeria Sede del Instituto de Cultura, Museo de Arte de Caguas, and Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan PR.
Ms. Lanzo graduated from City College in NY (MFA 2004–Printmaking and Drawing/Painting) and from the University of Puerto Rico (BFA 1996–Printmaking and Drawing), and currently lives in East Harlem, NY
Eleni has studied Cultural Management at Hellenic Open University. Her master’s thesis is on artist residencies specializing in the Athenian context. She has been involved in various cultural projects since 2015 and has collaborated with cultural institutions such as Neon Organization, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, and documenta14. Eleni currently lives and works in Athens.
A native New Yorker, born in the Bronx, Earnie hopes to be a curator in the future. In May 2018, Earnie graduated from Bronx Community College and is now attending Hunter College.
Yorgo Alexopoulos creates time-based media artworks, paintings, and installations. He has presented solo exhibitions at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York, Cristin Tierney, New York, and most recently at the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA. Permanent public installations include in the Langham Hotel, Chicago, originally designed by Mies van der Rohe for IBM, the Cosmopolitan Hotel’s lobby in Las Vegas (both commissioned by Art Production Fund); and in the sky-lobby of the Norman Foster-designed Bow Building in Calgary, Canada. Based in Los Angeles, Alexopoulos is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spends his time between Los Angeles, New York, and Athens.
Cultural producer Chryssa Avrami has worked in numerous projects for theater, cinema, and television. Avrami was responsible for Public Relations at the Ministry of Culture and Sport for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. She was a founding member of the Sinthesis Media Company organizing cultural events, social actions and educational programs through the production and public promotion of major events in Greece. Avrami is also producer and presenter at “Hellenic Public Radio Cosmosfm 91.5” in New York City.
Marina Fokidis is a curator, writer, lecturer and institution-maker based in Athens, Greece. She founded the independent space Kunsthalle Athena, and South as a State of Mind, a biannual arts and culture journal. Fokidis was one of the curators of the 1st Tirana Biennial (2001), the commissionaire and the curator for the Greek Pavilion of the 50th Biennale di Venezia, co-curator of the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennial, and a part of the core team for documenta 14 (2017). She is currently the 2021 program curator for Engine of Art Democracy and Justice in Vanderbilt University, and an advisor at large for the educational and research program for Salzburg International Summer Academy for Fine Arts. Fokidis has been a juror for the Furla Award, the Deste Prize, the Bes Revelaco /Serralves Museum award, the Videobrasil 2017, the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2017 and the competition for the Holocaust Monument in Athens among others. She is also part of the editorial board and a regular editor of Flash Art Magazine.
Dr. Sozita Goudouna is a curator, adjunct professor at CUNY and the author of “Beckett’s Breath,” published by Edinburgh University Press released in the US by Oxford University Press. She is head of operations at Raymond Pettibon Studio and she is producing a multi-media project on Raymond Pettibon at the New Museum for Performa Biennial Consortium 2019. Sozita has taught at New York University as the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial fellow at Performa NY and has curated projects for Documenta 14, Onassis Foundation NYC, EMST among other institutions and museums. She served as the director of the European funded Art Residency in Athens and curated solo exhibitions by Lynda Benglis, Martin Creed, Santiago Sierra, Marina Abramovic among other artists. She holds a PhD from the University of London and has studied Visual Arts, Philosophy, Theatre, Directing in London [BA, MA Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) & Kings College London]. She was elected as Treasurer of the Board of Directors at International Association of Art Critics AICA Hellas and as Member of the Board of Directors at the Hellenic Centre of the International Theatre Institute Unesco.
Christine Licata is an Independent Curator, Arts Advocate and Consultant. She has served as the Executive Director at No Longer Empty, Director of Community and Public Programs at The Bronx Museum, Director of Performing and Visual Arts at Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, Associate Director of Visual Arts at the Boston Center for the Arts, and Chief Curator at Taller Boricua Galleries in Spanish Harlem. As an Art Writer and Critic, she has been published in exhibition and artist catalogs as well as written for Artlog, Degree Critical, PERFORMA 07 and Art on Paper. She has a BFA from Parsons/The New School for Design and an MFA in Art Criticism and Writing from the School of Visual Arts. She is an active Board Member of The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center and The Literary Freedom Project as well as The Community Advisory Council and Steering Committee for El Museo del Barrio.
Born and raised in New York City, Toula Livanos received her multiple Masters from NYU in Marketing, Fashion Institute of Technology in Buying & Merchandising, and St. John’s University in Real Estate. Toula works with Navios Maritime as Liaising for CEO/BOD, and Sotheby’s as Account Manager-Liaising for collectors & collectible departments. Toula’s love for art and collecting has led her to serve several nonprofits, including The Hellenic Initiative, spearheading the THI Online Auction, Tanenbaum on their Gala Committee, as well as the Drawing Center’s Gala Committee/Young Adults Group. Toula is currently serving on the Board of the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce and the Hellenic-American Cultural Foundation.
Anthony D. Meyers brings over 20 years of expertise in grants management, program management and evaluation, fund development, advocacy, and audience development. He is currently an Arts Program Specialist with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and has served as an arts administrator for a number of nonprofit cultural organizations across the New York tri-state area. He started Leading ChangeMakers in 2018, a social venture that utilizes education and interventions to achieve racial equity in nonprofit arts leadership and establish a more inclusive cultural sector. Anthony is currently completing an M.S. degree in Organizational Change Management and post-masters Certificate in Leadership and Change at The New School.
Iris Plaitakis is a visual artist working in textiles with over two decades of experience in the arts non-profit sector. She has worked in museum education at the Tate Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Acropolis Museum and the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum. Since 2009 she has also taught art history onsite for US university study abroad programs in Greece. She was a founding member of the Athens-based non-profit Lo and Behold, an artist-run platform for contemporary art activities. Iris studied at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and also holds an M.Phil in Classical Archaeology from the University of Oxford. She has been an artist in residence at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY. Iris served as Assistant Director of ARCAthens from its inception until 2022.
Hakan Topal is an artist living and working in Brooklyn. He co-founded xurban_collective (2000-12) and exhibited extensively in institutions such as the 8th and 9th Istanbul Biennials; apexart, New York; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Vienna; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; MoMA PS1; Platform, Istanbul, the 9th Gwangju Biennial and ICP Museum, New York. Topal represented Turkey in various international exhibitions including the 49th Venice Biennial Turkish Pavilion. He is currently an Assistant Professor of New Media and Art + Design at Purchase College, SUNY.
Jannis Varelas lives and works between Athens, Los Angeles and Vienna and is a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, and the Athens School of Fine Arts. Selected solo shows include: Gallery Krinzinger, Vienna, The Breeder, Athens, Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, and Kunsthalle Athena, among others. He has exhibited in group shows in the DESTE Foundation, Benaki Museum, Saatchi Gallery, Palais de Tokyo, the New Museum, Kunsthalle Wien, and the New Orleans Biennial Prospect 1, among others. His work can be found in the Saatchi Collection, London; the Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens; the Zabludowicz Collection, London; The Onassis Foundation Collection, New York and The Hort Family Collection, New York.
Beth Venn is an accomplished arts and culture professional, curator and writer with expertise in American modernism and contemporary art. She most recently served as Deputy Director of the Andrew Freedman Home, an artist residency and culture center in the Bronx. Prior to that, she was Senior Curator of American Art at the Newark Museum and has held curatorial positions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has conducted strategic planning projects with museums and performing art centers and consults for arts and education non-profits. She is based in New York City.
217 E 70th St, #801
New York, NY 10021
ARC Athens Inc. is a New York charitable corporation, exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are fully tax-deductible as allowed by law.