Evanston Made is a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization managed by a board of directors and two co-directors, see below. We rely on support from volunteers, contractors and pro bono specialists to sustain our ambitious schedule of programs and events. If you'd like to support our work in any of these roles, please fill out this volunteer form here and we'll connect with you soon.
501(c)3 Non-profit arts organization, EVANSTON MADE
EIN#84-3971750
Lisa Degliantoni
Founder & Co-Director
Lisa Degliantoni, is a community builder in the arts who has been organizing, promoting and celebrating Evanston artists and creative entrepreneurs since she moved to Evanston in 2012. Lisa is a champion for artists, recognized by local leadership as the go-to person for all things arts related in town. Before securing Evanston Made' 501(c)3 status, she worked with community members and volunteers to coordinate arts initiatives through the moniker of Evanston Made, with popular events like studio tours, Maker's Markets and the Evanston Made Group Show. Evanston Made has since added to these offerings and now hosts year round programming such as First Saturdays, professional development workshops, storefront activations, community art projects, member mixers and so much more. Before moving to Evanston, Lisa pursued a career in media, to include hosting a talk radio show in El Paso, TX, titled "Charlando con la Gringa." LinkedIn profile here. Photo by Joerg Metzner.
Liz Cramer
Co-Director
Liz spent much of her career in corporate leadership positions. As a Regional Marketing Director and Field VP, she has worked with retailers to develop corporate sales, marketing and customer service strategies, merchandising and event plans to enhance brand awareness and engagement. For her company and her staff she created and facilitated education programs to maximize the talent and potential of account teams and sales force, while building succession plans for sustainable success.
In her role as Co-Director of Evanston Made, she works with artists, business partners and community leaders to further the mission of Evanston Made and support member artists through programing, promotions and professional development. “Life is about connections. My strengths lie in bringing creative thinking, conceptualizations and a collaborative spirit to my work.” .
Liz is also the ceramic artist behind Artisan & Sage and creates functional ceramics with a touch of nature. She continues to experiment with new techniques and different mediums, including painting and weaving.
Website: http://artisanandsage.com
Denise W. Barreto
Board President
Denise is not an artist, per se.
Yet she's been art adjacent her entire life and is excited to lend her talents to advance art in her adopted hometown of Evanston.
An entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker, Denise W. Barreto is a prominent 21st Century voice on leadership and storytelling. Whether she’s executing in her role as a business strategist and managing partner of Relationships Matter Now, LLC or behind the camera in her latest roles of executive producer and co-founder of Serqet Productions and Media, LLC, Denise is always challenging the status quo and building new, more inclusive narratives and environments across government, nonprofit, corporate and Hollywood multimedia entities.
Denise and her small firm are leading a new conversation about equity, inclusion and diversity in philanthropic, corporate and government entities across the United States, challenging and reshaping narratives and social norms.
Personal leadership is just as vital as organizational leadership to Denise. Before it was cool for young women of color to run for political office (2009), she was twice elected to the Board of Trustees for the Village of Lake in the Hills, IL. Since 2014, Denise has served on the Illinois Business Enterprise Program Council, a state commission that helps to implement, monitor, and enforce the goals of the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Females and Persons with Disabilities Act appointed by former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. She serves on the Parks and Recreation Board for the City of Evanston and as an advisory board member of the 101 Best and Brightest Places to Work - Chicago Chapter.
Denise has recalibrated all aspects of her life in the last 48 months and has chronicled this journey in “healing tattoos” across her body. This newly minted outdoors gal enjoys trekking through local, state and national parks whenever ever she can or spending time laughing, enjoying meals and traveling with her progeny - visual artist and fashion school student Emma and Evan, her high school aged musician and digital artist.
Denise's first production as a television executive producer , Fly Brother with Ernest White II is currently running on PBS affiliates across the United States.
Mickie French
Board Member
Mickie has spent most of her career in creative agencies and not for profit organizations. She is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Food Integrity, a not for profit organization focused on building trust in the food industry.
Mickie has a long history of volunteer and career work in the arts. She served as the VP of Marketing at the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center where she led marketing and development efforts for 9 Charlotte, NC arts organizations. From 2009 to 2014, Mickie served on the board of the Columbus Nebraska Arts Council where she led community strategy for the library and arts council in partnership with the city and the Chamber of Commerce. During her tenure, the council gained approval for a downtown redevelopment plan which included a new library and artistic space, bringing the Arts Council out of the basement and literally to the streets of town. Mickie also served as the head of the Downtown Business Association leading the charge to reinvigorate the downtown area. The new library, children’s museum and Arts Council building opened in 2023.
A passionate advocate for global education, Mickie has served on the Executive Leadership Committee and various other volunteer committees of The Thunderbird School of Global Management where she earned an MBA in International Management. She was a frequent guest lecturer at the Singapore Management University and the Budapest University of Economics. Photo by Joerg Metzner
Anne Laverick
Board Member
Anne is a Manager in the Corporate Finance and Planning Team at Rotary International, and oversees accounting and reporting for operations, investments, salaries and benefits, and supporting the International Assembly and Convention. Anne has thirty years’ career experience working for both large and small for profit companies responsible for financial reporting, including corporate consolidations and SEC reporting.
EM Board Focus areas: TREASURER
Mat Rappaport
Board Member
Mat Rappaport is a Chicago based artist, curator, and educator known for works that utilize mobile video, performance, and photography to explore habitation, mass-tourism, perception, and power as related to built environments. Recent projects include the range series of performances employing commercial trucks, augmented with external cameras that capture video from the surrounding environment, and screens onto which video is projected as the truck navigates the city. Sitting in the passenger seat of the truck, the artist “remixes” the environment in real-time, performing a moving intervention into architectural space. range continues Mat Rappaport’s effort to shape the experience of urban environments through media-based interventions. In 2018, Rappaport developed the Range Mobile Lab, a platform for practice-based research based on a 1995 GMC delivery truck. The Range Mobile Lab serves to extend the range performances, architectural collaborations, and direct community engagement.
Rappaport’s work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally in museums, galleries, film festivals, and public spaces. Recent projects have been featured during EXPO Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2019 and 2017, Anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, Italy, and 2018 Ann Arbor Film Festival and performances with the Range Mobile Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Block Museum at Northwestern University.
Rappaport is an Associate Professor in Cinema and Television Arts at Columbia College in Chicago.