Santa Barbara Dance Institute Board Members

Board PResident

LINDA GARDY has worked in the public sector of Santa Barbara for has worked in the public sector of Santa Barbara for over 20 years. She began her career working at Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Dept. handling clerical responsibilities. Then worked at Santa Barbara County Mental Health for roughly 5 years as an office and health care assistant. She then moved to the Santa Barbara County Probation Department and held the position of Administrative Support Supervisor where she managed at least 20 people in addition to handling background checks for potential employees. Her most cherished position was at the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission (now known as the Santa Barbara Office of Arts & Culture) where she was the Department Analyst for 15 years. In addition, Linda has volunteered for various organizations including, board secretary of Santa Barbara Cultural Development Foundation, board secretary of Community School Inc., board member of SBDI, and volunteer at City at Peace. over 20 years. She began her career working at Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Dept. handling clerical responsibilities. Then worked at Santa Barbara County Mental Health for roughly 5 years as an office and health care assistant. She then moved to the Santa Barbara County Probation Department and held the position of Administrative Support Supervisor where she managed at least 20 people in addition to handling background checks for potential employees. Her most cherished position was at the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission (now known as the Santa Barbara Office of Arts & Culture) where she was the Department Analyst for 15 years. In addition, Linda has volunteered for various organizations including, board secretary of Santa Barbara Cultural Development Foundation, board secretary of Community School Inc., board member of SBDI, and volunteer at City at Peace.

Board Member

FELICIA MUÑOZ is a product of Santa Barbara’s rich Arts community. As the daughter of a local Mexican painter and musician, Felicia grew up exposed to the cultures and traditions of his diverse friend group. She has been privileged to be raised attending countless musical celebrations, including son jarocho fandangos, Brazilian capoeira batizados, and rumbas in her aunt's backyard. Some of her first memories of dance are in her childhood living room dancing to the basic Cuban rhythms made by the musicians' drums. Felicia feels it is her responsibility to pass on the knowledge that was bestowed upon her to the newest generations in the Santa Barbara community.

 Ms. Muñoz earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from UCSB and a Master’s in Education from the Gervitz Graduate School of Education. She quickly began teaching in Public Elementary Schools in Santa Barbara and Goleta. She is passionate about serving the children of the community she was brought up in. To honor her heritage as a Mexican American, she is dedicated to supporting and advocating for Latino families in our community.  

Felicia personally knows the impact that programs provided through public education can have on a child. She began training in the Japanese martial art Aikido at the age of 11 through a program provided by a collaboration between Santa Barbara Junior High and Aikido of Santa Barbara. One of the principals for advancement is sharing knowledge and guiding the lower ranking students of one’s dojo. Felicia began teaching children’s classes at the age of 15 and adult classes at the age of 18. Felicia currently holds a second degree black belt with the United States Aikido Federation and has been fortunate to train across the US and Europe. This experience kindled her love of teaching and ultimately shaped her trajectory towards public education.

Board Secretary

GINNY BRUSH, prior to her work in the public sector as an arts administrator, Ginny Brush spent 15 years as an arts educator in secondary schools, and served as an Artist in Residence for 2 years in the Rhode Island School of Design’s Summer Program. She received her art degree and teaching credential at UC Santa Barbara. Following teaching she spent 15 years in the private sector in the arena of advertising, marketing and design while devoting time to exhibiting fine art photography.

Ginny Brush served as Visual Arts Coordinator at the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission for 6 years before becoming the Executive Director from 2006-2015. In that role she worked closely with regional nonprofits, foundations, and governmental agencies. A strong advocate for using arts and cultural programs to engage community and increase access to the arts for the underserved, Ms. Brush successfully fostered collaboration and engaged diverse coalitions of nonprofits and community resources to realize a number of high profile free public programs. Among them are the Free Summer Film Series at the Courthouse, and Pianos on State.

During her tenure she was instrumental in the development of policies and programs that include the City Poet Laureate program, Santa Barbara Airport Terminal’s public art program, and Santa Barbara’s 1st Thursday Downtown cultural nights. For this work she was honored as Citizen of the Year in 2009 by Downtown Santa Barbara; and as a Local Hero in 2012 by the Santa Barbara Independent for her arts advocacy efforts.

In retirement Ginny currently serves on the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative Board of which she is a founding member.

Founder & Director

ROSALINA MACISCO, is a Choreographer, Dance Educator, Stage Director, and Founder of Santa Barbara Dance Institute (SBDI). Ms. Macisco is the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and Italian American father.  She is bilingual, first generation latinx and New York native who has performed professionally for 15+ years, appearing in Off-Broadway plays, regional theater productions, and national television commercials. She has also toured with many musical productions throughout Europe. 

Believing that dance should be a part of every child’s education she has developed educational dance programs for public schools and provides professional development for schoolteachers so they too can implement dance into their curriculum.  Since founding SBDI in 2005, the institute has grown from reaching 80+ students to over 20,000+ per year through both direct programming and SBDI’s professional development, Dance Infusion Program (DIP).

A life-long learner, Rosalina dedicates time for her growth in teaching as well as leadership.  During her transition from full-time performer to teacher she received certification from The National Dance Institute in New Mexico. She participated in Luna Dance Institute’s yearlong teacher development program as well as the Your Turn Project in order to train other dance educators. She is an alumnus of the National Guild for Community Arts & Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) as well as of Leading from Within.   A fan of growth, she has also attended courses with Language of Dance and the Dance Education Lab. Rosalina holds a BA in drama and Spanish from Fordham University. 

Board tresurer

PETER MATTHIES is a former Venture Capitalist and founder of the Conscious Business Institute (CBI). Before founding the CBI, Peter was a Principal for a globally leading Private Equity and Venture Capital firm, Apax Partners & Co, and for b-business partners, a $ 1 billion pan-European VC fund.

Peter co-founded an IT company and started his career at Accenture in Germany. He published 2 books and several dozen articles on business, finance, leadership, martial arts, and technology.

The Conscious Business Institute provides an step-by-step system for building more inspiring, conscious organizations, including the Conscious Business Culture Assessment™ and the Conscious Business Culture & Leadership Programs™, which can scale to serve any number of users across the world. CBI’s programs have been applied in organizations from 1 to 100,000 employees, including Starbucks, BMW Group, Siemens, Alllianz, Intel, and others.

Peter is a faculty member of the Goethe Business School in Frankfurt, serves as a global advisor of the Climate Prosperity Alliance, and is on the board of several for-profit and non-profit organizations.

He lives in Santa Barbara, California, and gets a kick out of Aikido, Capoeira, sailing, and a good dance with his wife.