AAW TEAM

ARTISTS AT WORK is an initiative of FreshGrass Foundation and THE OFFICE performing arts & film, an independent performing arts and film curator and production company based in New York and London. For more information and a list of the full team at THE OFFICE, click here.

For specific inquiries about ARTISTS AT WORK, please reach out via our contact form to the attention of one our team members below.

Founding Director

  • Rachel Chanoff has been working in performing arts and film for 40 years and is the founder and director of THE OFFICE performing arts + film, her New York City-based programming, consulting, and production company. She is the Curator of Performing Arts and Film for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Consultant to the Feature Film Program for the Sundance Institute, Curator of The New York Jewish Film Festival and The Margaret Mead Film Festival, and Senior Artistic Advisor to the FreshGrass Foundation. She served as the Director of Programming of the CenterSeries at the '62 Center for Theater and Dance at Williams College for 20 years and as the Artistic Director of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival for 30 years. Rachel is proud to serve on the board of the 52nd Street Project and Working Films. She is also a long time participant in the Theater Development Fund’s Open Doors program, which introduces underserved high school students to the New York theater scene.

    Professional highlight: Standing shoulder to shoulder with Prince in the wings at Celebrate Brooklyn! before his surprise performance.

  • While studying English and American Musical Culture at Georgetown, Catherine followed her love of music and multimedia storytelling through Washington D.C., working everywhere from college radio studios and record stores to NPR Music and The Kennedy Center. After graduation, Catherine spent four years with the Performing Arts team at MASS MoCA where she offered administrative and front of house support to events from major music festivals to site-specific works in the museum’s galleries and spearheaded local artist outreach.

    Since landing in New York and joining THE OFFICE in 2017, Catherine has been lucky to cross the city and globe working on projects like William Kentridge's Sibyl andThe Head & the Load and Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, among others, and to learn from and work with incredible community-minded artists and organizations across the country as a part of the Artists At Work team. In her off hours, she can usually be found at her loom, weaving away to a good record.

    Professional highlight: Celebrating The Head & the Load’s return to the stage in Miami after 3+ years of pandemic delay by starting the post-show company dance party with truly uncharacteristic verve.

Fundraising + Program Development

  • Scout studied Social Policy and Sociology at Tulane University with an emphasis on dismantling the social and public policies that perpetuate ableism in the United States. Scout has worked in the Public Policy field at various New York-based organizations including The Law Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, The Fair Housing Justice Center, and The Innocence Project. She is particularly drawn to the intersection of social justice and the arts. This passion guided her work at both Fotografiska New York City and ArtXNYC. Scout joined THE OFFICE in 2020 and is thrilled to be on a team committed to art and artists facilitating social impact. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, watching movies, spending time with her (hairless) dog, Daisy, and traveling.

    Professional highlight: Helping to roll out the ongoing national expansion of Artists At Work!

Program Manager

  • Elias Garza is an Indianapolis-based curator and artist dedicated to amplifying diverse voices in art spaces. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History from the Herron School of Art and Design and a Museum Studies Certificate from the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University Indianapolis.

    From 2021 to 2023, he served as a curatorial assistant at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, where he contributed to various exhibition projects, notably the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, which has celebrated and supported contemporary Indigenous artists since 1999. There he served as a member of the museum's DEAI council.

    Recently, Garza has worked as gallery manager and curator at Herron Galleries, where he has curated exhibitions featuring both local and national BIPOC artists. He has also served as Exhibitions Manager at GANGGANG, helping bring to life the BUTTER art fair among several public art initiatives in Indianapolis and the surrounding areas.

    His curatorial practice, inspired by his upbringing in the borderlands and Midwest, focuses on expanding visibility for artists from intersectional and diasporic backgrounds.

Program Liaison

  • A strategic and collaborative arts leader, Nadine brings over fifteen years of experience realizing complex cultural initiatives across various sectors. She rejoined THE OFFICE in 2021 and currently serves as the Managing Director of Artists At Work, a national workforce resilience program designed to support artists and their communities through artistic civic engagement. Previously, Nadine served as Executive Director of Rooftop Films, guiding the organization through the pandemic to continue bringing impactful cultural events to NYC. She was also part of The Shed's inaugural leadership team, contributing to its successful launch. A seasoned executive producer, she has specialized in commissioning and developing new work by luminary artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Björk, Quincy Jones, Steve McQueen, William Kentridge, Claudia Rankine, William Forsythe, and many others. Nadine holds a Master of Public Affairs and a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Leadership, providing a strong foundation for her vision for cultural strategy.

    Professional Highlight: It’s a tie – dancing at rehearsal with Quincy Jones and hopping on stage to sing as part of Hal Willner’s Neil Young Project at the Vancouver Cultural Olympiad.

Managing Director

  • Gabriela Yadegari’s work as an artist and educator is largely informed by their upbringing in Tucson, Arizona where they were raised in a multicultural household. From a young age, their love for art was nurtured by the diverse and creative community of the borderlands. Finding inspiration in their community's resilience and commitment to justice, Gabriela has devoted their professional career to encourage artmaking as a means of expression and connection by contributing to the creation and expansion of public programs for cultural organizations in art and radio. While living in Tucson, they worked for several nonprofit arts organizations including Arts for All, KXCI Community Radio, and Groundworks. Gabriela relocated to Vermont where they received their BA from Bennington College in 2021 with concentrations in Visual Arts, Sound Studies, and Public Action. During their time in Vermont, they continued to pursue their efforts in education and cultural organizations for Bennington College Radio, Molly Stark Elementary School, Burlington Community Justice Center, and MASS MoCA. Gabriela moved to New York City and joined the team at Artists At Work as an Administrative Fellow for the Borderlands region in 2022.

Program Coordinator