Summer 2023 Youth Zine
ABOUT
THE CREATIVE GUTS TEAM
Founders Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman began the Creative Guts Podcast in the spring of 2019, interviewing creatives of all different disciplines and releasing episodes for free. Observing a need for further events and programming that would serve the creative community in New Hampshire, and to create an organization that would live beyond the founders' tenure, Creative Guts evolved into a nonprofit in 2021. In 2023, Creative Guts was honored as the recipient for the 2023 NH Governor’s Arts Award for Creative Communities. The NH Governor’s Arts Awards publicly recognize outstanding contributions to the state’s arts and cultural life made by individuals, organizations, and communities and are given every other year.
Creative Guts' mission is to awaken creativity within people of all ages by curating an environment for connection, collaboration, and the opportunity for gutsy creatives to share their stories with the world. Creative Guts’ program of work is rooted in creating opportunities for people to share their creativity, collaborate and connect with one another, and feel empowered and encouraged to explore their creativity.
Creative Guts serves practicing creatives of all disciplines by offering opportunities for them to share their work and tell their stories through the podcast, zines, events, tiny art exchanges, and more. The organization's goal is to strike a balance between curated opportunities (e.g., the zines and the podcast) and opportunities that are open to all (e.g. tiny art exchanges, open mics).
Additionally, Creative Guts aims to serve those that don't yet identify as creatives by offering programming that aims to unleash the inner artist in all. Our goal is to welcome everyone to the Creative Guts' community and empower and encourage people of all ages to flex their creative muscles.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Laura Harper Lake
Co-Founder &
Chair
Laura Harper Lake is an interdisciplinary artist, with a prime focus on painting, illustration, digital painting, and mixed media. She graduated with a degree in Studio Arts from Chester College of New England in 2007. Laura has exhibited her work in various New Hampshire, Maine, and Boston, MA galleries, as well as had her work included in publications. Laura works under the name Artful Harper Studios. Laura is also the graphic designer and a business advisor for the Regional Economic Development Center, a non-profit focused on creating opportunities for small businesses in New Hampshire. She is a graduate of Leadership New Hampshire and is a“10 to Watch” winner by Seacoast Media Group and Catapult Seacoast. Laura and her husband Geoff live in Epping, NH, with a plucky pup, named Max, and an omniscient feline, Rainer Maria.
Becky Barsi
Vice Chair
Becky Barsi is a multimedia artist whose background is as varied as the artwork she creates. Coming from a family of artists and creatives, she approaches creation with experimentation and play. Becky is an art teacher at the Derryfield School in Manchester, NH. She was honored to be recognized as the 2020 NAEA Independent School Art Educator of the Year, as well as the 2023 New Hampshire Art Educator of the Year.
Sarah Wrightsman
Co-Founder &
Secretary
Sarah Wrightsman is an advocate for housing, the arts, and the great state of New Hampshire. By day, Sarah is the Manager of Community Engagement and Education at New Hampshire Housing. Sarah was named 40 Under Forty by Union Leader; New Hampshire Magazine’s “It List”; “10 to Watch” winner by Seacoast Media Group and Catapult Seacoast; and the 2018 Civic Leader of the Year by Stay Work Play NH and NH Public Radio. Born and raised in Nottingham, Sarah is a lifelong resident of New Hampshire’s seacoast and a devoted lover of the Granite State. In her free time, Sarah loves hiking NH's mountains, reading, and playing ultimate. In addition to Creative Guts, Sarah serves as the President of Seacoast Ultimate. Sarah lives in Newmarket with her husband and their toddler and pet rabbit.
Karla Dillon
Treasurer
Karla Dillon brings over 20 years of accounting and finance experience to the team and her creative superpowers include the orderly capture and clear presentation of financial data. She is a passionate and active supporter of local art and her community. Karla is also well known by dogs and birds for providing affection, treats, and kind words to all.
Angie Lane
Angie Lane serves as the Executive Director of Red River Theatres, a nonprofit independent cinema in Concord. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor's degree in communications, Angie brings significant experience in development, community relations, event creation and management, and marketing. Past roles include stints with New Hampshire Public Radio, the Concord Monitor, SiverTech, and Company C.
Actively engaged in community efforts, Angie currently serves on the board of directors for the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce. In 2016, Angie was named the Concord Young Professional of the Year, in 2018 was honored as part of the New Hampshire Union Leader's Forty Under 40, and in 2024 was named to NH Business Review's New Hampshire 200 List.
Angie grew up in Pembroke and currently lives in Manchester with her partner, Will; bonus son, Zeke; and the cat of her dreams, Finn.
Director
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Jozimar Matimano is an NH-based painter. His gripping paintings depict contemporarily-relevant matters using a traditional approach to oil painting. Matimano was born in the East Democratic Republic of Congo, Butembo, where he grew up and moved to Uganda at ten. In 2016, Matimano moved from Uganda to Manchester, NH, as a refugee through the International Institute of New England program. In 2019, he began his BFA at the Institute of Art at New England College. He received an associate degree in Liberal Arts at Manchester Community College in 2023. Since, he has exhibited in the region, and is actively involved in community organizing and mural projects.
Jozimar Matimano
Director
Toni Weinstein
Toni lives in Newmarket with her husband Josh and two teenage boys. Community involvement has been the focus of her life for the past 20 years. She currently serves on the board of the Newmarket Community Development Corporation and is a regular volunteer at the NCC Food Pantry, where she is focused on providing nutrition information and resources to her community. Toni served 9 years as a Newmarket Town Councilor and was committed to improving the quality of life in her town. Other work includes serving on the board of the Newmarket Community Education Partnership, the Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention, and the Berwick Parent Committee.
Director
Joe Acone
Joe Acone is an artist, designer, nerd, and educator from southern New Hampshire. His creative passions reside at the intersection of portrait painting, game design, fantasy/scifi illustration, and performance art. He has half a decade of college teaching experience and is the current acting chair of the Arts and Design program at the Derryfield School. His artistic practice intermingles with his teaching praxis, and is always striving to inspire his students to claim and elevate their own creative practices. He is also a woodworker, bread baker, Dungeon Master, and cat dad.
Director
Our Strategic Plan
In late 2021, the Creative Guts team embarked on a strategic planning process and developed this strategic plan to guide our work for the following three years.
2023 Annual Report
The 2023 Creative Guts Annual Report reviews the organization's programs, key partners, financials, and more in a visually appealing two-page summary.
2024 Annual Report
The 2024 Creative Guts Annual Report reviews the organization's programs, key partners, financials, and more in a visually appealing two-page summary.
Creative Guts Received the 2023 NH Governor’s Arts Award for Creative Communities
Creative Guts is honored to have been selected as the recipient for the 2023 NH Governor’s Arts Award for Creative Communities. The NH Governor’s Arts Awards publicly recognize outstanding contributions to the state’s arts and cultural life made by individuals, organizations, and communities and are given every other year.
The New Hampshire 2023 Governor’s Arts Awards ceremony was live streamed via the Arts Council’s Facebook and YouTube accounts from StudioLab in Derry, N.H. on October 23, 2023. In addition to the award presentations, the event include video profiles of each winner and live music. You can watch the Creative Guts profile and the award ceremony on the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts YouTube Channel.
The N.H. Governor’s Arts Awards publicly recognize outstanding contributions to the state’s arts and cultural life made by individuals, organizations and communities and are given every other year. Awardees receive a sculpture designed and created by André Belanger of Berlin that echoes the N.H. State House Eagle, widely considered the first piece of public art in the state.
To be eligible for nominations, individuals must reside in New Hampshire or have made significant contributions to the arts while living in New Hampshire; nominated organizations, cities and towns must be physically located in New Hampshire.
We are humbled and honored to have been selected for this award. Receiving this award means a lot to us. We’d like to thank Governor Sununu and the NH State Council on the Arts for this award. We also would like to thank our partners, sponsors, guests of the show, participants of our events, and the listeners. You make Creative Guts what it is and we appreciate you. Creative Guts has been a labor of love — it’s been fun, but it’s also been hard work — it means a lot to know that our work matters.
