Lisa Hoitsma
Executive Director

Since April, 2000, Lisa has enjoyed her role as Executive Director at Gateway, having previously served as Associate Director of Young Audiences of Maryland since 1995. Lisa has a BA from Hampshire College and a masters in performance from New England Conservatory, with a background in music performance and teaching at the community college level.

Currently she serves on the board of directors of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, the Steering Council of the Arts Education Collaborative, the Community Advisory Board of WQED Multimedia, and the Program Committee of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Lisa has served on grant panels and teaching artist rostering panels for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Nevada Arts Council and the Baltimore City Mayor's Advisory Council on Art and Culture. She was a board officer of Baltimore Artists' Housing, a living/working cooperative in East Baltimore.

Lisa is married to Buck Favorini, a theatre arts professor at University of Pittsburgh, and lives in Squirrel Hill with their 2 cats, 1 dog, many vegetables and random visiting stepchildren.

Heidi Baldt-Matthews
Programming Coordinator

Heidi joined Gateway to the Arts in 2004 after completing a BA in Theatre and a Business Management Minor from Point Park University the previous year. She serves as Programming Coordinator at Gateway to the Arts and is the primary liaison between schools and Gateway performing artists. She is an alumna of the Coro Women in Leadership program, a member of the steering council for Pittsburgh Emerging Arts Leaders and is currently a graduate student in the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University.

She has volunteered and worked as a freelance stage manager and director for arts organizations in the Pittsburgh community including Prime Stage Theatre, Gemini Theatre, and Pittsburgh New Works Festival. In 2008, Heidi and her husband, David Matthews, co-founded the Eclectic Laboratory Chamber Orchestra, a collection of young-professional musicians with a shared interest in contemporary classical and rock music.

Carly V. McCoy
Marketing and Development Manager

The most recent addition, Carly joined Gateway in August 2009, after receiving her MBA from Point Park University in Sports, Arts and Entertainment Management. For nearly eight years prior, she worked as the Education Assistant at the Frick Art & Historical Center, where she gained valuable experience in arts education, marketing and design. She holds a BA in History from the University of Pittsburgh.

An active volunteer, Carly has recently served on committees for WYEP's Rock the Block, the Pittsburgh Triathlon & Adventure Race, American Shorts 2009 Summer Series and the Woodland Hills School District Foundation. She moonlights as a consultant for her husband's hot rod restoration business, Elstner's Rod & Kustom. She's passionate about value of the arts in Pittsburgh and is rarely more that an arm's reach from one of her cameras.

Kellee Van Aken
Programming Supervisor

Joined Gateway in the summer of 2008. She holds a PhD in Theatre History and Performance Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters in Theatre History from the University of California, Davis and has taught at Oberlin College, Point Park University and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1999-2007, Kellee served as the Artistic Associate at City Theatre, where she launched the Young Playwrights program, helped with season selection, directed for the Young Playwrights and Momentum Festivals, both of which she also produced, and handled casting and line production.

Fuzzy Boundary, the production company she has with artist Cheryl Capezzuti, has presented work for the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater Festival, the Philly Fringe Festival, and the Black Sheep Puppet Festival. Fuzzy Boundary's musical Stuff is rostered with Gateway to the Arts. She is a freelance director, actress, and playwright who has worked with the Future Tenant, Point Park Rep Co., Seton Hill University, and timespace.

Carol Wolfe
Program Manager, Professional Development and Early Learning
Regional Director, Western Pennsylvania Wolf Trap

Carol has been with Gateway to the Arts since 1998, beginning as the Special Projects Coordinator and serving for five years as Education Director. Currently she serves as Program Manager for Professional Development and Early Learning as well as Regional Director for Gateway's newest initiative, the Western Pennsylvania Wolf Trap Program. Carol taught secondary French for seven years before embarking on a career in the performing arts and vocal studies in New York City. Prior to coming to Gateway, Carol worked as School Program Coordinator for New Jersey Ballet and Development Associate for Garden State Ballet. She is an opera chorister with Pittsburgh Opera, performing in mainstage productions each season at the Benedum Center.

She serves as Vice-Chair of the Pittsburgh area Executive Committee of the American Guild of Musical Artists, on the Standards and Advocacy Committee of the Arts Education Collaborative, the Steering Committee of Pittsburgh Public Schools' Early Childhood Arts Integration initiative and on the Advisory Committee of the Pittsburgh Public Schools' Culturally Responsive Arts Education initiative. Carol is a member of AGMA, Actor's Equity Association, Phi Delta Kappa International and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  She holds a BA from Indiana University in French and Spanish and an MA from the University of Notre Dame in Modern Languages.