Chariti Montez
Director
(she/they)
chariti.l.montez@portlandoregon.gov
Chariti has worked for the City of Portland since 2010 and joined the Office of Arts & Culture (formerly the City Arts Program) in October 2023. Before joining the City Arts Program, Chariti served as the Houselessness Strategies Manager and led the creation and implementation of the City’s Safe Rest Villages. Prior to that, she served as Commissioner Ryan’s Senior Policy & Strategic Initiatives Advisor and liaison to the Bureau of Development Services and the Portland Housing Bureau.
Prior to joining Commissioner Ryan’s Office, Chariti led the City’s food security efforts in response to COVID-19 and managed the Portland Parks & Recreation’s Summer Free For All programs, including Free Lunch + Play, Concerts and Movies in the Parks, and the Washington Park Summer Festival. A lifelong musician, Chariti builds community through music and cultural events. Over the last 15+ years she has performed in, produced, or promoted hundreds of shows – mostly Jazz, Brazilian, and Mexican folk music – in small to mid-size venues across Portland.
Chariti served on the board of the St Johns Center for Opportunity, was a member of the Metro Parks and Nature Equity Advisory Committee, and is a former Board Chair of The City Repair Project. Chariti is the 2022 recipient of the Betsy Ames Leadership Award. In their free time, Chariti enjoys growing flowers, making things, playing music, reading books, and spending time with friends and family in Mexico. Chariti lives in North Portland.
Darion Jones
Assistant Director
(he/they)
darion.jones@portlandoregon.gov
As Commissioner Ryan's policy advisor for arts and culture, Darion collaborates closely with the City Arts Program. Darion is driven by a passion and dedication to social justice. A commitment to leveling the field of opportunity so that all Oregonians can reach their full potential is what fuels him.
A tenured Oregonian, Darion believes having a strong network and support system to be essential to thrive in society today. Through his work, he feels empowered to give back to the communities that have supported him along the way.
Prior to joining Commissioner Ryan’s team, Darion served for nearly six years on the communications team at Meyer Memorial Trust—one of the largest private philanthropies in Oregon that commits its position, resources, and energies to dismantling barriers to equity and improving community conditions. Before Meyer, Darion worked on the communications team at Basic Rights Oregon. Following his passions for advocacy, social and racial justice, he has built community and fostered lasting change throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
A former board chair for Q Center Portland and Sankofa Collective Northwest (formerly PFLAG Portland Black Chapter), Darion currently serves as a board member of the University of Oregon’s Pride board, President of City Club of Portland’s Board of Directors, and host and creator of QTPOCTalk, a podcast focusing on the intersections of race, identity, and gender. Darion is also a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Oregon Class of XL.
Jeff Hawthorne
Grants Program Manager
(he/him)
jeff.hawthorne@portlandoregon.gov
A lifelong arts advocate, Jeff joined the City Arts Program in November, 2020. From 2002-2019 he was the Director of Community Engagement for the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), leading the organization’s advocacy, communications, fundraising and outreach initiatives. He launched the state’s first United Arts Fund and workplace giving campaign for the arts, organized the staff and board to articulate the organization's commitment to equity, and built a public-private partnership to support arts integration in classrooms through The Right Brain Initiative. He was also an active member of the Creative Advocacy Network that won 62% voter approval for Portland’s Arts Education and Access Income Tax in 2012, and served as the organization's interim executive director from 2018-2019.
In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, as an independent contractor, Jeff collaborated with federal, state, and local officials to help secure emergency support for artists and arts organizations, including $50 million in CARES funding from the state legislature for arts organizations and entertainment venues in Oregon. He is also the state advocacy captain for Americans for the Arts and a board member for the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.
Jeff graduated from the University of Portland with a degree in Theater Management and worked for several years with Portland Center Stage and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. He lives in North Portland.
Dawn Isaacs
Arts Education Coordinator
(she/her)
dawn.isaacs@portlandoregon.gov
As the Arts Education Coordinator, Dawn Isaacs is helping the City develop clear and consistent data to assess and communicate the impact of our Arts Education & Access Fund (arts tax) investments. She coordinates and collaborates with arts teachers, principals, superintendents, and our AEAF Oversight Committee.
Dawn is an education leader with 25 years of experience teaching and leading in public, public charter, and independent schools around the country. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in educational leadership. Dawn has taught elementary school, designed and implemented professional learning, facilitated curriculum alignment, and led teams of educators. A seeker of new experiences, she was a founding faculty member of a public school serving military families in Key West, served as the curator of education for a maritime museum, and taught English as a Foreign Language in Costa Rica. For the past five years Dawn has been the head of Preschool through Fifth Grade at Catlin Gabel School in Portland. She enjoys hiking, sailing, and neighborhood walks. Dawn is a firm believer of the important role the arts play in children’s lives and loves attending concerts, plays, and art exhibits with her two young children.
Soo Pak
Arts, Culture & Special Events Manager
(she/her)
soo.pak@portlandoregon.gov
Part of both Portland Parks & Recreation and Office of Arts & Culture teams, Soo is the Arts, Culture & Special Events Manager. She oversees Parks & Recreation's arts centers, including the Community Music Center, Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center [IFCC], and Multnomah Arts Center. Soo also manages outdoor cultural events like Summer Free For All, Free Lunch + Play, Gateway Discovery Park, as well as artist residencies and “hub & spoke” partnership programs around the city.
She is a project lead for the community-driven vision to redevelop IFCC into an expanded center for Black arts and culture. She is also the project manager for the Performing Arts Venue Workgroup, appointed to recommend alternative operating models for Portland’5 Centers for the Arts.
Soo has dedicated 25+ years of her professional life to the arts with roles in management and strategy, marketing and communications, and programming and operations. Previously, she served as a Vice President at the multi-arts center, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where she was involved in four capital expansion projects within the Brooklyn Cultural District. She has served in various roles at nonprofit arts organizations including Boston Center for the Arts, L’Alliance New York, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her husband and daughter are artists.
Kelly Knickerbocker
Communications Coordinator
(she/her)
kelly.knickerbocker@portlandoregon.gov
As the Arts & Culture communications lead, Kelly Knickerbocker is charged with telling the story of the office’s body of work and the City’s investments in critical art programs and initiatives. Kelly stewards the Arts & Culture brand, provides ongoing management of the office’s website, newsletter, and social media pages, as well as drafts audience- and channel-specific content for community members, City officials, grantees, and others.
Kelly is a narrative-focused writer and marketer with 15 years of experience in variety of communications roles—at agencies and in-house, from public relations to public engagement, as a generalist and niched-down specialist, on very big and very small teams, and in industries ranging from higher education and city government to financial technology. Kelly is also an Associate Creative Director, Copy at a Seattle-based fintech startup. Previously, she worked at the University of Washington’s College of the Environment, EnviroIssues, and Duo PR (now Kiterocket). Her freelance writing has been published in Apartment Therapy, Curbed, Eater, Edible Seattle, Real Change, and Seattle Magazine.
Kelly is originally from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, lived in Seattle for 13 years, and moved to Portland in 2023. Outside of work, she enjoys riding her bike, cooking veggie-forward meals, and walking her rescue pup. Kelly lives in Southeast Portland.