Tara Aesquivel is an advocate for the arts, education, and sustainable practices. She is a classically trained musician, studying oboe and voice while earning a B.A. in Music from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Convinced that she could have a broader impact offstage, Tara earned a Master’s degree in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University. During graduate school Tara was selected to study cultural economics at the University of Bologna, Italy, and conducted a thesis project for Americans for the Arts that studied the challenges of providing arts education in public schools.
Tara’s professional experience includes work in project management, program evaluation, fund raising, and marketing. She has completed projects for the Center for Arts Management Technology and Pittsburgh Opera, and has held full-time positions with LA Opera and A Noise Within. Tara was the first Program Coordinator for Antioch University Los Angeles’s M.A. in Urban Sustainability and continues her Adjunct Faculty position there, teaching fund raising. Tara is currently an Account Manager for The Lukens Company, in downtown LA.
Tara has been part of the Emerging Arts Leaders/Los Angeles professional development network for over four years and is currently serving as the Executive Chair. She is also on the Young Professionals Advisory Board of Inner City Arts. Tara enjoys cooking with ingredients from her garden, being a cultural consumer, and exploring the West coast.