The five-member Arts Commission meets on the second Thursday of the month, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 1st floor of City Hall, 23920 Valencia Blvd., Santa Clarita, CA. (view map). Members of the public wishing to address the commission regarding an agenda or study session item may do so by completing a speaker’s slip upon arrival at the meeting. There is a three minute time limit per person. For more information, contact the Commission Secretary at (661) 250-3787.
Patti Rasmussen, Chair
Term Expires: December 2026
Patti Rasmussen is a freelance journalist who has resided in Newhall since the mid-70s. She has a great respect for the arts – performing and visual – and has focused her philanthropic efforts on cultural arts and youth programs. Several local groups have benefited from her donations of time and talent, as well as the fundraisers she has hosted at her home.
Patti worked as the Education Reporter for The Signal newspaper and has served on various school committees as president of the Peachland PTA and chairman of the Newhall Site Council. She was the co-founder/president of Theatre Arts for Children Foundation that raised funds for the restoration of the historic Newhall Elementary School auditorium. She also served on the board of the SCV Historical Society as the Educational Outreach Chair and was an original member of the Arts Alliance. The Rasmussen backyard was also used as theater space after the 1994 Northridge earthquake while Hart High repaired its auditorium.
Most recently Patti served as President of the Board of Directors of the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival and was the President of the SCV Senior Foundation.
“You can tell a lot about a community that values art,” Rasmussen said. “Just look around. The placement of artwork throughout the valley draws in businesses and enhances neighborhoods. We have live theater and concerts in the park. It’s a great place to live and raise a family.”
Patti and her husband Charlie have four sons and two grandchildren.
Dr. Michael Millar, Vice Chair
Term Expires: December 2026
Michael Millar has been a member of the Cal Poly Pomona music faculty since 2004 and is a past Director of the University’s Center for Community Engagement. He served as the founding Chair of the Arts Commission from 2009-11 and previously served as Director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at the University of Colorado. In addition to performance degrees from the University of Colorado, Boulder and California State University, Los Angeles, he holds the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, with concentrations in Performance and Arts Administration, from Claremont Graduate University, where he studied management and leadership with Peter F. Drucker and Jean Lipman-Blumen.
A freelance bass trombonist, Dr. Millar’s credits include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tony Bennett, Keith Emerson, Harry James, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Kenny Rogers, Barry Manilow, Artie Shaw, and Ray Charles. He performed on the 2004 Grammy Award-winning CD “Carlos Chavez: Complete Chamber Works, Vol. 2” (Best Small Ensemble, Classical Field) as a member of Southwest Chamber Music. Michael Millar is an artist/educational clinician for Conn-Selmer, Inc. and has presented numerous workshops in entrepreneurship, community engagement, and professional development at universities and conferences. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
An active arts advocate since moving to Santa Clarita in 1993, Dr. Millar served with the City’s Arts Advisory Committee and with the Santa Clarita Symphony. Michael and his wife Dava live in Valencia. Their adult children Emily and Matthew benefitted from the excellent music programs at Meadows Elementary, Placerita Junior High School, Hart High School, and College of the Canyons.
“Through the arts, we are committed to developing meaningful contributions to the quality of life and to the economic vitality of Santa Clarita. We welcome a dialogue with all of our citizens whose lives are touched by the arts.”
April Scott-Goss, Commissioner
Term Expires: December 2024
April Scott-Goss has resided in Santa Clarita since she graduated in 1999 from California Institute of the Arts with a MFA in Directing Theatre, Video and Cinema. Following her graduation from Cal Arts, April spent time traveling with her award-winning thesis film “Deep in My Heart” which was shown back-to-back years at the Festival du Film, Cannes as one of five films by women at the Universelle Showcase, and as a part of Kodaks Emerging Film Makers. It is also archived in the Biloxi Mississippi History Museum and was honored at the city’s 50th desegregation commemoration.
April is a “community activist” for the promotion of the arts and has created a library at her worksite where hundreds of books were donated for employees to have easy access to reading for pleasure, business, or educational purposes. She has served as a Volunteer teacher for puppetry and theatre games at her church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Newhall, where she serves as a Lector and a Catholic Women’s Organization member. In recent years April has directed staged readings, poetry nights, performances for the Edge of the World Theatre Festival and the Noho Arts Theatre. She has also self-published a fantasy novel, “Grounded’ for which she is currently converting into a tv pilot.
April is employed as a Supervisor, Operations MFG Trainer at Pharmavite, a vitamin manufacturer located in Santa Clarita. She has served as the Vitality Chair at Pharmavite, coordinating monetary donations for Dani Lives – walk for Suicide Prevention and Awareness, Santa Clarita Marathons, Mardi Gras Marathons, Family Promise and Bridge to Home.
April was recently elected President of her chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, which is composed primarily of African American college-educated women and includes Vice President Kamala Harris among its elite membership. The International organization has promotion of the arts as one of its targets mandated by the Supreme President.
April was attracted to service on the Arts Commission because she was impressed by the Arts Master Plan, especially its element of “Celebrating Diversity.” As an African American woman who often worked both personally and professionally in positions where she found herself as the “only one, “ she is gratified by her City’s efforts to “use arts and culture as a meeting ground for Santa Clarita Diversity.”
April is a single mother, and her daughter Zoë is completing a Masters in History and Archival Studies at Claremont Graduate University.
Susan Shapiro, Commissioner
Term Expires: December 2026
Susan came to Santa Clarita in 1993 to manage the local public television channel, SCVTV. Susan designed and equipped the SCVTV Media Center in Newhall, developing it into a communications venue showcasing the talents and activities of the City, local schools, and a variety of nonprofit arts, music, and community service organizations.
After graduating from Stanford University in the 1980s with a degree in English literature with an interdisciplinary emphasis on art, Susan earned a teaching credential from Arizona State University. She taught video production, broadcast television, mass media, and film aesthetics to high school students in Phoenix, developed educational programs for television networks (Bravo, NBC Universal) and worked in production and post-production for Tri-Star Pictures, ABC International, and others.
As the cable company’s Community Television Manager in Santa Clarita from 1993 to 2007, Susan developed and provided support for hundreds of individual programs and series related to the visual and performing arts. Early on, she fostered relationships with video production instructors in the William S. Hart Union High School District and COC, turning SCVTV into a classroom laboratory for students.
Today Susan lives in Santa Clarita and produces a live daily television program for Time Warner Cable’s Southern California viewers. Local public service positions include the Santa Clarita Repertory Theatre board (2003-04), Newhall Redevelopment Committee (2002-09), City of Santa Clarita Citizens Public Library Advisory Committee (2010-11) and William S. Hart Union High School District ROP Advisory Committee (2000-present).
Andrea Vibe, Commissioner
Term Expires: December 2024
Andrea Vibe’s energetic recorded performances are surpassed only by her dynamic stage presence. Raised in a musical family, Andrea’s polished vocal technique and wholesome American spirit shine through with every musical tale she writes. Singing professionally since the age of twelve, she has performed on nearly every continent on the globe. A featured soloist with several musical acts including Big Bands and Orchestras, Andrea toured the United States, Europe, South America, the South Pacific, and the Middle East. A team-up with World Vision took her to Africa for a famine-relief benefit concert tour, and she has performed at both the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. “Miss Andrea”, the on-air radio personality of a popular children’s radio show led her to sing on the Kids Love Series recordings. Along with her band The Good Vibes, Ms. Vibe has been a featured act at The Golden Nugget, Las Vegas; Carnival Cruises; and Knotts Berry Farm.
Andrea’s dedication to developing her natural talent led her to train at UC Berkley and Cal State Fullerton where she received a BM in Vocal Performance. Teaching and coaching has become a great passion and because of this love, Andrea founded Vibe Performing Arts in 1994 located in Valencia Plaza to include a multi-purpose theatre, a dance studio, and seven private lesson studios. VIBE has succeeded by maintaining a high caliber of teachers and many performance opportunities. With over twenty five instructors and three hundred weekly students, VIBE has become the largest performing arts studio in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Besides directing VIBE, she is an Associate Music Professor at College of the Canyons teaching History of Rock & Roll and Vocal Development courses since 1997.
Ms. Vibe is a singing coach for celebrities, contestants on the hit TV shows, THE VOICE and AMERICAN IDOL and the author of the SING WITH CONFIDENCE book series.
