Executive Bios

Ann Watts -Executive Director

Executive Director Ann Watts is responsible for the overall management and funding of Starting Arts. She seeks out arts education resources within the San Francisco Bay community, evaluating their quality and suitability for Starting Arts programs. She determines the type and number of classes offered by Starting Arts, locates facilities, acquires materials, and hires artists to instruct. Ms. Watts also solicits public/private funding to sustain and expand the number/size of programs offered by Starting Arts. She oversees and contributes to grant writing, and has begun an aggressive campaign for corporate sponsorship. Ms. Watts has successfully established relationships with local media, keeping Starting Arts in the public eye. Her planning and management skills have created a solid business foundation, but it is Ms. Watts' energy, enthusiasm and high standards for excellence that assure Starting Arts' continued success.

Ann Watts earned a Bachelor's degree in English (Honors, 1982), a Bachelor's degree in Education (1984), passed the CBEST and holds a California Teaching Credential. She has taught general education for grades preschool through 12, and served as dance teacher/ choreographer/ production coordinator for numerous extracurricular programs. Ann's arts background includes 18 years of formal dance training, 10 years dancing professionally on stage, and serving as Artistic Director/ Manager of the Lakeshore Dance Studio (Montreal, Canada, 1982-84). Ms. Watts' recent business experience includes co-founding an internet service company in Mountain View, CA.

Michael Boston -Artistic Director

Mike Boston has been the artistic director for Starting Arts for the past 11 years where he teaches, directs, designs arts curriculum and produces theatrical productions in schools throughout the Bay Area.   Mike Boston has more than 20 years experience teaching dramatic technique, storytelling and play writing to elementary/middle/high school students. His directing credits include more than 100 staged productions for schools and community theatre groups, including: Our Town, Macbeth, Othello, Robin Hood, Dracula, Aladdin, Seussical, A Christmas Carol, School House Rock, The Outsiders, Get Smart, Funny Girl, Pippin, Bye Bye Birdie, Cinderella, The Witches, The Music Man, Oklahoma, and Honk! One of his many original plays, Picture This, has also been recently published.

In addition to his position at Starting Arts, since 1992, Mr. Boston has taught and directed the theatre program at Benjamin Cory and Trace Elementary Schools, both of which are performing arts magnet schools in San Jose, CA.   Mike Boston received his BA in English with a minor in Theatre Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1989. He also holds a Stage Production Vocational Credential, a Single Subject in English Credential and CLAD Credential from the State of California. 

Andrea Thurber -Secretary

One of Starting Arts founders and original funders, Andrea Thurber has been drawn to the arts since childhood.  Happily proficient in traditional academics, Andrea credits her elementary school arts education, including  a role as “Princess Subtraction” in a 4th grade play and participation in elementary and middle school choirs, for providing critical experiences that sparked growth in her emotional as well as intellectual intelligence. Throughout high school and college, performing arts classes taught Andrea (a dedicated non-athlete) the value of collaboration and the power of creative “team” thinking.  Visual arts classes taught her to think abstractly and encouraged her to venture outside the safe box of conventional perspective.  Even though Ms. Thurber eventually chose an academic/ career path in laboratory science, she credits her arts education with giving her the confidence to embrace uncertainty even in that rigid discipline as a challenge to be creatively explored.

Continually involved since Starting Arts’ inception, Andrea has worked with Ann Watts to help define and name the organization, gather supporters and procure funding. Her supporting roles have and continue to include: program development, website development and grant writing.  Andrea’s community minded “See a need; fill a need. Keep it simple.” philosophy and ability to clearly see the big picture while hammering out details have served not only Starting Arts. Ms. Thurber’s various incarnations include: Clinical Laboratory Supervisor, Spectra Laboratories, Fremont; founder of Las Palmas Dog Park, Sunnyvale; Parent Association President, Mid-Peninsula High School, Menlo Park; Head of Training Sub Committee, Minor Protection Committee, Presbyterian Church of Sunnyvale.

Ms. Thurber received her BS in Medical Technology from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB), is a current Board member of Starting Arts, and the mother of two children whose academic lives have and continue to revolve around the arts.   Andrea also sings to maintain her sanity.

Polly McBride -Board Member

Polly McBride has been involved in arts since childhood.  She studied piano and viola for many years and played in the Stockton Symphony and the University of Pacific Opera Orchestra.  As an elementary principal she developed an extended day performing arts program for over 500 K-6 students at her school in Bakersfield.  This program had a boy’s choir, full orchestra, dance studio, theatre with a full time art and music teachers. In the first year the students did a full production of Wizard of Oz and Nutcracker plus 6 recitals in different disciplines.  Upon moving to the Bay Area, she became principal of Ponderosa Elementary and was one of the founding members of the Starting Art’s team.

Since retiring from the Santa Clara Unified School District, Polly has become a small business owner in Sunnyvale.  Her store, PostNet, is a neighborhood business center. Postnet prints, ships and does all kinds of work with photos as well as notary, fax and mailboxes.

She rejoined the Starting Arts board this fall. Her energy, passion, and experience with the arts and students will help us to reach our goals.  She says, “The arts help each student be all they can be. It is our adult responsibility to make sure that they have the opportunities to develop this potential.  When children and the arts are brought together, it is a beautiful thing!

Robert A. Lawrence, CPA -Board Member, Financial Advisor