Who We Are
The BLVE team's biographies uplift our knowledge of nonprofit organizations and national foundations in both the United States and Canada, extensive experience in structural transformation, individual and collective advocacy within diverse communities and organizations.
Our team has worked in varied industries with experience in publishing, manufacturing, real estate, legal, healthcare, arts and culture and non profit leadership. Each member of our team has led a rebellion, built a moat around a castle and/or worked in a non profit. Our experience and understanding of the inner workings of organizations large and small provides valuable insight for our clients.
FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Brian Loevner
Brian (he/him) is an executive leader, consultant & producer. Most recently, he was the Managing Producer of The Second City from 2015-2017, managing all theatrical production in Chicago with a yearly budget of over $12 million dollars. From 2004-2013, Brian served as the Managing Director of Chicago Dramatists. As a fundraiser, Brian has raised over $5 million dollars for organizations and productions in the last 10 years. In addition, Brian successfully pitched the MacArthur Foundation, ending in the creation of a program to provide cashflow loans to arts organizations during the 2008 recession. Brian has also produced over 150 theatrical productions with companies such as The Kennedy Center, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance, LaJolla Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Famous Door Theatre and Timeline Theatre. Further, his work as a consultant has been in assisting non profits, such as One Aim Illinois, Calgary Arts Development, Chicago Fringe Opera and many others in building strong teams of professionals, creating systems for success and planning for the future.
COLLABORATING CONSULTANT
Miranda Gonzalez
Miranda González (she/ella) is also the Producing Artistic Director at UrbanTheater Company (UTC) in Humboldt Park Chicago and has served on the Arts and Culture Mayoral transition team and the Department of Cultural Affairs. She has an extensive background in DEI/EDI/JEDI, and is a graduate of DePaul University’s Business Sciences. She has 20 yrs of experience in operational management, grassroots marketing, and social justice, along with 15 yrs in sales management and strategies. Her niche of developing anti-oppressive praxis and operationalizing antidotes to oppressive structures, granted her an invitation to film a TedxTalk on decolonizing theater. She has trained with Resmas Menakem and A.O.R.T.A in facilitation and serves on Performing Arts DCASE and National Arts Coalition steering committees, using her expertise to support arts organizations and funders in reimagining models; strategic planning, operational assessments, communication strategies, and collective structures.
COLLABORATING CONSULTANT
Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman
Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman (she/her) is an artist, activist and educator specializing in Trauma informed and Resilience practices. Sarah holds certification as a Trauma and Resilience Practitioner and Trainer in both educational and clinical fields from the internationally acclaimed Starr-Commonwealth, located in Albion, Michigan. Sarah has worked as an educator, specifically focused on social emotional expression, diverse learners, underserved communities and developing personal narratives for 20+ years in a myriad of settings including but not limited to Universities, summer camps, homeless shelters, middle schools, and both juvenile and adult detention facilities. From 2018-2022 Sarah was the Director of Hearts to Art - an arts integrated, community based healing program run by the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, for young people ages 7-17 who have experienced the death of a parent. Sarah brings a trauma informed and equity lens to all of her work and is specifically dedicated to rethinking organizational practices to remove White Supremacist and traumatic structures from operational functions. Sarah is a playwright who has had her work produced throughout North America, as well as a founder of the award winning Cue6 Theatre Company. She splits her time between Toronto and Chicago.
COLLABORATING CONSULTANT
Kristin Patton
Founder and Lead Facilitator of Ensemble Consulting
Kristin (she, they) is a thought leader and skilled practitioner in helping stakeholders identify and come together around the essential elements of core purpose, then align all aspects of planning and operations from that powerful center. Kristin’s areas of expertise include organizational assessment and development; group process design and facilitation; strategic framework and action planning; board re-envisioning; and leadership development. She has extensive experience with arts and culture organizations, other nonprofits, funders, advocacy groups, and service providers across the US. Kristin has made ongoing anti-racism training part of their practice and is a DEI Facilitator for the Nova Collective. Kristin has also served as a grant reviewer and consultant for the Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development and Woods Fund of Chicago. She has presented and consulted with the Arts & Business Council of Chicago, Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management, the Illinois Arts Alliance, the School of the Art Institute, and Theatre Communications Group. They have collaborated with BLVE on multiple projects since 2019.
Collaborating Consultant
Kelsey McGrath
Kelsey (they/them) has worked with BLVE since July 2019, assisting on numerous projects including the GPEC/ICHV merger and ED acquisition. They were instrumental in the creation of search processes and communications. Other BLVE projects include work with Urban Theater Company, Media Burn Archive, Cue6 Theater Company and Rescripted, LLC. A leader in the Chicago arts community, Kelsey has produced, curated, and written work that’s gone viral. They were named one of Windy City Times' 2019 30 Under 30, alongside other artists, policy makers, medical practitioners, and community activists.
image by Joel Maisonet
Collaborating Consultant
Elsa Hiltner
Elsa Hiltner (she/her) is a pay equity consultant, writer and organizer on labor and pay equity in the theatre industry. Her viral essay "A Call for Equal Support in Theatrical Design" (HowlRound, 2016), and other articles, have inspired systemic change in the theatre industry. In 2018 she launched the Theatrical Designer Pay Resource which has been used nation-wide to promote pay transparency and share information. She is a co-founder of On Our Team, an organization dedicated to building labor and pay equity in the theatre industry, and works as Collaboraction's Director of Development. As a costume designer, her credits include Collaboraction, Silk Road Rising, Goodman Theatre, Teatro Vista, Signal Ensemble, American Blues Theater, Steppenwolf, First Folio Theatre, Next Act Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Windy City Playhouse, and American Theater Company among others. For more information about her work visit www.elsahiltner.com.
Collaborating Consultant
Steve Abrams
Steve Abrams (he/him) has been a driving force in Chicago’s diverse cultural landscape for almost the last three decades. Having had a celebrated career that took him from the exciting nightclub and restaurant scene of the 90s through senior and executive leadership positions at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millennium Park, he has served as Interim Executive Director of Chicago Children’s Theatre being instrumental in helping to complete its capital campaign to establish its first permanent theatre, education center and administrative offices at a former Chicago Police Station. Steve also was named the first guest artistic director at Chicago’s Navy Pier where he led its Arts & Discovery program. More recently, Steve successfully lead a national executive search for GPEC/ICHV (Gun Violence Prevention Education Center/Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence) under BLVE Consults naming GPEC/ICHV’s first executive director. He is the principal at The Abrams Group, LLC, an innovative arts management and production company after general managing and producing a multitude of live performances, galas, digital fundraisers and large-scale events. Steve is the recipient of the Actors’ Fund’s 2016 Encore Award for extraordinary dedication and commitment to the performing arts by supporting those who bring spectacular performances to our stages and screens
Collaborating Consultant
Whytnee Bush
Whytnee (she/her) has been a consultant with BLVE since January 2019. She is passionate about a variety of issues, including criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, financial literacy, sex education and the arts. She has a B.A. in Archaeology and Anthropology from Boston University. Her career has spanned the public sector, primarily in non-profit and political fundraising. In her free time, Whytnee likes to travel, go out to eat, and beat her Gram at card games.