Celeste Smeland joined Arts Benicia as Executive Director in 2015.

She has more than 30 years of non-profit arts administration experience and has worked with many Bay Area organizations including as Deputy Director of Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Executive Director of the Vallejo Community Arts Foundation, and Development Director at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. She is formerly Director of Community Programs for the Institute of Noetic Sciences where, among other activities, she established the Noetic Arts Program. She served as Executive Director at Tamalpa Institute, a movement-based expressive arts organization in Marin.  She worked as Community Liaison Consultant with the SFUSD School of the Arts, as Director of Education and Programs for the Bay Area Discovery Museum, and Art Director of the San Francisco Women’s Building. Celeste holds B.A. degrees in Fine Arts and Women’s Studies from San Francisco State University and a M.A. in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University.