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Meet the FCA Staff

Anne BibermanAnne Biberman

 

You might recognize me as the lady on stage thanking everyone on concert evenings. I’m Anne Biberman, FCA’s Executive Director. I work with our board, with our design consultant Sue Sprinkle on our marketing, I contract our guest artists, and try to sneak a little fundraising in there as well. It’s part of a love affair that began very early in my life.

I grew up in New York – in love with the arts from the start and fortunate enough to have been exposed to some very good culture. Those classes in dance and theater I went to as a child seemed to "take" with me and where ever life has taken me, that passion has always found a way into my life.

In 1995 life brought me to Fairbanks, which will forever be my chosen home. Once here, I enjoyed the opportunity to work at KUAC. I stayed there twelve years - until I was offered the best job of my life.

I have loved FCA for a long time. In 1998 I wrote a long fan letter to Herta Prectel, then the ED:

Dear Herta,

I wanted to thank you and the Fairbanks Concert Association for bringing the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company up to Fairbanks. I was truly impressed by how many different populations they were able to serve, and the range they were able to offer the people of Fairbanks. …

I was able to participate in Movement for Actors, Intermediate-Advanced Modern Dance Class, Choreography Class, Afro-Caribbean Dance Class and Improvisational Jam. All in one week…Ririe’s [class] was fun and a great learning experience. …I have rarely been in a room where so much energy and enthusiasm were being generated. …It brought me great joy.

Thanks again Herta. The Fairbanks Concert Association is a true asset to the community. It is one of the reasons I enjoy calling it home.

Sincerely,

Anne Biberman

The Fairbanks Concert Association is a source of local pride, a community asset. I enjoy every day here. My favorite part of the job is hearing your ideas. It’s a different job every day, and I love it!
Rhonda GilbertsonRhonda Gilbertson

 

You might recognize me as the lady in the box office on concert evenings, answering questions and distributing will-call tickets. You might only know me as the friendly voice when you call the FCA office. I’m Rhonda Gilbertson, FCA’s Operations Manager. That’s a fancy title for what I laughingly call my job as "Number Two of Two" in the FCA office. I handle season tickets and memberships, artist technical and hospitality riders, publicity, community outreach, and day-to-day operations as part of my job. It’s part of a love affair with the arts and music that began very early in my life.

I grew up in Delta Junction, and my music education began at the age of five, when my parents enrolled me in piano lessons. I went on to try, with varying degrees of success, the recorder, tenor sax, and trombone. I played piano in my junior high band until the percussionist left for a vacation, and decided I’d like to fill in. I’ve been banging on things ever since, from drum set and timpani in high school, to mallet percussion in college, and my true love, steel drums, after college.

I came to Fairbanks in 1990 to pursue my bachelor’s degree in music, with emphasis in voice. I loved my time in college, singing with the Choir of the North, Alaska Camerata, and Opera Workshop. After I’d finished working on my degree, I started playing steel drums and bass guitar, and singing with the Alaska Chamber Chorale. I played bass guitar with the UAF pep band until the current season, and I currently play in the UAF steel drum band, and a small steel drum combo called Pantheon. If you’ve seen a small steel drum band with a smiling, dancing woman playing 6 full-sized oil barrels, that’s probably me!

In my college years, I worked at the Rasmuson Library and Geophysical Institute Library, and considered pursuing a master’s degree in Library Science, but before I applied to school, I fell in love with arts management through a job with the UAF Summer Fine Arts Camp. My experience there led to my hire at the Fairbanks Symphony Association, and my current job with FCA. I still get a thrill when a performance is over, and people are on their feet, cheering and whistling, knowing that I played a small part in making it happen.

My favorite part of my job is meeting and interacting with FCA’s guest artists, sharing with them my knowledge of and love for Alaska, and helping them with any last-minute needs they may have from ping pong balls and Krazy Glue (for a classical guitarist as fingernail reinforcement), to providing the moose, caribou, or salmon for them to get a taste of Alaskan life. It’s a different job every day, and I love it!