The Ensemble Theatre Welcomes Ernestine Piña-Sandoval and Dr. Tiffany Bourgeois To Its Executive Team

The Ensemble Theatre welcomes Ernestine Piña-Sandoval, Senior Director of Development & Foundations and Dr. Tiffany Bourgeois, Audience Development Director to their executive team. Each of them brings a range of skills and talents they will use to help implement the theatre's artistic vision and meet its strategic goals.

The Theatre has been recognized for the rarity Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris and Executive Director Janette Cosley represent as an all-female dual leadership team in the arts industry, where organizational leadership roles are still dominated by men. Now, the Theatre has a 95% female staffed team and currently participating in a national initiative to cultivate women's leadership in the arts.

"We are delighted to have these two talented and accomplished women join our team," said Executive Director Janette Cosley. "Nonprofits not only need skilled, but passionate people to help them accomplish their goals and I believe these two women exhibit both."

Ernestine Piña-Sandoval, Senior Director of Development & Foundations

Piña-Sandoval's role at The Ensemble includes research and development of new support opportunities, as well as, coordination and stewardship of the theatre's annual fund and major gift campaigns. She will play a key role in the major fundraising initiatives including: the Founder's Circle, the Annual Celebrity Black Tie Gala, and Annual Golf Tournament.

Pina-Sandoval is a proud Texas Longhorn. As a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Ernie received ample exposure to the Texas State Capitol. She attained the position of Legislative Aide for State Senator John Whitmire. The experience she gained allowed her to understand the making of Texas Laws and the importance of Funding for Non-Profit organizations. She later worked in Executive Management for United Airlines where she ultimately became responsible for deciding how corporate dollars were disbursed in support of City-wide Charities. She has served on a number of boards and state-wide committees becoming a master relationship builder. She's worked with the March of Dimes as the State Director Communications, and later as the Director of Development & Foundation Partnerships for Big Brothers Big Sisters where she was responsible for a $2.4 million dollar budget and served on the Statewide Capital Campaign to raise $20 million.

She has received numerous local and state awards for her leadership including: quality education from Rice University for her Philanthropic expertise; the President's award from Child Advocates- for over 10 years of dedication to the board and fundraising for children; As a Leadership Houston graduate, she received the honor of Top-10 " Woman on the Move", from the Houston Chronicle, Texas Executive Women and KHOU TV; the Outstanding Community Leader - honor from KPRC 2 TV; and, she was awarded the Outstanding Hispanic Women in Business from the City of Houston and Hispanic Women in Leadership.

Dr. Tiffany Bourgeois, Audience Development Director

Dr. Bourgeois will have oversight of marketing and relationship building initiatives designed to help build and reach target audiences. She will develop patron retention strategies while enhancing current affinity group activities to cultivate new audiences including: OUT at The Ensemble Theatre, an LGBTQ and Allies focused initiative building diversity; and Act One Young Professionals group, an auxiliary group developed to cultivate the next generation of theatre supporters including mixers and an annual poetry showcase and benefit.

Tiffany Bourgeois earned a doctorate in Arts Administration, Education and Policy and a master's degree in Arts Policy and Administration from The Ohio State University, as well as a bachelor's in fine arts in Theatre Arts from DePaul University. Her master's thesis investigated Ohio arts program evaluation tools and their relationship to public value. Bourgeois's doctoral inquiry focused on cultural outcomes of exercises in soft power and cultural diplomacy of the Los Angeles 1984 and London 2012 Olympics. She has experience working in a variety of arts administration and education roles including a position as the Development Associate for the Annual Fund at the Houston Symphony, and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston-Downtown.

The Ensemble Theatre's 2018-2019 Season is sponsored in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. United Airlines is the official airline sponsor for The Ensemble Theatre.

The Ensemble Theatre was founded in 1976 by the late George Hawkins to preserve African American artistic expression and enlighten, entertain and enrich a diverse community. In addition to being hailed as the oldest and largest professional African American theatre in the Southwest, it also holds the distinction of being one of the nation's largest African American theatres that owns and operates its facility with an in-house production team.

The Ensemble Theatre produces a main stage season of six contemporary and classic works devoted to the portrayal of the African American experience by local and national playwrights and artists. The theatre's Performing Arts Education program provides educational workshops, Artist-in-Residence experiences and live performances for students both off-site and at the Theatre. The Young Performers Program offers intensive summer training for children ages 6 to 17 encompassing instruction in all disciplines of the theatre arts.