Yanina Cambareri
Outreach Program Coordinator
Yanina Cambareri was born in Argentina and has traveled extensively in Europe and South America. She now lives in Encinitas, California with her husband and two daughters. Although Yanina graduated from the University of Buenos Aires as a software engineer, she has always been interested in the fine arts. The daughter of well-known Argentinean artist Pascual Cambareri, Yanina studied Fine Arts at Mesa College, concentrating in black and white photography as well as pencil and charcoal drawing. Her favorite medium is now watercolor, she finds excitement in the transparency of the medium and the bold use of color. Her paintings often reflect local and European landscapes and convey her love for nature. She is currently an art teacher in the Encinitas and Rancho Santa Fe School Districts as well as a member of the La Jolla Arts Association and the San Dieguito Art Guild. In addition to teaching classes at the ARTS Center, Yanina is the Outreach Program Coordinator managing ARTS off-site partners and volunteers.

Hulya D'Arrigo
Volunteer Coordinator
Hulya D'Arrigo holds a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work from San Diego State University, and an art degree from Istanbul, Turkey. Previously, she worked at San Diego Hospice as a Pediatric Social Worker.
She worked with terminally ill children and their families. She has trainings in art and play therapy. Prior to hospice, Hulya was a supervisor at an after-school program for emotionally and physically challenged youth and children. In her free time, Hulya likes to swim, run, read, and go to the movies and dinner. She also loves painting and sculpting and enjoy spending time with her 10 month old daughter and husband.

Matt D'Arrigo
Executive Director
Matt D'Arrigo was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1972, graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1990 and went on to study Fine Art from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, graduating in 1995. His concentration was in oil paints and realism.

After his freshman year at Spring Hill, his mother and sister were both diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. Matt took the next year off from school and helped care for them. During that year, Matt relied heavily on his art and love of music to get him through the tough times. It was so healing and therapeutic to him, that he vowed to one day start an organization that would provide free art programs to children facing challenges in life.

Matt moved to San Diego in 1998 and landed a job managing a scene shop for Pacific Event Productions. He spent three years gaining valuable business and management experience before he decided to make the leap and start his organization. In 2001, with $5,000 and a book on how to start a non-profit, he began the journey to start ARTS (A Reason To Survive).

Matt and ARTS have been featured in over 45 media stories both locally and nationally. Matt has been recognized as "One of San Diego's brightest leaders under the age of 40" by San Diego Metropolitan Magazine with their “Forty Under 40” Award. Most recently, Matt was featured in San Diego Magazine’s “50 People to Watch in 2008” issue and received the 2008 Safeco Insurance Community Hero Award. He was also profiled in the recently published book by Darius Graham “Being the Difference: True Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things to Change the World.”

Always seeking to better himself as a leader, Matt has also been extensively involved with the Fieldstone Foundation’s leadership training program for several years. He has participated as both a coachee and now coach in their Leadership Network Coaching Program which provides mentorship and guidance from a peer non-profit coach. He also graduated from their Executive Leadership course last fall, and is now a leadership coach himself – giving back by coaching an up-and-coming non-profit leader. In addition, Matt was most recently one of two San Diego Executive Directors chosen for a full scholarship to the prestigious Harvard Business School’s “Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management” course during the summer of 2008.

Matt currently lives in Point Loma with his wife, Hulya, and 2 year old daughter, Tessa.

Wendy Lam Endsley
Grants Manager
Wendy Lam Endsley first began working as a grant writer with ARTS in 2002 and is happy to be focusing her talents on strengthening the lives of children and the community through art programs. Previously, Wendy worked for more than 10 years as a journalist writing for newspapers, magazines, web-based businesses, and non-profit art organizations. Wendy's journalistic writing earned two awards from the San Diego Press Club and recognition by the Society of Professional Journalists in Washington, D.C. She holds a BA in Communications from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Wendy enjoys participating in triathlons, camping and traveling with her husband Scott, daughter Elizabeth and their portable little dog, Sophie. Before rejoining ARTS in 2008, Wendy founded her business, Grant Writer Source with a mission to Strengthen Community Health & Well-Being, and helped secure nearly $8 million in public and private funding for nonprofit organizations in San Diego County.

Adriana Escobar
Program Coordinator
Adriana Escobar joined ARTS in December of 2007, after attending a summer art course at Studio Art Center International (SACI) in Florence, Italy. Ms. Escobar graduated from the University of San Diego with a Bachelors of Arts in Communication Studies and a minor in Visual Arts. Though Adriana was born in Bogota, Colombia she has lived in the United Stated for ten years were she has been involved in the non-profit sector. She worked as a volunteer at Give to Colombia, a US based non profit that channels grants and donations to non-profit projects and organizations in Colombia. In addition, she volunteered as the administrative assistant at the Eyes of Haiti (EOH), a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the quality of life of Hatian children. As Program Coordinator, Ms. Escobar supervises "Van-Go!", coordinates trips to arts and cultural events in the community and teaches mixed media classes at the Pat D'Arrigo ARTS Center.

Jacquie Heil
Associate Director
Jacquie Heil is an artist and owns a residential interior design firm, Inner Dwelling Designs, in Del Mar where she lives with her husband and two children. She has been practicing sustainable design for eight years. Prior to that, Jacquie was a financial manager at Qualcomm, Inc. providing strategic planning, budgeting and reporting for seven years. Working in both in Silicon Valley and San Diego high tech, she has over fourteen years experience in corporate finance for companies such as I.B.M., United Technologies, and S.A.I.C. Her life inspiration comes from love of travel, art, music, entertaining, yoga, running, and especially time with her family. Jacquie is an active community member, supporting the arts, education, and preservation. As a member of ArtCorps, a non-profit art program, she taught art in public elementary schools, when funding was drastically reduced. "Art and music are essential elements in children’s lives. They feed our souls."

Kevin Ho
Office Manager
Kevin Ho was born and raised in San Diego. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Religious Studies. Kevin discovered ARTS as a way to spread his love of art and make a positive difference in the lives of children facing adversity. After first volunteering as an intern, Kevin joined the ARTS staff in the winter of 2007. Along with his staff duties, he still enjoys teaching visual art classes at the ARTS Center. Kevin also enjoys working at The Linkery, a farm-to-table restaurant in North Park. He currently lives with his girlfriend Jackie in Normal Heights.

Arathi Menon
Development Manager
Arathi Menon graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA in Communications and a minor in Art History. Most recently as Assistant to the Director at the New Children's Museum, Arathi was an integral part of the team that launched the museum’s new state of the art facility in downtown San Diego. Prior to her time with NCM, Arathi worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego as an Education Fellow and Curatorial Assistant. As Development Manager, Arathi is responsible for overseeing ARTS events, marketing and fundraising efforts. In her free time, she enjoys art, music, and writing fiction.

Melvin Peyketewa
Transportation & Facilities Coordinator
Melvin joined ARTS in late February of 2008 and has become an important part of the ARTS family. His main focus at ARTS is operating the Van Go! Transportation Program.

Before joining the ARTS family, Melvin voluntarily enlisted in the United States Marine Corps from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He served 8 years and 9 months and returned to the civilian sector as a Sergeant with an Honorable Discharge. While serving our country he received multiple awards such as Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal (2nd Award), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (2nd Award), Iraq Campaign Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (2nd Award), Certificate of Commendation (Individual Award) (2nd Award) and 4 Letter of Appreciation. As a Marine, Melvin has served in mainland Japan, Iraq, Kuwait and returned to San Diego. San Diego is now his home away from home and ARTS has grown to become a family for him.

Carolyn Smyth
Program Director
Carolyn Smyth holds a BA in English from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and is currently working on a Masters in Nonprofit Management from the University of San Diego. She joins ARTS after working at SAY San Diego as a community organizer in the field of substance abuse prevention. She is currently the President of the Director's Circle (Board of Directors) at Shakti Rising, a holistic recovery and empowerment program for women 15-30 suffering from substance abuse, eating disorders, interpersonal violence, etc. She volunteers doing domestic violence crisis intervention for the Center for Community Solutions and visits the children at a local domestic violence shelter with her therapy dog Stanley.

Rob Tobin
Director of Creativity
From early childhood, Rob showed a great passion and talent for the visual arts. By the time he was in elementary school, he was already assisting his art instructors with their younger students. Rob went on to study art at Southern Connecticut State University. He has worked as a scenic artist with Pacific Event Productions since 1998. Rob also owns his own business performing extreme makeovers on store fronts in the Mission and Pacific Beach areas. Rob joined the ARTS team as one of its first volunteers in 2001, and over the years has become involved in many capacities. His shared vision and passion for A Reason To Survive makes him a valuable addition to our staff.