LOS ANGELES (July 6, 2022)—The Board of Directors of The Music Center is pleased to announce the appointment of plastic surgeon and entrepreneur Dr. Lily Lee, music and arts aficionado Susan Matt and businesswoman and author Teresita Notkin to The Music Center Board. One of the nation’s largest performing arts organizations, The Music Center presents world-class dance performances, nationally recognized K–12 arts learning programs, free and low-cost public concerts and events, and digital arts experiences, and manages The Music Center’s four theatres, Jerry Moss Plaza and Grand Park on behalf of the County of Los Angeles.
“It’s not often we have the pleasure of announcing the appointment at the same time of three strong, remarkable women to The Music Center Board. The arts have made a profound impact on each of their lives in unique ways, and they want to pay it forward by introducing The Music Center to more of L.A.’s underserved communities and youngest Angelenos,” said Cindy Miscikowski, board chair of The Music Center. “When you combine their life experiences, ranging from their childhood memories to their educational accomplishments and their entrepreneurial leadership, these women reflect the rich diversity of Los Angeles and a true commitment to the arts.”
Dr. Lily Lee rarely was afforded the opportunity to watch artistic performances while growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Houston. Each year she looked forward to her public school’s field trips to a local performing arts venue where she gleefully absorbed the magic of live theatre. Today, as a new member of The Music Center’s Board of Directors, Lee wants to inspire Los Angeles’ youth through arts and expand the breadth of youth-serving programs. She is an ardent supporter of The Music Center’s Spotlight program and wants to help more Southern California students gain viable access to the performing arts scholarship and artistic development program because she firmly believes the arts can have a lasting impact on young people. A plastic surgeon, Lee is an active member of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Medical Association and owns practices in Pasadena and Palm Desert. She and her husband Dr. Tom Chang are involved with California Institute of Technology and Foothill Family Service. They have donated to the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation and contribute to charities supporting higher education for underprivileged students in the Coachella Valley. Lee graduated magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University and completed her general and plastic surgery training at the University of Southern California
Susan Matt’s affinity for music and the arts came early in her life. She began learning to play the clarinet in elementary school and, while still a high school student, she successfully auditioned to become a member of University of California, Irvine’s orchestra as an oboist. Matt recalls her parents traveling from Orange County to Downtown Los Angeles to attend performances at The Music Center and, as a new member of The Music Center’s Board of Directors, she is keen to help create and provide exciting live experiences for faraway residents including the possibility of devising a tangible plan to transport them easily to the Downtown area. She has big dreams of developing more Music Center programming on Jerry Moss Plaza, built by MATT Construction, her husband’s general contractor company, which also built the underground parking structure at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. Matt is on the research and collections committee at the Natural History Museum and a member of Sandpipers, a philanthropic organization that serves the South Bay community, and serves as president of the South Bay Auxiliary of Children’s Hospital L.A. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A. from University of California, Irvine.
Teresita Notkin’s admiration for The Music Center is indisputable: she and her husband Shelby Notkin are Founders members of the performing arts center. Moreover, Notkin is president of the Instituto Mexicano de Tanatologia (Mexican Institute of Thanatology), a national grief counseling organization in Mexico—the largest in Latin America—and joins her husband as a member of The Music Center’s Board of Directors. Immensely proud of her Mexican heritage and upbringing in cosmopolitan Mexico City, Notkin aims to help widen The Music Center’s artistic and educational programs earmarked for and benefiting L.A.’s Hispanic and Latino residents and visitors. In addition to supporting the arts, Notkin is the author of books on grief and mourning and serves as the president of the Board of the Instituto Mexicano de Cuidados Palitivos y Tanatologia (Mexican Institute of Paliative Care and Thanatology). She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial relations from Universidad Iberoamericana, a master’s degree in communications and human development from Universidad Panamericana and a master’s degree in psychology from the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México.
About The Music Center
The Music Center convenes artists, communities and ideas with the goal of deepening the cultural lives of every resident in Los Angeles County. The $70 million non-profit performing arts organization has two divisions: TMC Arts and TMC Ops. TMC Arts, The Music Center’s programming engine, provides year-round programming inside The Music Center’s four theatres, on Jerry Moss Plaza, outside at Grand Park—a 12-acre adjacent green space—in schools and other locations all over Los Angeles County and on a digital platform called The Music Center Offstage. TMC Arts presents world-class dance with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, free and low-cost public concerts and events, as well as live and digital K–12 arts education programs, workshops, performances, interactive experiences and special events. TMC Ops manages the theatres, the Plaza and Grand Park, which comprise $2 billion in county assets, on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. The Music Center is also home to four renowned resident companies—Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera and LA Phil. For more information, visit musiccenter.org. Follow The Music Center on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @MusicCenterLA.
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