Martha Richards is celebrating twenty years as Executive Director of WomenArts, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the visibility and opportunities for women artists in all genres. Prior to WomenArts, Richards served as Executive Director of Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College and as Managing Director of StageWest, a regional theatre in Springfield, Massachusetts. She has received many honors including a 2006 nomination for the prestigious international Montblanc De La Culture Award, induction into the BayPath College 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame, and recognition as one of three “founding mothers” of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.  Richards has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of Law.  She is a member of the California bar, and she was one of the founding directors of California Lawyers for the Arts.  You can learn more about her work at www.WomenArts.org