Board Members

Val is a music instructor, performing musician, and singer-songwriter. A 20 year resident of Yamhill county, she and her husband co-owned Mossback Farm, where they raised grass fed beef, reforested several riparian areas, and protected habitat for endangered and threatened species. 

Val earned an MA in Anthropology from Western Washington University, and has been involved with farmers' markets as a vendor, manager, musician and researcher, and served as president of the Oregon Farmers' Markets Association. 

She loves to write, read, paint, travel, and spend time with her husband and teenage son, and is energized to assist with planning and communications for AAYC.

Holli Wagner is a creative business strategist with a passion for the arts and community. She brings over 15 years of experience in small business ownership, technology, and event planning.

Holli is a local Yamhill County entrepreneur who owns Stay McMinnville LLC and Wagner Advisory Group LLC, and previously co-owned McMinnville Event Center for the Arts (MECA Gallery) with her husband.

As Chief Revenue Officer at WITI, she drives workforce transformation and leadership initiatives. Her 30-year career includes roles at IBM, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and Verizon.

Holli blends creativity and strategy, expressing her passion for the arts through multimedia design, painting, writing, and music videos. She is dedicated to supporting and enriching the local arts community.

David is a software architect and business consultant and 12 year resident of Oregon, the last 8 of which he and his wife have spent in McMinnville. David is a literalist and overly logical which can be annoying in conversations but somehow made him the ideal candidate of a small sample size to be the AAYC treasurer, a position he's immensely enjoyed.

David has a degree that he has never really used from the University of Michigan. He does not own any clothing emblazoned with the various branding paraphernalia of said school but has been known to wear hoodies of other institutes of higher education to which he has no tangible affiliation.

When he is not architecting or treasuring David and his wife like to go to music concerts and travel and eat food he could not otherwise find in Yamhill County.

Chair, Grants and Scholarships

Courtney Terry (she/her) is an Adult Services Librarian at McMinnville Public Library. Since 2013, she has coordinated and hosted a monthly Poetry Night through the Library. She has served on the board for AAYC since 2019, coordinating the Arts Education Grants and Scholarship program. Her experiences funding amazing artistic projects for students across Yamhill County has been one of the many rewarding reasons she loves being part of AAYC. She also loves reading (or listening to) a good sci-fi or fantasy novel and spending time with her many animals.

 Courtney lives on the stolen traditional lands of the Yamhill Kalapuya, one of the many bands of Kalapuya people who lived throughout the Willamette Valley. In 1855, The Treaty with the Kalapuya, etc ceded tribal lands to the United States. Members of at least 27 different tribes were forcibly removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today, an estimated 4,000 Kalapuya descendents are members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Learn more here: www.grandronde.org/history-culture/

Donna Sires is a pastel artist and retired art director, illustrator and graphic designer. She has lived in Yamhill County for over 18 years and participates every year in the Art Harvest Studio Tours, the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival, and the Chehalem Mountain Art Affair. She is passionate about promoting the arts in Yamhill County, and enjoys painting (both plein air and in the studio), traveling and being with her husband and family.

Beth has lived and been an active arts volunteer in McMinnville since 1994.  She was the Local Wine Column writer for the News Register for 10 years.  Licensed as a REALTOR in 2001, Beth has served her industry during that time as an organization leader.  

She is an avid knitter and a lover of all things yarn! 

As major supporter and sponsor for the McMinnville Farmers Market, Make Music McMinnville, Art Harvest and other events, she also advocates for all of  the community around her.

Kyle is a Digital Art, Filmmaking and Podcasting teacher at McMinnville High School. He is passionate about teaching the various forms of digital expression that are available. He formerly worked at McMinnville Community Media in downtown McMinnville, supporting local producers to create public access television shows. He directed a short film in 2019 titled "East of a Dream" that was showcased at the McMinnville Short Film Festival. He has edited and worked on other local films.

Kyle loves spending time with his wife Katie and their two cats, Clementine and Olive. In his free time he plays as much chess as he can and studies the great masters of the past. If you come to a McMinnville High School Baseball game, you will hear him on the microphone announcing the game. He has also taken up the growing sport of Disc Golf and frequently travels around the valley to play at new courses with his friends.

Bonnie is a retired teacher and currently a professional multimedia, mixed media artist. She has been creating art for the past 10 years. Currently her focus is on mixed media ceramics. 

She earned a MS degree in Special Education at Western Oregon University. After graduating she developed programs for students who struggled with education. She also taught regular education, special education, and art education. Teaching art education developed her own love of art. 

Bonnie loves to experiment with new art mediums, create, read, spend time in nature, and loves to spend time with family and friends. She feels honored to be part of the AAYC board. 

Britt Block is a McMinnville artist with the Art Harvest Studio tour. Her large scale pastel paintings focus on the natural world, sometimes investigating the world through a bee's eyes: What a Bee Sees. She has painted seriously for over 30 years and has had work in galleries as well as private collections. Most recently one of her paintings was the featured work in the 2023 Art About Agriculture touring exhibit.

Britt is also a retired high school theater teacher, and has enjoyed connecting with the Gallery Theater community, most recently directing the farce "See How They Run."

Britt is a meditator and mindfulness instructor with an MFA in Arts and Consciousness. She enjoys Tai Chi and the wild world around and within us.