The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation (PASF), which provides financial aid to deserving vocal and instrumental students in Santa Barbara County, has named its board officers for 2023. They are Deborah Bertling, Dr. Marjorie Gies, Rosalind Amorteguy Fendon, Erin Bonski-Evans and Peter G. Bertling.
The PASF annual competition encourages young musicians to strive for excellence and supports them in their growth as performers. Much like the organization and its mission, the foundation’s board of directors is steeped in legacy and deeply rooted in community.
Deborah Bertling, a music teacher for more than two decades, will continue her stewardship of the board as president, a position she has held for the last 20 years.
Dr. Gies, medical director at Casa Serena, will serve as vice president, continuing her family’s legacy of support to the foundation and the performing arts.
Fendon, an independent design professional, is the board’s treasurer, and has been a board member since 1988.
Bonski-Evans, minister of music at First Presbyterian Church since 2015, will serve as the board’s new secretary.
Peter Bertling, an attorney and president of Bertling Law Group, is legal advisor to the board.
The foundation also welcomes the return of board directors Barbara H. Burger, Neil DiMaggio, Ronald D. Fendon, Noel Lucky-Ris, David T. McKee and Kristine Pacheco-Bernt.
Burger is the former marketing director for the Santa Barbara Symphony and now a publicist for the State Street Ballet. DiMaggio is a professional pianist and a staff member at Westmont College, who benefited from a foundation scholarship as a student.
A philanthropist and longtime supporter of PASF, Fendon is president of the Montecito Creek Water Co., and serves on PASF’s finance committee.
Lucky-Ris’s parents helped launch the foundation 40 years ago, and she is continuing her family’s legacy by serving on the board.
Pacheco-Bernt is a professional violinist, arts administrator, and music educator at the Santa Barbara Symphony. McKee is a former associate dean of the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.
Since its inception in 1982,, PASF has helped hundreds of students achieve their performing arts goals through its competition award funds, as well as through encouragement awards to select students in the audition process.
Scholarships are awarded primarily on the basis of talent and skill, but financial need is also considered.
The mission of PASF is to provide financial assistance to performing arts students and to support music educational outreach in the Santa Barbara community. Applicants range in age from 16 to 29 and compete for scholarships amounting to more than $27,000.
Scholarship recipients say the competition provides a support system that has served as a bridge to their professional careers.