CO-FOUNDER BIOS
TRISH SANTINI (Co-Founder and Executive Director) served as the Inaugural Executive Director of Little Island NYC (October 2016-June 2023), a new $250M public park with three performance spaces (700 seat amphitheater, 300 seat open plaza, 200 seat intimate stage) designed by Heatherwick Studio and Signe Nielsen/MNLA, and funded by the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. She was part of the design and construction team guiding decisions relating to operations, ensuring a seamless transition from construction to park management. She developed Little Island’s public mission, artistic vision and organizational structure as well as the operating plan and annual budgets, resulting in experiential, operational and fiscal success and sustainability. She also made paid workforce programs an early priority for the organization and from 2018-2023, 54 CUNY students participated in three distinct 12-20 week-long programs. In the first two summer seasons, Little Island presented more than 400 performances (music, dance, theater, comedy, circus and family) with over 75,000 attendees. Prior to Little Island, Trish held several executive roles including serving as the External Relations Director and Producer at the Guthrie Theater, a $125M, three-theater complex (1100 seat thrust, 700 seat proscenium, 200 seat black box), an education suite, two restaurants, and multiple public spaces, Minneapolis; Vice President/Marketing at TMG-The Marketing Group, a Broadway marketing and press firm, NYC; Marketing Director at the Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles; Independent Producer/Consultant for projects that include: Tectonic Theater Project, NYC; Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education in San Francisco, Aspen Theatre Festival, A.R.T.; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Cantus, Minneapolis; The Music Center, Los Angeles. Trish has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and was a previous board member for Meet Minneapolis and Open Eye Figure Theatre, Minneapolis. She currently serves on the board of directors for The BringAbout NYC and is on the advisory board at Pace University, Sands College of Performing Arts.
FRANK BUTLER (Co-Founder and Head of Stagecraft and Technology) served as the Director of Production at the Shed in NYC, (October 2021-February 2024) leading a technical team that presents concerts, dance, fashion events, theater, and visual art in a 200,000 square foot, flexible venue designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro. The Shed is an innovative, high-tech, flexible space with two theaters (2000 seat and 450 seat), two art galleries, a restaurant, and four floors of public space, requiring a talented team to fully utilize the unique gantry crane technology-designed environment for a range of both large-scale and intimate production spaces and events. He has decades of leadership as a Production Director, both at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, overseeing all technical areas including stage management, carpentry, lighting, audio production, costumes, and video production, plus several years of experience supporting design and construction with both renovation and new projects. Most notably, he served as the lead staff representative for the creation of the new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, a $125M, three-theater complex, designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel. He led the three-year process from schematic design through final punch list completion resulting in a project that was delivered on time and on budget. He began his career in the lighting field and has designed lighting for both theatrical and architectural applications. Frank has served as a guest lecturer and curriculum advisor at University of Arizona, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Vermont, and Yale University.