CREATE Center for the Arts
CREATE Center for the Arts connects the community to creative resources to drive innovation and collaborative creation in the Coachella Valley. CREATE is organized by a team of seven volunteer directors with a variety of backgrounds and experience. The office and programs are run by an engaged and enthusiastic staff, with support from committees, consultants and volunteers.
With generous community support, CREATE has grown into an innovation hub offering painting, drawing, textile arts, a technology center, a printmaking studio, master classes with world-renowned artists and plans for continued expansion in the future. As CREATE has grown, so has its mission. What started as a center for artists has become a haven for the artist in each of us, with a focus in bridging the gap to communities that have little to no access to the arts including seniors, children, people with disabilities, and those below the poverty line.
Board
Our Board

Debra Ann Mumm
Founder and CEO
Coachella Valley native, artist, activist, educator, curator, consultant and speaker, Debra Ann Mumm has spent her lifetime dedicated to the arts in one form or another. Creating a dialogue through arts and creative thinking, enriching lives and communities has become a passion Debra serves daily.
- Phone:+1 (760) 834-8318
- Email:debra@createcentercv.org

Rebecca Dant
Executive Secretary
Rebecca discovered the artistic beauty of the environment at an extremely young age on a farm surrounded by orchards, woods and rolling fields just outside the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon.
Her exposure to the world of antiquities, artifacts and the exotic were provided by her Father, a shipping entrepreneur. She relished in the exposure when an elephant arrived for the Portland Zoo and the Tea house for the Japanese Gardens which is still enjoyed to his day and brought to the community of Portland through the legacy of her family.
After completed her Art Major at San Jose State in California she married and relocated to Texas. While there she was exposed to many interesting art collectors as well as famous artists. Time passed and life went on. She worked as an Interior Designer and color consultant in Santa Fe and Telluride.
Today, Rebecca travels the world absorbing new cultural experiences and practices in expert in the art of printmaking, in which she shares her knowledge and experience with CREATE.

Ron Withrow
Board Member
Retired from the food and hospitality industry, Ron is also a gemologist graduate from the Gemological Institute of America. Attended Northeastern University in Boston for his bachelor's degree. Ron is a certified reiki master, channeler and shanmatic apprentice.
Ron was raised in Arcadia, California and was taught at a young age the need to give back to the community in any way possible. He has served on the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Board and the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court in Oregon. Ron is the cofounder of the Oregon AIDS Memorial in Portland and erected the AIDS Memorial Statue in Portland in August of 2016. Ron also co-founded the Western States AIDS Memorial. At CREATE, Ron specializes in fundraising and believes charitable work is all about the ask.

Angela Maciel Gibbons
Board Member
An experienced Realtor with a
demonstrated history of working in the real estate industry. Skilled in Luxury Goods, New Home Sales, Rehabs, Real Estate Transactions, and Investment Properties. Strong real estate professional with a Certified Life Coach focused in Coaching from Palm Springs High School.

Brittany North
Board Member
Brittany was born and raised in the Coachella Valley. Growing up in the desert creative opportunities were few and far between. Despite the lack of engagement in the 90’s and early 00’s, the Coachella Valley is developing into a robust and diverse artistic community. After receiving her BA in Studio Arts from UC Riverside Brittany returned home.
Excited to be a positive force in the developing creative community, she spent a year and a half as a mobile ceramic’s instructor, serving students of all ages and abilities. When approached by CREATE’s founder with the opportunity to build an all-inclusive multimedia arts center from the ground up with other artists and activists she jumped at the chance; with the goal of developing a collaborative and critical community.
Staff
Our Staff

Debra Ann Mumm
Founder and CEO
Coachella Valley native, artist, activist, educator, curator, consultant and speaker, Debra Ann Mumm has spent her lifetime dedicated to the arts in one form or another. Creating a dialogue through arts and creative thinking, enriching lives and communities has become a passion Debra serves daily.
- Phone:+1 (760) 834-8318
- Email:debra@createcentercv.org

Lori Davis
Director of Marketing and Development
Lori Davis is a poet, artist, and educator. She has enjoyed living and working in the Coachella Valley for over 27 years. From a young age, art and creativity have always been an integral part of her everyday life. She also enjoys teaching creative writing, designing curriculum, speaking at conferences, and facilitating literary events in the valley.
In addition to numerous professional certifications, Lori received a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Video Production, and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of California, Riverside.
Her passion for the written and spoken word has taken her above the Arctic Circle to Greenland to study Inuit poetry and to one of Europe’s oldest universities, the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Her work has been published in many national literary journals, including Atlanta Review, Cream City Review, Salt Hill, and Laurel Review.
- Phone:+1 (760) 834-8318
- Email:lori@createcentercv.org

Zachary J.F. Boyles
Programming
Zachary Fleming-Boyles is an Artist and Art Educator born and raised in the Coachella Valley. Zach graduated from UCBerkeley in 2009 with a B.A. in Art Practice and has 8 years classroom teaching experience as Manager of School Programs at the Palm Springs Art Museum.
- Phone:+1 (760) 834-8318
- Email:zach@createcentercv.org