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.


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.

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.

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

Robert Mann
CAO
Robert is a results oriented, creative management executive with strong accomplishments in all media related industries. A highly effective communicator with substantial and diversified experience with private, public and non-profit agencies.
Robert is highly skilled in governmental procedure, media management (Creation & Placement), technical training, organizational restructuring, customer relations and community outreach. Robert studied filmmaking at Rutgers, Business Administration at Western Governors University and maintains current certifications in Ethical Marketing, Corporate Compliance, Cultural Diversity and Motivational Interviewing.
- Phone:+1 (760) 834-8318
- Email:robert@createcentercv.org

Kennan Vorwaller
Administrative
Kennan was born and raised in the Coachella Valley and loves being able to call the desert her home. She studied public relations and graphic design at Brigham Young University - Idaho and is happy to be able to put her skill set to use at CREATE where she helps with website building and social media. She's grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the vibrant community that makes up CREATE Center for the Arts.
- Phone:+1 (760) 834-8318
- Email:kennan@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
Instructors
Our Instructors

Valentina Lamdin
Oils, Acrylics, Watercolor
Ukrainian born artist and teacher, Valentina Ratschenko Lamdin, has been producing fine art for more than forty years. Her earliest influence was her father, himself an artist of note with whom she shared her love for art and the capacity to produce beautiful and inspiring work.
While she is recognized as a gifted impressionist, she is skilled in producing beautiful works in watercolor, pastel and acrylic. Her work in oil has been described as bold, with brilliant colors of strength and confidence, while her watercolors are soothing and sensitive.
Through her work, she captures the essence of her subjects, which are various but nearly always drawn from nature. Valentina shares with the viewer her impressions of beauty in her world and her deep love of nature.

Barbara Eberhart
Oils, Acrylics, Pastels
Barbara Eberhart has been refining her flawless blended oil paint style during her 40-year career as a professional artist. Her work is part of countless private collections throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Central America. She is most known for her elegant florals, which celebrate the gifts of Mother Earth and explore spiritual connection, inner-peace, and the power of love. She is devoted to bringing joy and beauty to her collectors and viewers through her work, and believes in art as a spiritual experience that nourishes the soul.

Jessica Schiffman
Oils, Acrylics, Drawing
Jessica Schiffman has been a full-time visual artist for more than twenty-five years. Her paintings are widely collected, and she has also illustrated numerous children's books. Jessica paints murals as well, and is currently creating one for the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission. Her paintings can be seen at the Middle Ridge Gallery in Idyllwild, The Desert Art Center in Palm Springs, Saatchiart.com and jessicaschiffman.com.
Jessica has taught workshops and classes at the Idyllwild Arts Academy and Summer Program over a fifteen-year period, and she also teaches drawing and painting classes at the Desert Art Center in Palm Springs, the Create Center for the Arts in Palm Desert, and the Trilogy Country Club. She has taught workshops for Sunnylands/the Annenberg Estate, the Idyllwild Art Alliance, and Sun City, and is scheduled for a workshop at Joshua Tree National Monument.
Jessica has a BFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Steve Hill
Crochet
Accomplished in the study of fine art, music and language, Steve operated a successful sign graphics business in Los Angeles for over a decade. After relocating to the desert, his love and belief in the therapeutic benefits of music led him to perform at local hospitals to lift the spirits of the suffering and encourage a healing atmosphere.