Laguna Playhouse has appointed Jeremy Ancalade as its new Chief Financial Officer. Jeremy was most recently Finance Director for Project Angel Food in Los Angeles. A Louisiana native, Jeremy started his career in New Orleans, freelancing as a stage manager in the Big Easy. After relocating to Southern California in 2005, he joined the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles as General Manager and later became Vice President of Operations for The Trevor Project a crisis intervention center for the LGBTQ community. He holds MBA and MFA degrees from California State University, Long Beach, and a BA degree from Loyola University New Orleans.

Arts Action Fund of Americans for the Arts (AFTA) reports that the two-year federal budget deal announced last week between Congress and the White House will likely result in the funding increases secured earlier this year in the FY'20 House appropriations bills, including $12.5 million more annually for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as $6 million more for arts education. Those appropriation bills will now be taken up by the Senate in September, following next month's recess break. Also, at June's AFTA National Convention in Minneapolis, ArtsOC President & CEO Rick Stein appeared on a panel called "Arts Advocacy Rules of the Road" with Arts Action Fund's Nina Ozlu Tunceli and Arts for LA's Gustavo Herrera. The presentation may be found here.