Photo: Kenny Allen (Left) and Sayon Syprasoeuth (Right)

Leadership Long Beach (LLB) consists of a 10-month program that includes class members representing diverse segments of the community, where they attend day-long classes and learn about leadership values in the context of helping the Long Beach community. Upon graduating from the program, the graduating class completes service projects that demonstrate their understanding of the community.

Last Monday, LLB announced its 2017 Institute Class and two arts leaders were selected: Kenny Allen and Sayon Syprasoeuth.

Kenny Allen is the founder and managing director of Evolve Theatre and works as the membership director for the Teaching Artist Guild. He volunteers for the Arts Council for Long Beach on the Advocacy Committee and has volunteered for Arts for LA and Building Healthy Communities, Long Beach. He hopes to use his experience in LLB to help artists advocate for themselves and their work.

Sayon Syprasoeuth graduated from Claremont Graduate University with a Masters in Fine Arts and works as program coordinator for the United Cambodian Community’s Living Arts, Long Beach program. He volunteers for the Lao American Writers Summit, the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia and as a board member for the Arts Council for Long Beach. He hopes to use his experience with LLB to take a greater leadership role in Long Beach arts communities.

The Arts Council is pleased to provide scholarships to both Kenny Allen and Sayon Syprasoeuth through a grant that will fund a portion of their participation in the program.