Kaleb Van Rijswijck, artistic director at the Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth (BAAY), said about his life in theater, “I could never see myself doing anything else.”
Throughout his career, the 29-year-old has explored many facets of arts education, including early art-integrated teaching, community outreach and several years in social work with wraparound mental health services.
Despite it all, he always found himself “back in a theater, craving more.”
BAAY, a nonprofit arts education organization offering quality instruction and mentoring in theater, dance, music and visual arts to youth ages 5–17, was founded by David Post in 2006.
It has evolved from focusing on theater for middle school students to now offering actors workshops, theater tech, private voice lessons and ensemble choir. Plans are afoot to include a daytime program to accommodate students who do not have a traditional school schedule.
It serves approximately 1,400 children annually at its campus theater on State Street, and in EduArts after-school enrichment classes in elementary schools throughout Whatcom County.
Juliette Machado, 31, is now executive director of BAAY after being involved with the nonprofit for almost 10 years in various capacities. She’s also a company member of Bellingham Repertory Dance (BRD), a nonprofit dance collective founded in 2005.
“I think that my experience as a dancer, dance instructor and choreographer informs how I operate in my administrative role at BAAY,” she said. “My choreographic process involves empowering the dancers’ strengths and curiosities, providing alternative ideas, creating a structure to play within and putting a variety of pieces together to form a cohesive whole.”
Machado said while the tasks may be totally different as executive director at BAAY — preparing annual budgets, event planning, staff oversight and support — she feels the process is not so different from the one in the dance studio.
“I aspire to be the type of leader where everyone involved feels like a valued member of the team,” she said.
BAAY’s administrative structure has gone through a series of revisions in recent years. Shifting from its original and longstanding model of one leader overseeing all aspects of the organization, the staff explored a shared leadership model from 2021–23 as BAAY emerged from the pandemic shutdown.
This year, they’ve reestablished the role of executive director (Machado), but now with the support of an artistic director (Van Rijswijck), who oversees all aspects of program planning and management, among other shared responsibilities.
“At its heart,” Machado said, “BAAY is a safe haven for youth to explore their artistic journey. Regardless of experience levels, our students can rely on a safe and supportive environment to spread their creative wings.”
Van Rijswijck started directing at BAAY while he was still attending Bellingham High School. He knows it was an opportunity not typically given to young people.
“It was through that experience that I gained the confidence to go on and establish a career in the performing arts,” he said. “BAAY put a lot of trust in me at such a pivotal moment in my creative career and I don’t take that lightly.”
Through the years he was able to hone his craft while portraying infamous characters like Seymour in BAAY’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” and Jack in the Sondheim classic “Into the Woods” at Mount Baker Theatre.
“BAAY provided a platform for me to elevate my craft and immerse myself in the performing arts,” he said.
Machado was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii. After high school, she moved to Bellingham to attend Western Washington University, graduating in 2014 with a BA in Communications and a BFA in Dance.
She hadn’t planned a career in the nonprofit arts sector. But, she said, BAAY has continued to present opportunities for her to expand her skills, so she’s stayed and learned a lot along the way.
“I’ve come to embrace my diverse skill set and feel it equips me to tackle a variety of puzzles and situations,” she said. “Adaptability is crucial in the performing arts, as well as in life, so I’m grateful to BAAY for giving me space to hone that.”
Theater, they both agree, has the capacity to elicit heightened emotions that are not always easily accessible.
“Seeing stories that represent us, hardships we can relate to and characters we can empathize with becomes cathartic and therapeutic,” Van Rijswijck said.
“We invite and cultivate big and bold choices that are often labeled as ‘not appropriate’ in a traditional educational setting,” Machado added. “There was a slogan that was coined many years ago that stated, ‘My child sleeps at home but lives at BAAY,’ and I think that sentiment is on the mark.”
With the influx of students, it has become clear, Machado said, that they have outgrown their home base on State Street. In order to accommodate their ever-evolving programs, they are looking to expand their space.
They said BAAY will continue to rely on the generous support of the Whatcom County community to successfully enter this new chapter.
“It feels like kismet to be embarking on this new creative endeavor at a facility that holds such a prominent place in my heart,” Van Rijswijck adds. “I am elated to be in this position and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.”
Find out more about BAAY’s current productions and programming at baay.org.
