Board President

Martha grew up in Norfolk, Va, and while she lives in Pennsylvania now, she is back often to spend time with family and work on projects in Hampton Roads. Martha is a recovering sound designer and prolific producer with projects across the nation primarily by way of Goode Productions. She believes that fostering emerging artists is integral to the future of the arts in our country, and for over 20 years, she has worked with scores of playwrights, directors, actors, and designers to create meaningful productions of new works in New York City and beyond. Now she is thrilled to put that same passion into Rouge and the artists and community she still thinks of as home. Martha also serves on the boards of the Va Arts Festival and Va MOCA and is Vice President of the Goode Family Foundation.

Vice President

Co Founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Charette Agency.

Brand positioning and strategic marketing, from conceptualization to execution is what drives me. I build teams, plans and budgets which work together to answer the why, then the who and the how.

Board Secretary

Nikki Bass is a Nansemond Indian scientist focused on cultural revitalization through environmental stewardship. She was born and raised on the Chesapeake Bay and has 15 years of experience in environmental protection and public health. Nikki weaves traditional and modern indigenous perspectives into interdisciplinary projects that immerse communities in living tribal landscapes and waterways. Over the past decade, she has dedicated her efforts to the Great Dismal Swamp as a site of intertribal significance and the Nansemond River as the original lifeforce of the Nansemond people. She currently works to empower her tribe through data collection, storytelling with geographic information systems, and capacity building through conservation partnerships.

Akin Ritchie is currently the Technical Director at Zeiders American Dream Theater in Virginia Beach. He moved to Norfolk, VA in 2011 to work in theater and has previously worked at Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Arts Festival, The Attucks Theater, Chrysler Hall, and Scope Arena.

He is also a lighting designer (and occasional projection designer) whose work has been seen in productions at The Z, Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Stage Company, The Attucks Theater, Generic Theater, and Kansas City Rep.

Akin is a nerd for the creative process and believes that everyone has a story to tell and the capacity to create.