Bard on the Beach relies on an incredible team of staff, Company members, and volunteers to help put on our Festival every summer, and our People of Bard series highlights just some of the wonderful individuals who make our work possible. If you missed it, be sure to check out our last People of Bard blog on our Development Events Officer, Sadie Dufour.
Today, we’re excited to be turning the spotlight to another member of our Development team, Rilee German-Martinez! Rilee started their journey at Bard in our Box Office and has since become an invaluable member of our fundraising team. (They also have some fantastic book recommendations.) Learn more about Rilee in our full conversation below!
Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your journey at Bard?
I am the Development Communications Coordinator here at Bard. I started in the Box Office halfway through the 2023 Season and I absolutely loved it. I came back as the Lead Box Office Coordinator in 2024 and then I was the Box Office Supervisor for part of 2025. I had dipped my toes into fundraising previously, so that experience, along with my Creative Writing degree, made this position really appealing to me! I reached out about the position when it became available and started in April 2025.
Can you tell us more about your role as the Development Communications Coordinator?
I oversee researching and writing for government grants, as well as grants through corporations and family foundations. There are a lot of different boxes I have to tick and every application is different. A big part of my role is collaborating with other departments, so it’s been really great learning about the day-to-day operations and the projects in our Production team and Site Crew, for example. I’m learning more and more about Bard every day. I also handle administration for corporate sponsorships, so I help write proposals, and then once they’ve been confirmed, I write up a contract and handle the invoices and processing payments. I also write thank you letters and stewardship reports, and I help coordinate their benefits throughout the Season as a way of showing our appreciation for them. It’s pushed me to grow as a writer, because even though creative writing and grant-writing is so different, I see myself being a lot more detail-oriented and reminding myself that every word matters.
What would you say is your favourite part about working at Bard?
My favourite part of working at Bard is just seeing how much work we do to uplift artists and people in the community who are interested in the arts. As a grant-writer, I’m actively contributing to making those projects possible. I might get funding approval for one and then see it happen a few months later. The positive impact it has on so many of members of the community is deeply rewarding. For example, the London Drugs Foundation supports the Discovery Zone, which is a free platform with resources for teachers like curriculum planners and lesson plans that align with BC’s English Language arts curriculum. There are a variety of lessons that really put exploration and curiosity into the hands of the students, and it helps teachers provide a more fulfilling educational experience. When you see how successful it’s been in a year and a half and put into numbers how many people it’s impacted, it’s very satisfying. Even at sponsor events, I see guests having a great time and feel like I’ve played a part in creating that fun, welcoming experience.
Was there anything from this Season that you were really looking forward to?
I was very excited for The Spotlight Circle. There were a lot of meetings in our department to identify its mission and plan specific events. I’m so happy at how successful it’s been for Antigone, which came about as a collaboration between two people who were acting in our Festival in 2019, and who now get to bring it back to where it all began. Just seeing these two women receive so much support from our own community feels like a perfect encapsulation of what makes Bard so special.
And you’re a creative writer—can you tell us more about that side of your work?
I’m in the early stages of project development after a long stint of writer’s block. It’s interesting to come back to creative writing after exclusively writing for grants, which requires a very different type of creativity. But as I said earlier, my craft has evolved and I feel reinvigorated. A big obstacle in writing is a sense of validation and imposter syndrome, and now that I’m pursuing writing in a different way that I know I’m good at, I can trust my creative instincts. I did a lot of playwriting while at UBC, but I want to exercise my fiction-writing muscle again, since that’s mostly what I read.
Are there any writers that have been particularly influential in your own writing?
Two of my favourite books are I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. One of my recent favourite reads was Lady Macbeth by Ava Reed. I also love Hanif Abdurraqib; he’s a music critic, poet, and essayist. I think he’s one of the century’s best writers.He wrote a book about basketball, and I’m not a sports person, but it was about the role that basketball plays in shaping a city’s culture and the life lessons you can learn from being a fan or playing basketball yourself. Right now, I’m reading Mood Machine by Liz Pelly, and it’s about the development of Spotify and how it’s negatively impacted the music industry. It’s very good, but very dense.
Is there anything that you’re watching or listening to lately?
My fiancée and I are building our CD collection, so I have Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay and Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend on rotation in our car. I recently listened to the newest album by NoSo, who is a non-binary Korean-American musician. I finally listened to Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams and loved it. In terms of movies, I am a huge fan of horror and have been watching all the new releases. My favourites of the year so far are Hokum and Obsession.
Finally, when you’re not at Bard, what do you like to do with your time?
I’m a homebody, so I like to play video games, read books, and snuggle my cat. Whenever I go out, though, I always stop at Earnest for a scoop of matcha ice cream (but usually bring home a pint!).
