Andrea Hansen is from Bakersfield, CA. celebrating over 30 years working in the arts industry. She has experienced a vast career across the United States as a professional dancer, choreographer, college professor, and as an arts administrator. Andrea holds a B.A. in Dance and Political Science from Mercyhurst University and a M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Arizona. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Kern Dance Alliance (KDA), a nonprofit arts agency elevating California’s Central Valley communities through grant-making, programs, and services. Andrea is also an advocate working with the state of California to ensure arts funding is equitably allocated to the Central Valleys. She has been instrumental in raising over $6 million for the arts in Kern County, specifically for the KDA Creative Corps and the Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater. She serves on the boards of the California State University, Bakersfield Arts and Humanities Executive Advisory Committee, the Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater, and she is a member of several organizations, including the Bakersfield Downtown Rotary and the Bakersfield Museum of Art Blue Circle Club. She is a marathoner who has completed the full Bakersfield Marathon, was recently named the 2023 Distinguished Alumni from her undergraduate, Mercyhurst University, and was highlighted as one of the “20 under 40” in Bakersfield Life Magazine and Kern Dance Alliance was recognized as a 2024 Beautiful Bakersfield Awardee. She is a wife, mother, and is devoted to helping the arts to flourish in the Central Valleys.