Yumi Inomata’s (she/her) current role is Finance Manager, a role she’s had for three years. As the Finance Manager, Yumi is responsible for account receivables and payables, parts of the payroll process, helping with grant disbursements and training staff on the timesheet application.
Yumi’s favorite Arts Midwest programming is Arts Midwest World Fest, which focuses on small and midsized Midwest communities and international and intercultural exchanges with host communities and international musicians. It reminds her of being an international student in the US and studying and performing at a college in a rural Midwest town.
In the non-Arts Midwest arts world, Yumi has served as a panelist for several awards and organizations over the past decade, and she is particularly proud her past role on the board of directors for Link Vostok, lead by Lisa First, as she was able to support an international biennial festival between the Twin Cities and Yaroslavl, Russia. Yumi is a chapter member of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (Minnesota chapter), and a certified Intercultural Development Inventory administrator.
In coming to the United States, Yumi traded Japan’s rice fields for Iowa’s corn fields as she began her studies. Since then, she has studied and worked in Ohio and Minnesota, and she now considers herself a true Midwesterner.
Yumi was connected with Arts Midwest through the U.S./Japan Cultural Trade Network, which was one of Arts Midwest’s early international initiatives. As part of that initiative, she was talking with a project director at a dance studio open house and asked how she could be involved with Arts Midwest’s great work. And that’s how it all started!