Meet The Team
AMHERST POUNCE, Director
Amherst Pounce is the current Director of the Berelyse Institute of Cultural Illumination. His family has been involved with BICI (an acronym he swears he’ll get to catch on) for generations, and he is both honored and humbled to have the chance to serve as its current Director. His childhood was spent visiting the Institute’s rotating exhibits, where he learned to read from the letters stored in the special collections. As a teenager, his holidays were often spent providing tours to visitors. Once he graduated school, he started working full-time at the Institute: first as a docent, and later as the previous Director’s, his uncle’s, protege. Now that he has settled into his role as Director, he’s thrilled to update the Institute for modern times, including the launch of its first-ever website.
ELLSYX, Imaging Expert, Technology Manager
Ellsyx is the Institute’s Imaging Expert, technology manager, and so much more. It was hard pinning down a specific title for her. Everyone around the Institute knows that if something needs to get done, that Ellsyx is probably there, already working on it. While only part-time at the Institute, she’s an invaluable member of the team. When not at the institute, you can often find her gaming, eating, or napping.
AIMI, Curator, Visual Art
Aimi is the Institute’s Curator for all Visual Art. She has a background in illustration and animation, though she focuses her work primarily on providing visual references for the Institute’s often text-heavy exhibitions. Aimi is an expert at translating the spirit and emotion of the written word. Outside of the Institute, you can often find her tending to her plants and feeding her animals.
R. M. GARDENER, Archivist, Curator, Texts and Institute Educator
R. M. Gardener has been with the Institute for many years. An expert on Berelyse’s history, they are one of the foremost authors in historical literature. Their award-winning biography The Secret of Strinarre was sponsored and funded by the Institute, and is one of the Institute’s crowning achievements in the past few decades. An expert in ancient languages, R. M. Gardener has translated countless legends and has been an integral force in preserving Berelyse’s history. When R.M. Gardener isn’t changing the world, they’re changing minds through the various workshops they lead at the Institute.
LAURA CEE, Director of Patron Experiences
Our newest member of the team, Laura Cee would like to start off her biography by stating that she’s absolutely thrilled to be here, even if she wasn’t at first. Joining the team was the happiest accident she could ever hope to stumble into. Laura’s role is vast, touching nearly every part of an average patron’s experience. Not only does she lead all tours, she’s the main point of contact for any large external parties hoping to visit the Institute. As many of the Institute’s visitors come from local schools, she even designs and leads workshops for the many young patrons who grace our halls. Her deft hands touch nearly all event programming, and she thinks that you should visit the Institute today. She’d like to thank R. M. Gardener for writing this biography and graciously accepting all of Laura’s incredibly minor notes to improve it.