Donna Granata joined the Brooks Institute faculty in September 2006. She is a 1993 graduate from Brooks Institute and in 2003 was honored by her alma mater with an Honorary Masters of Science Degree.

As an award winning painter turned photographer, Granata is admired for her portrait work. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Focus on the Masters (FOTM), a highly respected non-profit educational program documenting many of the contemporary artists of our time. Founded in 1994, the goal of FOTM is to demonstrate the importance of the arts to society by bringing highly accomplished artists to the forefront of the community. The program presents its research to a broad public through regular photographic exhibitions; oral histories; meet-the-artist series; educational outreach to schools and youth centers; lecture series; and cable access programming. Focus on the Masters is the recipient of the inaugural City of Ventura Mayor's Art Award in 2005 in recognition of its outstanding contributions to arts education.

Selected works from Granata's FOTM portrait series and other photographs are housed in numerous public and private collections including the Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA; City of Ventura Municipal Art Collection, Ventura, CA; Museum Ventura County, Ventura, CA; Ojai Valley Museum, Ojai, CA; the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission; Santa Barbara, CA; Polaroid Corporation, Cambridge, MA; Smithsonian Archive of American Artists; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; and additional public institutions that house the personal archives of the artists documented. Her photographs have been displayed throughout Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties and in selected shows in New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas.

In addition, Granata teaches classes for the Elderhostel International including an Introduction to the J. Paul Getty Collections; The Building of the Getty Villa; as well as an overview of the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty's educational programs worldwide. She also teaches the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters program and the History of Art in California. Special lectures trace the careers of photographer Horace Bristol and painter John Nava, creator of the tapestries commissioned for the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, CA.

Her dedication to the arts has earned her the honor of serving as a Cultural Ambassador to Sub-Sahara Africa for Rotary International. In addition, she was named Teacher of the Year in 2005 by Elderhostel International and is listed in Marquis Who's Who of American Women.