- CONFERENCE: NOV 8-10, 2007
PRE-CONFERENCE INSTITUTES: NOV 7, 2007 - REGISTRATION
Featured Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Eli Broad is the founder of The Broad Foundation and the founder-chairman of KB Home and AIG Retirement Services Inc. In the course of his 50-year career, Broad has built two Fortune 500 companies from the ground up. Today he is focused on venture philanthropy with The Broad Education Foundation, whose mission is to improve urban public education through better governance, management and labor relations. The Broad Art Foundation operates an active lending library of contemporary art to more than 400 museums and university galleries worldwide. The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation gave the funding gift to create the Broad Institute for biomedical research, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Broad serves on a number of boards, including the board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for which the Broads announced a major gift to build the Broad Contemporary Art Museum. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.
Chike Nwoffiah is a graduate of the University of Lagos, Nigeria; Columbia University's Graduate School of Business INM program, the Hollywood Film Institute and Leadership Mountain View class of 1999. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Oriki Theater, a Mountain View based performing arts company that provides African entertainment, educational and youth development programs. Nwoffiah is an adjunct professor at Menlo College in Atherton, California where he teaches African and African American History. He is a past president of Mountain View Community Television; a former board member of the Chamber of Commerce Mountain View and the Arts Council Silicon Valley. He serves on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce Mountain View Education Foundation, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, California Black Arts Alliance and the Palo Alto Red Cross. An award winning filmmaker and director, Mr. Nwoffiah won the 1998 International Cinema in Industry Competition (Cindy) gold award and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame award for his children's film of African folk stories, Ago! Amee! Other projects include: A Jewel in History, a feature length documentary on the history of Black hospitals in America. His 2004 documentary A Killing in Choctaw, on a 1962 race killing in Choctaw County Alabama, premiered in Europe at the XX Black International Cinema Festival in Berlin, Germany in May 2005 where it won the Award for Best Film on Black Experience. A Killing in Choctaw also won the 2006 Telly Awards. His latest project is a feature length drama “Sabar” that is due for release in summer of 2007.
Honorees
Iona Benson is a performer, educator and passionate arts enthusiast who has devoted her life to dance, music and the shared experience of art. She is a longtime supporter of the Colburn School of Performing Arts where she led and expanded the school’s Musical Encounter program for nearly 20 years. A member of Colburn’s Board of Directors since 1998, Benson served as a Trustee of the National Guild from 1998-2001 and was elected and honorary trustee in 2002. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Canada, Benson moved to New York at 16 to pursue a career as a professional dancer. She danced with several ballet companies, performing on Broadway and at Jacob’s Pillow. A Charter Member of the Dance Notation Bureau, she has taught at the New Dance Group, the Juilliard School and Eugene Loring’s American School of Dance in Los Angeles.
Liz Lerman is a performer, writer and educator. In 1976, she founded Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, a unique multi-generational ensemble that has become a leading force in contemporary dance. Lerman’s numerous honors include the American Choreographer Award, an honorary doctorate from Williams College and a 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship. From 1994-1996, Lerman directed the widely lauded Shipyard Project in collaboration with the Music Hall of Portsmouth, NH. From 1999-2002, she led Hallelujah, engaging people in 15 cities to create dances “in praise of” topics vital to their communities. She is the author of Teaching Dance to Senior Adults and co-author of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Milwaukee, Lerman received her B.A. in dance from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in dance from George Washington University.
Creative Aging Institute Faculty
Susan Perlstein is the founder and Executive Director of the National Center for Creative Aging, an organization dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and the quality of life of older people. She is also an educator, social worker, administrator and an artist. She has written extensively on creativity, and late-life learning. She has served as a consultant for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City Board of Education, and has presented for such organizations as Generations United, the American Society on Aging (ASA) and the National Council on Aging, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Assembly of States Arts Agencies, and the Society for Arts and Healthcare. Ms. Perlstein has contributed significantly to the training and education offerings of ASA. She received the Cavanaugh Award for excellence in “Creativity and Aging” training.
Marketing & Community Engagement Institute Faculty
Donna Walker-Kuhne, acknowledged as the nation’s foremost expert in audience development by the Arts & Business Council, has devoted her professional career to increasing access to the arts. She was formerly director of marketing and audience development for The Public Theater and director of marketing for Dance Theatre of Harlem. Presently, she is president of Walker International Communications Group, a marketing and audience development consulting company. Her clients include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Signature Theater and Three Mo’ Tenors. She was an associate producer for George C. Wolfe’s Harlem Song at the Apollo Theater and co-producer for the 2004 Audelco Awards. Her first book, Invitation to the Party: Building Bridges to Arts, Culture and Community, was published in 2005.
Session Leaders
Duffie A. Adelson is President of Merit School of Music, a community music school nationally renowned for the caliber of instruction and level of financial support it provides to more than 6,000 students annually. Ms. Adelson joined Merit’s faculty in 1982, was appointed Associate Director in 1986, became Executive Director in 1993, and was named President of the School in 2007. Under Ms. Adelson’s leadership, Merit completed a $19.6 million capital campaign, increased its endowment to $11 million, and moved into a state-of-the-art facility with a concert hall, music library, recording studio and fifty classrooms. Merit now provides more than $2 million annually to ensure that motivated students can participate regardless of financial need. Ms. Adelson earned a Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University and a Master of Music from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She received a Doctor of Music Education Honoris Causa, from VanderCook College in 2007.
Catherine H. Augustine (Ph.D., Education) is a Behavioral Scientist at RAND specializing in K-12 education, postsecondary education, and the organizational behavior of institutions and systems. Current research includes assessing how multiple organizations collaborate to provide arts education to K-12 students and investigating governance options for K-12 urban school districts. Dr. Augustine does implementation work as well as research. She was one of the leaders of a project to implement a new education system in Qatar. This work included both reforming the K-12 system and establishing a new postsecondary education coordinating body. Recent past work includes a consideration of the future of private liberal arts colleges in the U.S., assessing the state of middle schools in the country, and helping the Department of Defense to improve their system of postsecondary education. Dr. Augustine received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Glenna Avila is an artist, educator and arts administrator. She is currently the director of the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program at California Institute of the Arts, a program offering free classes in the visual and performing arts to thousands of teenagers in 40 neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County. Before coming to CalArts in 1991, she held a variety of positions with the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, including Director of the Los Angeles Murals Program, Director of the McGroarty Art Center, and Director of the Los Angeles Photography Center. She has taught arts workshops at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Armory Center for the Arts, and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, among others. Avila received her B.A. in Art (magna cum laude) from UCLA and her M.A. in Art from the University of New Mexico. She has painted over seventy-five murals in Los Angeles, the most well-known being “L.A. Freeway Kids,” commissioned for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival on the freeway in downtown Los Angeles. Her art has been included in many exhibitions throughout the country including exhibits at the Laguna Art Museum, Anchorage Museum of Art and History, Armand Hammer Museum, and most recently the “Made in California” exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Aida Aydinyan has been the Executive Director of the Barthelmes Conservatory of Music since the summer of 2004. Since then, she has shared the joys of music and music education by envisioning, programming and executing the Conservatory’s two divisions: Music School and Music Center. Strengthened by art education, art management, TV production/reporting, and a Public Relations career that encompasses more than eighteen years, Aydinyan brings a variety of experiences to the Conservatory. During her career, Aydinyan taught piano and toured nationally and internationally with the Gyumri Municipal Philharmonic Agency; organized festivals, concerts, mass-performances and special events; produced and directed documentary movies; developed marketing and public relations programs and served as the Public Relations Manager for the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. Aydinyan served as Interim Project Director for the OSU Tulsa Project CREATES, a research and art integration project, through which she coordinated artists in residence and Talent Development programs aimed to increase educational opportunities for elementary school students. Aydinyan holds a diploma in music, a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance and education, a Master’s degree in art history/administration, a Master’s degree in Mass Communication/Public Relations and is currently working on her Doctoral degree in Educational Administration/Leadership at Oklahoma State University. In addition to her work at the Conservatory, Aydinyan also serves on the Board of Directors for Chamber Music Tulsa and Tulsa Symphony Orchestra.
Paul Babcock is Executive Vice President of MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN. Paul received his Master’s degree in Percussion from the University of Minnesota and Bachelor of Arts in music and business administration from Monmouth College (Illinois). As a senior administrator at MacPhail, Paul has implemented and overseen many programs at MacPhail during the last 18 years, including the Community Partnerships program that has grown to serve over 3,200 students annually through 48 partnerships. He has led strategic planning initiatives for the organization and is the project manager for MacPhail’s new building project, scheduled to open in January 2008. In a volunteer capacity, Paul serves on the Whittier School Leadership Team, the Dakota Jazz Education Foundation Advisory Board and is a member of the Interdistrict Downtown School Community Summit. In addition to administration Paul is also active as an instructor and performer. He was worked with hundreds of students of varying ages and levels, and taught in numerous settings ranging from lessons to ensembles, to classes with young children and clinics and residencies throughout the Midwest. In January 1996, the acclaimed percussion ensemble Rimshots! was formed and has since recorded two CDs, performed over 350 concerts, toured France, Boston, Kansas City and Chicago, has won several awards and was featured NPR’s program “From the Top.” He can be seen frequently throughout the Twin Cities as a freelance percussionist in both jazz and classical settings.
Eric Bachrach, founder of the Community Music School of Springfield, is himself a product of the community music school tradition, having attended the Turtle Bay Community Music School in Manhattan. Mr. Bachrach holds a Master’s Degree in Music from the University of Massachusetts and a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Hunter College of New York. He was awarded a Peter Drucker Foundation Fellowship in 2001; the William Pynchon award in the same year; and a Human Relations Award from The National Conference for Community and Justice in 2005. Bachrach serves on the Board of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, the Arts Extension Service, and the Brianna Fund for Children with Physical Disabilities. He has served as a grant panelist for the Connecticut Commission of the Arts and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities.
Katherine Bestwick is the Founding Executive Director of the Phoenix Village Art Center. The art center began with an educational visual arts program in 2003. The art center now serves over 600 students each year, holds 14 annual exhibits and provides studio space for 15 working artists. Kathy has years of experience as an art educator, having taught Art, K-12 in the public school and computer aided design for both under and post graduates. She also worked in the textile industry, in Manhattan, as a fabric stylist for men’s apparel. She holds a BS in Art Education from Edinboro University, a BS in Textile Design from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and a MA in Liberal Studies from New York University.
Susan Bodilly, PhD, has worked at RAND for more than 25 years. Her primary research interests and expertise lie in: K-12 school reform; resource allocation and its impact on reforms; formative evaluation; and implementation analysis. She has evaluated an array of K-12 improvement initiatives such as: the General Electric College Bound program; attempts by high schools to integrate academic and vocational education; attempts by the federal government to return Section Six schools on military bases to local control; and attempts by schools to implement Perkins legislation as evaluated under the National Assessment of Vocational Education. She played a leading role in the RAND evaluation of the New American Schools Initiative. She recently managed review panels for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She co-edited a book on scale up issues in education and an extensive literature review on the use of out-of-school-time. She is now leading an evaluation of the Ford Foundation’s Collaborating for Educational Reform Initiative and an effort to analytically describe collaborative systems that support high quality arts education experiences funded by the Wallace Foundation. She is currently Director of RAND Education.
Kelly Bornmann is an early childhood music educator and the director of the Center for Music and Young Children in Princeton, NJ, Music Together's lab school. Kelly has achieved the highest level of Music Together training, Certification Level 2 and is certified public school educator with more than 20 years of teaching experience. Kelly also works for Music Together LLC's licensing department as a national mentor to other Music Together teachers and directors. She has spoken at conferences around the country sharing her insight into early childhood music development and the use of developmentally appropriate curriculums for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
Matthew Braun began as Executive Director of the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial in January 2007. He brings a wide range of museum and arts administration experiences to his new role at one of Philadelphia’s oldest and most beloved arts-education institutions. Braun spent the previous nine years of his career at The History Center in Ithaca, NY, where he rejuvenated a modest, underutilized historical society into a center of vibrant programming, strengthened by a vibrant network of community partnerships. During his tenure at The History Center, he was awarded the American Association of Museums’ Nancy Hanks Memorial Award for Professional Excellence, and subsequently attended the Getty Museum Leadership Institute. Prior to The History Center, Braun served as Curator of Exhibitions for the National Park Service at St. Louis’s Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (a.k.a. the Gateway Arch). He pursued post-graduate studies as a Fulbright Scholar at the Slade School of Art at the University of London after earning his BFA at Washington University’s School of Art in St. Louis. Additionally, Braun has attended resident-artist studio programs at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Robert Capanna came to Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School in 1976 as director of the School's Kardon-Northeast Branch; in 1982, he was named executive director. Since that time, Settlement has grown to six locations serving over 9,000 students on-site and 6,000 students off-site with programs of instruction and activity in music, dance and the visual arts. Mr. Capanna is an active and widely respected composer whose works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Concerto Soloists, Penn Contemporary Players, Orchestra 2001, Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, and in numerous chamber music and broadcast series. Mr. Capanna serves on the boards of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, the Presser Foundation and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
Harry Chalmiers is the President of McNally Smith College of Music in Saint Paul, MN. For the past eight years, Chalmiers was the Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost at Berklee College of Music. Prior to coming to Berklee, Chalmiers was the Executive Director of the MacPhail Center for the Arts, and was a co-founder and the first Executive Director of Indian Hill Music Center in Massachusetts. An early user of music technology, Chalmiers was a music technology presenter for Silver Burdett-Ginn Publishers and established curriculum-based music technology programs in numerous public and community schools. One of the founders of the jazz education program at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Chalmiers created a ground-breaking curriculum using music technology to teach music theory based on songwriting. He has taught ear training, composition, counterpoint, jazz and classical guitar performance at the University of Mass-Lowell and at Berklee. An accomplished classical and electric guitarist, Chalmiers has amassed an extensive body of work as a player and composer as well as teacher. He has performed original and classic material as a soloist and ensemble player. His compositions for classical guitar are published by Clear Note Publications.
Nick Crosson joined the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance in 2005. As Research Coordinator, he investigates, analyzes, and reports research data related to arts and culture; tracks cultural policy and legislative issues; and coordinates local and national research projects. Crosson was managing editor and co-author of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance 2006 Portfolio, which offers an unprecedented and in-depth look at the scope of the Philadelphia non-profit cultural sector. It has been hailed as “the most ambitious and impressive attempt to uncover hard data” on the region’s cultural industry to date (9/26/06 Philadelphia Daily News editorial). Also in 2006, Crosson presented a paper at the Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts Conference in Vienna, Austria entitled "Arts-Based Revitalization: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a Case Study.” Crosson previously served as a researcher at the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, Amnesty International USA, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. He has taught philosophy at St. Joseph’s University, Georgetown University, and Boston College, and authored several papers on ethics and political philosophy. He holds an MA in philosophy from Georgetown University and a BA in philosophy from Haverford College.
Sarah Bainter Cunningham has been Director of Arts Education since September 2004. In that capacity, she provides national leadership in the field of arts education and oversees several national initiatives including NEA Jazz in the Schools, NEA Summer Schools in the Arts, and NEA Education Leaders Institute, as well as chairs the peer panel process for the review of more than 700 applications each year. She also assists in the development of educational materials for the Arts Endowment’s The Big Read, a program designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. From March 2004 until her appointment with the NEA, Dr. Cunningham was the director of the Education Assessment and Charter Accreditation Program at the American Academy for Liberal Education in Washington, DC where she supervised a program to assess and accredit liberal arts-oriented charter schools. From March 1999 to February 2004, Dr. Cunningham was the first academic dean and dean of students at the Oxbow School, a visual arts high school in Napa, California. She helped found the school, designing curriculum that integrated the visual arts with academic courses, including a team-taught course with an instructor in digital art/photography that fully integrated English with Web design and photography, and digital art. She also managed the school’s professional development, admissions, student life, and curriculum decisions. Dr. Cunningham has held teaching positions at a variety of institutions including assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Maine (Orono), a Burke Teaching Fellow in Aesthetics at Vanderbilt University (Nashville), and philosophy instructor at Belmont University (Nashville). Her publications include articles in National Charter School Clearinghouse Newsletter and book reviews in Consciousness, Literature and the Arts and the Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. Dr. Cunningham received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Kenyon College and her masters and doctoral degrees in philosophy at Vanderbilt University.
Amy Dennison is the Director of the Preparatory Department for the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Ms. Dennison is also a consultant and writer for the Sound Discoveries Educational Program of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She is the co-author of "One Voice - Music and Stories in the Classroom" (Libraries Unlimited, 1995). She received a Bachelors of Music Education from Eastern Michigan University, a Masters of Music from Michigan State University and graduated in December 2006 from UC-CCM with a Masters in Music Education. In addition to serving on the Board of UCAAMP, she also is a trustee for The Center for the Arts, Wyoming, the Cincinnati Community Orchestra and the Cincinnati Children’s Choir.
Timothy De Prey, arts administrator and keyboard faculty member dedicated to enriching the many lives he touches as a performer and teacher of music. At MacPhail, he is the Director of Individual Instruction, a piano instructor and a board certified music therapist. Throughout his teaching career at MacPhail, his students have won many competitions including the Honor’s and the prestigious Concerto and Aria competitions. As a music therapist, Timothy has given many workshops both locally and nationally on “Teaching Tips for Students with Special Needs” and “How to Develop a Music Therapy Program in a Community Music School Setting”. In addition to his work at MacPhail, for the past 17 years, Timothy has been the principal accompanist for the well respected Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus. In the summer of 1998, he was chosen to be the accompanist for the Festival Chorus at the Gay Games in Amsterdam and in the summer of 2000 was chosen to be the accompanist for the Festival Men’s Chorus at Festival 2000 in San Jose, under the direction of Grammy winning director, Vance George.
Paula Donnelly began working with Cornerstone in 1998 as a stage manager. She joined Cornerstone's Ensemble in 1999. Community-collaborations she has stage managed for the company include Los Biombos in Boyle Heights, AKA in Beverly Hills, For Here or To Go?, a city-wide bridge show, at the Mark Taper Forum, Peter Pan in Cleveland, and Crossings at St Vibiana's Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles and the Festival of Faith. She also was the stage manager for Cornerstone Ensemble shows Foot/Mouth (produced in multiple malls around Southern California) and Erik Ehn's Mary Shelley's Santa Claus. As a stage manager she has worked on a variety of productions elsewhere, including multiple productions with Taper, Too, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PCPA TheaterFest and other regional theaters. In 2003, Paula became the first Institute Director for the company, planning and implementing the various programs of Cornerstone Institute.
Ben Donenberg is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Shakespeare Festival/LA, the organization that has developed Will Power to Youth through the vision and efforts of many talented and dedicated youth arts professionals and professional educators. He is a new Member of the National Council on the Arts, overseeing the work of the National Endowment for the Arts. Formally, a National Juror for the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities Coming Up Taller Awards and a volunteer on the theater grant-making panels of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, he lectures on theater aesthetics as Guest Faculty for the University of Southern California/National Endowment for the Arts Theater Journalism Institute, at the Huntington Library’s Shakespeare Teachers Seminars, as well as Shakespeare Festival/LA’s Will Power to Schools teacher trainings. He has taught Shakespeare performance at California Institute for the Arts and was recently a Featured Speaker at the 60th Annual Conference of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development in Anaheim, CA and at the White House Conference on Helping America’s Youth at Howard University. Donenberg is a graduate of The Juilliard School and University of Southern California’s School of Philosophy.
Hannah Dworkin is an experienced performing artist, teacher and arts education scholar. Prior to her service as arts and education program specialist at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Ms. Dworkin developed a performing arts program that integrated social studies and music arts into the performing arts curriculum at Foothill Elementary School in the urbanized suburb of Pittsburg, CA. She sings with the company Opera Non Troppo based in Berkeley, CA; she also has performed modern and Buto dance with Barely Human Dance Theater based in Berkeley, CA. She is completing an M.A. in Music and Music Education from Columbia University, Teachers College as well as a teaching credential and a B.A. in Anthropology and Dance from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jessica Eldredge joined the Cultural Alliance staff in 2005. She is part of the Alliance’s expanded efforts in the four suburban counties to support arts and cultural non-profit organizations as well as grassroots efforts to incorporate arts in community revitalization. Previously, she worked with area nonprofits, including the Delaware Art Museum, as a consultant on fundraising, program and education projects. She has additional experience in capital campaign planning and management. She holds an MA in Early American Material Culture from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program and a BA from Smith College.
Eric Engdahl, Ph.D., is the director of art and public education at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. He is also on the faculty at CSU East Bay in the Department of Teacher Education where he teaches classes in Arts Education and on the faculty of the Actor Training Program at Solano College. Eric has many years of experience in arts education. For Mosaica Education, he was a teacher trainer, Regional Program Facilitator and founding member of the curriculum design team that wrote an arts integrated K-8 social studies curriculum now in use at schools throughout the country. He has worked with The California Arts Project since 1994 serving in the Statewide Office and as an Institute Director for five Professional Development Institutes, including two in collaboration in the California Arts Council. He was also a professional actor, director, and circus ringmaster.
Sherry Fair is the Administrative Director at City Arts Center in Oklahoma City. The arts center provides interactive arts experiences through exhibitions, performances, classes and events. Although her career of more than 20 years has concentrated on being a professional communicator and administrator, she has always had a love for the arts and supported the arts. Earlier this year, Fair was able to become part of the arts community as she took her new position. Most recently, Fair was the communications director at Oklahoma City Public Schools and previous to that served as the managing editor of a small publishing company.
Shawna Flanigan, Director of Arts Education at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) in Saint Louis, oversees COCA’s Urban Arts Program, as well as all on-site and off-site programs. Flanigan, who has an extensive background in arts education, joined COCA in 2001 from her previous position as the Children’s Theatre Director at Theatre of Western Springs and as an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University. She received her BA in Theatre Studies from Knox College and her MFA in Directing from DePaul University. She has directed at Children’s Theatre of Western Springs, Barat College, and Stage Left Theatre and worked as an assistant director and dramaturg at theatres such as Steppenwolf, Arena Stage, Intiman Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, The Group Theatre, and Goodman Theatre.
Cathy Fletcher holds a master’s degree in piano performance and has won several regional and national prizes in competitions. While performing and serving on a college piano faculty, her life’s direction took a turn into arts administration. She formerly served as director of community schools of the arts in Memphis, where she had much success in building arts programs for children of all ages. In fall 2004, Ms. Fletcher was asked by Arizona State University to build a community school of the arts from the ground up. The ASU Herberger College of the Arts is one of the strongest colleges of the arts in the country, with each of its academic units ranked in the top ten in the country. Herberger College At Large & for Kids opened its doors in the Fall of 2005 to wide acclaim and currently serves over 2,000 students taught mostly by College of the Arts graduate students. Additionally, Ms. Fletcher served as founding executive director of the Bösendorfer/Schimmel US ASU International Piano Competition, sponsored by the Herberger College of the Arts. Because of the success of the event, a full-time executive director has been hired to carry on the work while Ms. Fletcher focuses solely on building Herberger College at Large & for Kids.
Arlene Goldbard is a writer and consultant based in Richmond, California. She has provided advice and counsel to hundreds of community-based organizations, independent media groups, and public and private funders and policymakers. Her most recent book, New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, was published last year by New Village Press. She is also co-author of Community, Culture and Globalization, an international anthology published by the Rockefeller Foundation. Her essays have been published in In Motion Magazine, Art in America, Theatre, Tikkun, and other journals. She speaks widely on issues of culture, politics and spirituality.
Paula Goodman is Director of K-12 Programs at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. She developed the Art Center for Kids and the Summer Institute for Teachers programs. In addition to these programs, she also directs the Saturday High program. Formerly, Paula was Associate Chair of the Advertising Department at Art Center. Prior to coming to Art Center, she worked as an advertising copywriter at Foote, Cone & Belding, Grey Advertising, NW Ayer and Saul Bass/ Herb Yager & Associates. She was a feature film translator/subtitler for United Artists and MGM. She also taught French and English at Beverly Hills High School. Paula has a Masters en route to Ph. D. degree in French language and literature from UCLA, a Bachelor of Arts with Honors degree from UC Berkeley, and a California teaching credential from University Elementary School at UCLA.
Bau Graves is Executive Director of the Old Town School of Folk Music, in Chicago, Illinois. His work is focused on exploration of the personal, political, aesthetic and ethical issues embedded in the concept and practice of public culture. He is the past Director of the Jefferson Center Foundation, in Roanoke, Virginia, and co-founder of the Center for Cultural Exchange in Maine, where he facilitated the creation of an extended series of programs, in close collaboration with community groups and artists, addressing grass roots cultural aspirations, questions of identity and social/financial power relations. Bau’s work as a field researcher, arts presenter, community organizer, project manager and tour director has been prolific, winning numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace Foundation, Americans for the Arts’ Animating Democracy program, the Rockefeller Foundation, and many others. Bau has performed and recorded with several jazz and traditional music ensembles, and composed original scores for two collaborative projects with dancer/director Ann Carlson. He holds a Masters degree in ethnomusicology from Tufts University, has published essays concerning cultural issues in both the academic and popular press, and has appeared on and/or produced numerous recordings. Bau Graves’ first book, Cultural Democracy, was published in 2005 by the University of Illinois Press.
Bill J. Harrison, CFRE, is a nationally recognized fundraiser with more than thirty years of experience. An award-winning author and respected teacher, Bill has been a featured speaker at numerous state, regional and international conferences, been featured on radio and television programs, and has distinguished himself as a leader in the fundraising profession. Bill is an instructor at the Arizona State University Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management. He has published more than 200 articles on fundraising and non-profit management topics and is the author of the award-winning textbook, FUNDRAISING: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (and how to tell the difference). Bill is a graduate of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Executive Leadership Institute, the AFP Executive Management Institute, and the AFP Faculty Training Academy. He served as the 2004 President of the Greater Arizona Chapter of AFP in Phoenix. In 2005, Bill was presented with the AFP Outstanding Fundraising Executive Award.
D. Jean Hester is an artist whose practice involves installation, drawing, video and performance by exploring communication, interaction and language. Hester holds her MFA in Art and Integrated Media from CalArts and a BFA in Cinema from USC. Since 1996 she has worked as a Web Programmer and Web Designer. During the dotcom boom days Hester was a Web Consultant and Team Lead on numerous high-profile commercial web projects for clients such as Toyota and Lexus. More recently, Hester was a Web Developer and Lead on internal projects at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Currently, she teaches web design and new media full-time, and is the Internet Technology Manager for GYST-Ink.
Suzanne Stack Hirsch, Education Director of the New Orleans Ballet Association, holds an MA in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans and a BFA in Dance from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has also served as the Programming Manager and Education/Residency Manager of the New Orleans Ballet Association. She was the Development Officer for the College of Arts at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has worked as an artist and/or administrator for the New Orleans Dance Collective, New Orleans Dance Festival, National Dance Institute, Country Day Creative Arts Camp. She has been a guest artist/choreographer for IZZY Moving, East Central Community College, and the University of Southern Mississippi. Professional Affiliations include the National Dance Education Organization, Louisiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Mississippi Alliance for Arts in Education, and American Humanics Committee at USM. She has presented at the Southeastern Geophysical Society, National Dance Education Organization, Dance/USA Education Roundtable, and the National Endowment for the Arts Summer Schools in the Arts Evaluation Seminar.
Terry A. Hueneke is a member of the Board of Directors of Manpower Inc, one of the World's largest staffing firms. With the firm for thirty years, he was previously Executive Vice President of this NYSE listed Fortune 500 Company. Prior to joining Manpower, he was Director of Marketing for a National proprietary educational firm for five years, and Director of Advertising and Promotion for one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains for nine years.
Mr. Hueneke, who lives in New York City serves on the United States Department of Labor's Business Advisory Research Council for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C.; the Board of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts in New York; The Emerging Artists Theatre in New York; and The Discovery World Museum and the Academy of Learning and Leadership, both in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Mr. Hueneke received his Marketing and Business education at Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Mark Huxsoll is currently Director of Temple University Music Preparatory, the community and enrichment program of Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. He was Director of the Kardon-Northeast Branch of Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School, 1983-2004. As a long time National Guild participant, he has served as Mid-Atlantic Regional Chair (1989-93), co-chair of the Youth Jazz Ensemble for both NGCSA National Festival(s) of the Arts (Washington, 1994, Philadelphia, 1997), as site visitor for Guild Certification, and is on the Membership Committee. Mark is in his second five-year term as an elected member of the Brandywine (DE) School District Board of Education, and currently serves on the boards of The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Music Makers Magazine, and on the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center. He received a BM-BME double degree from the Philadelphia Musical Academy as a Trumpet student of Samuel Krauss. Mark continues to maintain an active performance career in the Philadelphia region.
Nancy Hytone Leb started her LA-based consulting service in 2004. She is currently the Director of Training at the Center for Cultural Innovation. Other clients include Theatre Bay Area, LA Stage Alliance and Syzygy Theatre. In addition to providing marketing and management guidance, Nancy presents marketing workshops for artists and arts organizations. From 2000–2004, Nancy was the Director of Marketing and Development for Playhouse West in Walnut Creek, CA. Her earlier years were spent in senior account management positions at three of the West Coast's largest advertising agencies. She received a graduate certificate in Arts Administration from Golden Gate University and her B.A. from Iowa State University.
Maureen Ischay is the Director of Development for The Cleveland Music School Settlement, where she has worked since November of 2005. Previously, Maureen served as the Heart Walk Director for the American Heart Association in Colorado Springs and was responsible for establishing numerous best practices still in use in the strategy and implementation of the Heart Walk. Maureen also served as Director of Development for the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra where she was responsible for all aspects of its annual fundraising strategies. Maureen has particular expertise in event management and corporate and foundation relations. Maureen received a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance and music history and literature from Wright State University, a Master of Music in musicology from Miami University, and was a University Fellow at Northwestern University where she conducted doctoral work in musicology. While living in Chicago, Maureen served as the principal researcher on the International Dictionary of Black Composers, a project conducted by The Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College and published by Fitzroy Dearborn in 1999.
A classical pianist, educator and administrator, Igal Kesselman received his B.M. degree from S. Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, and his M.M. and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Mr. Kesselman has made his American debut performing as a soloist with Washington Chamber Symphony at the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall and has performed recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the U.S.A. and Europe. He has served on Faculties of Turtle Bay Music School and Usdan Center for Performing Arts in New York. Mr. Kesselman has completed his M.B.A. degree at Baruch College and has previously held positions of Executive Director of Victor Salvi Foundation and Director of Marketing at Lyon & Healy Harps in Chicago. Currently, he serves as a Director of Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Center.
Jan Kirsch is the Director of Professional Development at Inner-City Arts, a non-profit community arts organization in Los Angeles that works in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District and local social service agencies to provide visual and performing arts classes to 8,000 students in school-day and after-school programs at their facility in the skid row area of downtown Los Angeles. She is passionate about the possibilities of the arts for children, youth and community and about bringing that vision of possibility to classroom teachers and teaching artists. Jan began working as a teaching artist in the community and in the schools in the 1980's and over the past 14+ years at Inner-City Arts, her commitment to supporting classroom teachers and teaching artists develop their practice to best serve their students has guided the development of a training program that serves over 900 teachers and teaching artists annually. Jan's work focuses on supporting teachers in bringing the arts into the classroom and artists in developing curriculums and methodologies that provide the most relevant and engaging work for their constituencies.
Emily Klion is the Artistic and Program Director of the Marsh Youth Theater (MYT), located in San Francisco since 2001. MYT provides high quality theater arts education to Bay Area youth from diverse economic and artistic backgrounds. Emily has had an illustrious career as a children's musical theater producer, composer and musical director. She has an MA in music composition from Mills College. Emily is the recipient of Bay Area Critic's Circle Award, Hollywood Dramalogue Award and the Rex Foundation's Jerry Garcia Award for "promoting creativity in youth."
Debra Koffler is the Founder and Executive Director of Conscious Youth Media Crew. She has extensive experience working with youth and families as a teacher at a community based high school, Real Alternatives Program High School, which serves youth who have rejected or have been rejected by traditional high schools and are searching for an alternative style of learning. Teaching subjects ranging from world history to Final Cut Pro editing and storytelling, Debra has engaged many students, helping to raise critical thinking skills, attendance, overall academic performance and workforce preparedness. Debra also formed and maintained many collaborations and partnerships between the school and diverse community organizations to provide excellent educational programs designed to bring learning to life and keep young people in school and off the street. Recognized by the Annenberg Foundation, Debra was also awarded the Teachers Who Make a Difference Award by the McDuffy Foundation.
From 1988–2006, Ann Lalik held the position of Director of Educational Programs & Gallery Exhibitions. As an artist, Lalik focuses on designing and creating wearable art objects with precious and non-precious metals, plastics and found objects. In 1984 she began developing the metalsmithing and jewelry program at The Baum School of Art, which now serves hundreds of jewelry and metalsmithing students and offers workshops by nationally recognized artists. In 1984 she received her B.F.A., and in 1988 her M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. In 2006 Mrs. Lalik was recognized with the Outstanding Artist Award from the Allentown Arts Commission.
David Lapin has been executive director of Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB) since 1983. In that capacity, he has served on the boards of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, the Boston Center for the Arts, the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and numerous city task forces on arts education. He is a past president of the National Guild, a former member of the Walnut Hill School’s Board of Visitors and the school quality review team for Boston Arts Academy, the city’s high school for the arts. A member of the Harvard Musical Association (HMA), Lapin holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, and has taught at Yale and Cornell. In 1998, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino appointed him to the citizens committee that created a civic vision for air rights development of the Massachusetts Turnpike. He has also recently served on adjudicating panels for HMA, Berklee College of Music and Longy School of Music. Lapin currently serves on the vestry of Boston’s historic Church of the Advent, where he chairs its capital campaign.
Marianne Lauffer earned her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in piano performance from Indiana University as a student of Dr. Karen Shaw. She completed her post graduate work at the Juilliard School on the Professional Studies program studying piano with Irwin Freundlich, Jacob Lateiner, and German Diez. In 1979, Ms. Lauffer joined the teaching staff of Westminster Conservatory, the community music school of Westminster Choir College. In 1987, Westminster Conservatory opened its first extension site and Ms. Lauffer was asked to be the site manager. After attending the AMICI summer institute sponsored by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts in 1990, Ms. Lauffer had an opportunity to commit herself fulltime to the area of arts administration and management with Westminster Conservatory. Ms. Lauffer is currently Assistant Director of Faculty and Extensions at Westminster Conservatory where she oversees four extension sites and their managers, and a teaching faculty of approximately 150. Ms. Lauffer co-founded and now directs Westminster Conservatory’s popular Summer Music Camp Program. Twelve years ago, the program began with 2 music camps. Today it has grown to a full, comprehensive camp experience for all ages and levels of students, each camp having its own director. This past summer approximately 250 students participated in a 16 different music camps, all taught and directed by Conservatory faculty and staff. Ms. Lauffer frequently adjudicates for music competitions and festivals including New Jersey Music Teachers Association, Music Educators Association, Piano Teachers Forum Festival, Shore Music Educators Association, Teen Arts Festival, and the New Jersey Governor’s School. She served as President of New Jersey Music Teachers Association from 2000 to 2003. Ms. Lauffer continues to perform as an accompanist and chamber musician in the tri-state area and has maintained a private piano studio in Ewing Township, NJ since 1980.
Patrick Leiter has been actively involved with technology at Settlement Music School since the inception of the CSMS application in 1999 and is a lead designer of the system. He is a specialized software developer and project leader focused on high visibility, mission critical systems. His professional experience is broad and includes helpdesk manager, software consulting, and enterprise information technology project management for a Fortune 500 company. Patrick manages all of the technical aspects of the day-to-day operations of the CSMS system, and is instrumental in its continued refinement and expansion. He holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Delaware and is a Microsoft Certified Professional.
Christopher Maddock, executive director of the Claremont Community School of Music, has more than 25 years’ experience as a musician, educator and arts administrator. From 2004 to 2006, he was executive director of the Music Center of the Northwest and, from 2000 to 2003, program manager for Music Works Northwest, in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, respectively. Prior to his work in community music, Christopher taught at the Sacred Heart School and served as director of music for St. Joseph Church and School and Holy Rosary Church and School, all in Seattle. He holds a Masters of Music Education from Holy Names University in Oakland, CA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music and German from Oberlin College and Conservatory.
Cindy Maguire is a Research Associate with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. She also teaches part-time in the MA Art Education Program at New York University and is a practicing artist. Previously, she taught visual arts in Los Angeles schools for nine years, including arts advocacy at the district and state levels. Research interests include K–12 and post-secondary art education, community engagement through the arts, social justice art education and research and projects pertaining to international peace education through the arts.
Heather Mangrum oversees all communications efforts for The Center for Arts Education including editing and overseeing the production of the semi-annual newsletter, leading press initiatives for CAE programs, and developing publications and public engagement projects including the upcoming CAE 10 Year Report and companion DVD, Career Development Program website and semi-annual newsletter, Strategic Plan brochure, and all other CAE collateral material. Before joining CAE, she served as Senior Publicity Manager with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Associate Director of Marketing and Public Relations Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation, Senior Publicist with the 92nd Street Y, Communications and Marketing Consultant for Bates North America, and PR Manager for Wenner Media.
Patricia Manley has been the director of Settlement Music School's Germantown Branch since 1987. Manley, who plays the double bass, has freelanced throughout the Philadelphia and New York area with many orchestras and chamber ensembles. Formerly a member of the National Symphony of Argentina, she continued her university studies at Ithaca College and Binghamton University. She received an MBA from Drexel University's LeBow College of Business in 2003 and is a freelance nonprofit management consultant for local and national organizations. Manley was selected to serve at the acting executive director of Settlement Music School during Robert Capanna’s six-month sabbatical in 1999, and has presented at National Guild Conferences in the past.
Magda Martinez is program director, Community Partnerships in the Arts, for the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, PA. Ms. Martinez joined the Fleisher community in March 2002 as coordinator for the Arts Team of the Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative, a coalition of organizations created to bring together youth and artists to support creative expression and youth development. This entailed managing teaching artists, budgets and programming as well as building curricula with artists and site directors. In her current position, Ms. Martinez designs programs and manages many in-school artist residencies created in collaboration with classroom teachers and artists. As an art educator; she has worked with populations diverse in culture, age and economic status; constructed curricula around diverse themes using a variety of mediums; taught students from elementary through high school; and facilitated workshops for groups ranging from senior citizens, to university students to incarcerated women. Previously, Ms. Martinez was a social studies teacher and Dean of Studies at the Community Academy Charter School in North Philadelphia. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Wesleyan University in Latin American Studies, with a concentration in Literature and History.
Greg McCaslin was, from 1997–2007, director of programs for New York’s Center for Arts Education, a collaboration with the New York City Board of Education, the United Federation of Teachers, and the Department of Cultural Affairs which draws on the resources of New York City's cultural organizations, colleges and universities, the arts-related industries, corporations and foundations. The Center’s primary goal is to serve as a catalyst for school improvement and reform in and through the arts, and to play a major role in the restoration of arts education in New York City's public schools. Mr. McCaslin was director of education and information at the New York Foundation for the Arts for seven years. He has served on numerous state arts council advisory panels and was a member of the steering committee for the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the Arts. Trained as a theatre performer and director, his theatrical work has been seen in the US and Asia. His educational experience includes work as a teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute, and as a classroom teacher in high schools and colleges in California, Missouri, and New York City. He has studied at the Theatre Conservatory of Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri (BA), St. Mary's College in California, the University of California at Berkeley, and Columbia University. He is an instructor in the Nonprofit Management Program of the Milano Graduate School at the New School University.
Kathryn G. Yuasa Nelson, Arts Education Senior Supervisor since 1979, Arts, Recreation and Community Services Department, City of Walnut Creek CA, graduated with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds an Arts Administration and Management Certificate, U.C. Berkeley. She has served on the California State Superintendent of Schools Task Force on Arts Education, the Contra Costa County Office of Education Visual and Performing Arts Advisory Board, the California Arts Education Association State Council, President of Northern California Arts Education Association, Young Audiences of the Bay Area Advisory Board, and as a guest lecturer for colleges and the League of California cities. She has received awards from the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County, the Bay Area Smart Award from Business Volunteers for the Arts, and the Contra Costa County Women’s Hall of Fame. Programs she has initiated and managed have been recognized and funded as state and national models. Current programs serve 16,000 people annually, infants through senior adults in various arts, music, dance forms and drama offered at two campuses in 18 studio classrooms, and at outreach locations. Special programs offered include performing companies, arts-based preschools, professional development for classroom teachers and integrated arts in schools.
Jan Norman, Ph.D., is national director of education, research & professional development for Young Audiences, Inc. In addition to her work with Young Audiences – Arts for Learning, Dr. Norman is a tenured Professor and former Chair of Art and Museum Education and Art Therapy at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA. She is also Founding Director of the Design for Thinking Teaching Institute, which is the conceptual foundation for the Center for a Creative Economy at the University. The Institute’s mission is to conduct applied research in programs developed on the arts-based “design for thinking” model, which has received continual major grant support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and other major funding. She was a Visiting Scholar for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Arts in Education Program, and for Project Zero. She is the Founding Director of the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership, a non-profit that links over 80 arts organizations and institutions in the Greater Philadelphia area. Her professional career includes over thirty years in arts education at all levels of teaching and administration. Her early arts training was in music in classical piano and clarinet in which she was an All State musician and performed and competed at the regional, state and national levels. She has also been educated as a visual artist, having her work exhibited in many juried shows and galleries. Her earned degrees include a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Arts Education, with minors in both Measurements and Research and in Design. An artist, educator, researcher and speaker, she has been a consultant, keynote, board member and program evaluator regionally, nationally and internationally for many institutions, including the Getty Education Institute for the Arts, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Project Zero, Harvard University, Kansas City Art Institute, Arts Education Partnership (Washington DC), the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Opera American, VSA Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Department of Education, IDATER (International Design and Technology Educational Research), and was Eastern Region Vice President, National Art Education Association.
David O’Fallon, Ph.D., is president of MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN, one of the largest community music education centers in the nation. Previously, David served as executive director of the Perpich Center for Arts Education, a unique state agency in Minnesota housing the State Arts High School, a Professional Development Institute and a research program on a 30-acre campus. Perpich Center makes the arts a fundamental part of an excellent education for all of Minnesota’s pre-K through 12th grade students. Prior to the Perpich Center, Dr. O’Fallon served as the education director for the National Endowment for the Arts, and as a senior staff member at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He helped initiate the Arts Education Partnership. He has consulted with educational and arts organizations across the U.S. from small rural nonprofits to large national and multi-national organizations. He consulted with the Leonard Bernstein family on the Bernstein Institute for Education through the Arts in Nashville, Tennessee. He served as faculty chair for the Empire State Partnership project in New York State for three years. Dr. O’Fallon has been a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences in London, Dublin, Glasgow, New York, Los Angeles and St. Petersburg, Russia. Board services include the American Composer’s Forum, the nation’s first national service organization in support of the American composer and the national board of the Alliance of Young Artists & Writers, Scholastic Art Awards for Scholastic, Inc.
Margaret Perry has been a music educator for 34 years. Trained originally as a harpsichordist, Ms. Perry performed with Baroque music groups and served for several years as the pianist for the Houston Ballet. Ms. Perry has taught music in both public and private schools in the U.S. and Europe, and has maintained a private piano teaching studio in Austin for 30 years. She has lectured extensively on the lives of composers and opera history for both children’s classes and adult opera audiences, and has created curricula for general music studies for many ages.
For the past fourteen years, Ms. Perry has served as the Director of Education for Austin Lyric Opera. In April of 2000, she became the founding director of the Armstrong Community Music School, the first music school in the world to be established by an opera company. In March of 2003, the City of Austin, Texas, presented Ms. Perry a Community Service Award, and the same year the State of Texas declared a day in her honor for thirty years of arts advocacy and education.
Dr. Howard Potter has served as Associate Dean for Community and Continuing Education at the Eastman School of Music since July 2002. Besides being the director of the Eastman Community Music School, Potter conducts several jazz ensembles, teaches jazz theory, and jazz mallets. With over 25 years of professional performing experience, Potter has played with numerous orchestras and bands including the Rochester Philharmonic, the Erie Philharmonic, the National Orchestral Association at Carnegie Hall, the West Point Band, and with several Off Broadway theater companies. While a professional musician in the West Point Band, Potter founded the West Point Youth Orchestra. He holds degrees from: SUNY Fredonia, the Eastman School of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music.
Margaret (Peggy) Quackenbush has been president & executive director of the Hochstein School of Music and Dance since 1992 and a member of the School’s faculty since 1979. Under her leadership, the School’s programs in music, dance, and music therapy have expanded substantially, and the Hochstein Performance Hall, renovated in 1999, has become Rochester’s premiere mid-sized concert hall. An active soloist, chamber, and orchestral clarinetist, Dr. Quackenbush is a founding member of Antara Winds; she holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, along with degrees from the University of Oregon’s School of Music and the University of Minnesota, Morris. She serves on the boards of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and the National Association of Schools of Music.
Josephine Ramirez serves as Vice President of Programming and Planning at the Music Center (the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County.) Previously she was a Program Officer at the Getty Foundation and a Research Associate at the Getty Research Institute of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Josephine also worked independently as both a consultant to numerous cultural organizations nationally as well as a producer of large and small scale performance events. She was the Community Arts Coordinator for the King County Arts Commission in Seattle. For the City of Los Angeles under Mayor Villaraigosa she currently serves as Cultural Affairs Commissioner spearheading the new city cultural planning process. Josephine is a Fellow at the Center for Civil Society at the University of California Los Angeles, serves as an advisor to the Irvine Foundation’s study on cultural participation in California, and participates as an advisor to the Urban Institute’s Arts and Culture Indicators in Community Building Project. She recently served on the Selection Committee for the 2007 national Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. She is a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Her residence year there (2003) was awarded in support of Josephine’s ongoing research about informal, non-professional art making and its relationship to individual and community vitality.
Robert Rogers is the Assistant Director of the Amelia Arts Academy on Amelia Island, Florida and works with the academy's educational programs, outreach and special events. Robert, who holds a degree in Art History from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, has worked with museums, galleries, individual artists and cultural organizations in the United States, South America and Europe.
Since 1996, as Center Theatre Group's Marketing, Communications and Sales Director, Jim Royce oversees all activities related to marketing, advertising, press, graphics and ticket sales for the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center in Los Angeles and for CTG's new Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Royce began his theatrical career in Seattle, as an actor and co-founder of The Empty Space in 1970 and worked with A Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Rep. He was the Executive Producer for the Seattle Arts Festival, more popularly known as "Bumbershoot" in the late '70s. In the San Francisco Bay area throughout the 1980s, he was Marketing Director for Berkeley Repertory Theatre and later for American Conservatory Theater. Prior to joining Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles he worked for six years as a marketing consultant with a diverse clientele, including the opening of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cirque du Soleil, jazz festivals, major symphony orchestras, popular musical theatre, contemporary dance, emerging visual artists and the American Premiere of Lucasfilm's The Art of Star Wars, an exhibition of the drawings, props, costumes and models created for the original films. Mr. Royce is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Laurie Russell, Executive Director of the Winchester Community Music School, has 16 years experience in community arts administration. Prior to coming to WCMS in 2001, she was the Associate Director of The Hartt School’s Community Division. Laurie currently serves as a board member of various civic organizations and is a former faculty member of the National Center for the Arts in Early Childhood, The Hartt School Community Division and the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (NY) Public Schools. Laurie holds a B.M. in music education/percussion emphasis from The Hartt School and currently serves as co-chair of the NGCSA Northeast Chapter.
Alana Seddon is the Associate Director of The Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford and serves on the Guild’s Committee of School Directors. She served as the school’s Interim Director during their national search last year after having been the Associate Director since 2001. Mrs. Seddon has led sessions on faculty and student evaluation and assessment for the National Guild Conference in Boston in November, 2004, Chicago in November, 2003, as well as a similar workshop on student evaluation for the Northeast Chapter of Community Schools of the Arts meeting in 2002. Additionally, she facilitated a session on building faculty investment in the community arts school setting in Pittsburgh, PA in 2005. During 2005-2007 school years, Mrs. Seddon collaborated with Frank McPeake and the Neighborhood Music School of New Haven, CT in an effort to build customer service with their respective staffs. Outside of the guild setting, Mrs. Seddon has served as a clarinet adjudicator for the Connecticut Music Educators Association Regional Music Festival and has incorporated her assessment expertise in her work at Hartt. Prior to coming to the Hartt Community Division, Mrs. Seddon taught music for grades K - 8 in both Connecticut and Illinois, including general music, band, orchestra and jazz band. She holds her Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music Education degrees from The Hartt School, University of Hartford.
Steve Seidel holds the Bauman and Bryant Chair in Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the director of both HGSE’s Arts in Education Program and Project Zero. At Project Zero, Seidel has been principal investigator for projects that have studied the use of reflective practices in schools, the close examination of student work, and documentation of learning. His current research includes The Qualities of Quality, a study of what constitutes quality in arts learning and teaching in settings both in and out of schools, and Making Learning Visible, a study of individual and group learning. Before becoming a researcher, Seidel taught high-school theater and language arts in the Boston area for 17 years. He has also worked as a professional actor and stage director.
Jason Siebert is the Manager of Community Programs for the Orange County Performing Artscenter in Costa Mesa. In this role he is primarily responsible for The Center’s Arts Teach program, reaching approximately 500,000 students and teachers annually through in-school performance, hands-on workshops, residency programs and professional development opportunities. Jason graduated cum laude from Biola University with a B.A in Vocal Music and a B.A. in Communications. Before coming to The Center in May 2003, Jason spent several years performing for Disneyland. Jason has been active in the arts since age 8 and in his spare time can be seen on stage in theatres around Southern California.
For twenty-two years, Jordan Simmons has served as Artistic Director for East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, where he has taught since 1978. At the Center, as an artist/performer, faculty member and scholar, he has led an ongoing exploration of the boundaries and potentials of a mid-sized community arts center in a pluralistic society. In this work, he has helped to guide the Center from a program with a few hundred students to a nationally recognized institution reaching 1,500 youth each year and specializing in nurturing underserved young artists with an intensive program of repertoire depth and cross disciplinary breadth. For the past fifteen years, in line with his work at the East Bay Center, Mr. Simmons has pioneered the development of a comparative study framework based on a number of authentic performing arts training systems and a growing body of knowledge about human perceptual systems.
Mark Slavkin is Vice President for Education at the Music Center: Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County. Mark directs a wide range of programs and services that help advance arts education in schools and communities across Los Angeles County. He leads a staff of 30 people with an annual budget of $6 million.
Mark serves on the Executive Committee for “Arts for All: the Los Angeles County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education.” This coalition is working to help all 80 local school districts in Los Angeles County bring back the arts as part of the core K-12 curriculum.
Before joining the Music Center, Mark served on the staff of LAAMP, the Los Angeles component of the national Annenberg Challenge, a half billion dollar private effort to improve public schools in the United States.
From 1997-1999 Mark served as Los Angeles Program Officer for the Getty Education Institute for the Arts, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. At the Getty Mark utilized his advocacy and communications skills to help launch a renaissance for arts education in Los Angeles area schools. This work culminated in the adoption of LAUSD’s 10-year plan for arts education.
He served from 1989-1997 as an elected member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, including two years as President.
Mark has also worked in the State Legislature and in Los Angeles County government on a variety of health and human service policy issues.
A native of Los Angeles, Mark attended local public schools and the University of Southern California, where he earned his BA and MA in political science.
Larry Stein, director of Interactive Media & Arts for Learning, Young Audiences, is a composer, performer, educator, producer, and an arts-in-education administrator, with particular expertise in interactive media application in these areas. Based in Young Audiences’ West Coast office, Larry has been associated with Young Audiences since 1978. In addition to his work developing YAI's interactive media, “primarily the Arts for Learning Web site,” he has worked closely with YA chapters on the development of YA partnership projects and programs, including Arts Card, Run for the Arts, Arts Partners, the Master Artist Series, Arts-in-Education Institute, and Family Festival of the Arts. Larry received a B.A. in Music and Arts Production from SUNY at Buffalo and a M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts. He has performed numerous concerts in various venues such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Los Angeles Music Center, and throughout Germany. Larry is a founding member of the Repercussion Unit and a producer for Reobey Records and PAL Productions. Larry has been a consultant to the California Institute of the Arts, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the City of Los Angeles, the California Arts Council, the Getty Center for Education in the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts’ AIE Program. He produced the 1984 Olympic Arts Contemporary Music Festival, CalArts Music Festivals, New Music America '85, the International Festival of Masks Parade, and the Jazz and Gospel Concerts for the 1990 Los Angeles Festival.
Ann Stone is Senior Research and Evaluation Officer at The Wallace Foundation, where she directs research to develop useful ideas and practices that institutions can employ to bring the arts to more people. In this role, she has overseen the development of several arts-related studies, available at www.wallacefoundation.org. She has spoken widely on arts research to groups including the Museum Educators Roundtable, Theater Communications Group, Chamber Music America, Arts Education Partnership and Grantmakers in the Arts.
Prior to joining Wallace in 2002, she spent seven years at the RAND Corporation where she specialized in arts policy research. Her arts-related projects included an analysis of collection utilization in art museums, a study on building participation in the arts, and an examination of how community-based arts interventions promote prosocial behavior in at-risk youth. Her non-arts work at RAND spanned projects in higher education, child policy, and leadership development for the Army ROTC.
Before joining RAND she worked for nine years at Mullin Consulting, a national firm specializing in executive benefits consulting for large companies. At Mullin Consulting, she held successive positions in financial analysis, client management, marketing, and government affairs. She has a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Joe Sullivan is the Executive Director of the East Metro Music Academy (EMMA), a non-profit community music school that he founded in 1998. Under Sullivan's leadership, EMMA has grown from a small summer music program to a full-service music school, with over 500 students, 30 faculty members, and a budget of $500,000. One in four students receives financial assistance to access music lessons. Joe serves on the Boards of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and the Minnesota Education Association Foundation. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and is completing his MBA program at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.
Judith Teitelman brings more than 20 years of experience in helping grass roots, mid-sized and large organizations strengthen their management and resource generating capacities and effectively plan for the future. She is a strong proponent of management initiatives designed to examine and challenge long-standing assumptions about arts administration, and is committed to helping organizations rethink “business as usual.” Her national consulting practice, established in 1990, provides a full range of services tailored to meet the unique vision and particular needs of each organization. Clients span the full range of arts disciplines and include social service and educational organizations, municipal and other government agencies, as well as funders. As planning consultant, trainer and technical assistance specialist, Ms. Teitelman has worked with the National Endowment for the Arts, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Long Beach Public Corporation for the Arts, The Flintridge Foundation, Whitecap Foundation, Japanese American National Museum, CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP), Cornerstone Theater Company, East West Players, LA Freewaves New Media Festival and PEN Center USA, among many other local and national organizations.
Davin Pierson Torre has spent more than 20 years as a musician and music educator, and was appointed in 1995 as director of the Flint School of Performing Arts (FSPA). Since that time, enrollment has grown from 1,800 students to nearly 3,500. She is a member of the National Guild’s Council of School Directors and served as chair of the Central Great Lakes Chapter. Under Pierson Torre’s leadership, the FSPA has developed a groundbreaking new program called Super Saturdays that intends to transition students in FSPA tuition-free programs across the community into long term study on site at the FSPA. Based on three years of research of similar organizations across the U.S., Super Saturdays is an innovative program that focuses on the needs of the students and their families. Through partnerships with a wide range of organizations, Pierson Torre has also worked to develop music, dance and arts mentoring programs for Head Start children, residents of Flint Housing Commission housing centers, and teen parents and their babies. Pierson Torre participated, along with author and lecturer Alfie Kohn, the late psychologist Dr. John Rom, and Flint area educators, in the development of a pioneering teaching model now used throughout the organization. Based in an environment of unconditional caring and nonjudgmental descriptive feedback, this student-directed approach strives to foster achievement at the highest level.
Linda Vallejo has over twenty-five years experience as a grantwriter, consultant and instructor presenting her award winning curriculum. As a practicing professional grantwriter, Ms. Vallejo has raised more that $25 million from government, foundation and corporate donors for a wide variety of organizations, agencies and institutions nationwide. Over the past ten years, she has served as an on-line grantwriting instructor in over 500 colleges and universities nationwide. Ms. Vallejo is a practicing, professional artist exhibiting her art nationally and internationally with exhibitions including the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles Natural History Museum, Florence International Biennale of Modern Art, the Carnegie Art Museum, Armand Hammer Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Anchorage Museum, Museum of Modern Art New York, San Antonio Museum, Mexico City Modem Art Museum, and Galeria Las Americas. She is represented by the Patricia Correia Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica and the Metro Gallery, Hollywood.
Susan Van Sickle is an early childhood music educator and the co-director of the Center for Music and Young Children in Princeton NJ, Music Together’s lab school. Susan has a BS in Music Education from the University of Illinois and Music Together Certification Level I. She has been a music teacher in many settings over the past 20 years, and currently directs the Nassau Presbyterian’s children’s’ choir in Princeton, NJ. Susan is also a teacher mentor and an international center director mentor for Music Together LLC.
Dr. Tina Vartanian, D.M.A. A specialist in early childhood music and research, teaching instrumental music, and mentoring prospective and first-year music teachers, Dr. Tina Vartanian currently directs an award-winning public school music program in the Los Angeles area and teaches undergraduate and graduate music education courses at the University of Southern California. Over the past 15 years, she has taught choral, strings, band, jazz, and general music to students in grades K-12 as well as such courses as Music in Early Childhood, Music in the Elementary Classroom, Teaching and Learning Music, and Teaching General Music at the university level. She also has presented numerous clinics at music education conferences and other venues including such topics/titles as Discipline in the Music Classroom, Teaching Music: Prenatal to Adult, Mentoring of the First-Year Instrumental Music Teacher, Problems and Concerns of the First-Year Instrumental Music Teacher, What to Expect (and What Not to Expect) in Your First Year of Music Teaching, and Discipline in the Band Room. A professional flutist, Vartanian performs regularly in solo, chamber music, and commercial settings. Her commercial and educational recordings include This Heart of Mine, Baby Concerts, and Musical Moments: Activities for Parents and Children. Dr. Vartanian is a native of Los Angeles, California.
Beth A. Vogel works with various arts organizations on organizational development, program design and fundraising. She has served as the Director of the National Guild for Community Schools of the Arts’ Partners in Arts Education Institute since 2005. Beth has garnered federal, state, corporate and foundation support for the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Trenton Education Dance Institute, Aljira, Inc., The National Guild and the HIV Education and Law Project in Miami Beach, and has written strategic plans for Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group and Freespace Dance Company. She is the contributing editor of the National Guild’s Partners in Excellence Handbook and an editor of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Artists & Communities: America Creates for the Millennium. From 1992-2003 Beth served as the Program Officer for Arts Education and Artist Services at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts where she also managed the dance and literature programs. Drawing on her background in American cultural history and modern dance, her work at the Council focused on the development of significant partnerships that expanded the reach of services. Her nationally acclaimed arts education program combined direct work in classrooms with assistance to education reform at the state and local levels. Beth has served on many regional, state and local advisory boards, including the Arts Education Steering Committee for the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Poet Laureate Selection Committee. Beth is an alumna of Barnard College where she earned a B.A. with honors. She is a lecturer at New York University where she teaches Arts Management and Designing Arts Education Programs. In addition, Beth is an independent editor of literary works.
A member of Art Center's senior management team, David Walker provides leadership and vision for the College's Public Programs and 100,000 square-foot South Campus in Pasadena. He created the “school” of Public Programs that includes a range of K-12 Programs, Continuing Studies & Professional Development, Entrepreneurial Studies, Executive Education, Campus Exhibitions, special events and conferences. Previously, he was director and founding partner of the Walker and Walker Gallery in Santa Monica, California where he represented and exhibited regional and international contemporary artists; was an associate with McBain, Rose Partners, a private investment banking firm that specialized in leveraged buyouts; was editor and publisher of Element magazine, an internationally-distributed arts quarterly; a writer and section editor with the New York Times-owned Santa Barbara News-Press; was the lead of two rock bands that signed contracts with Warner Bros. and Chrysalis Music. His education includes Humboldt State University, Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, and Center for Creative Leadership.
Jeffry Walker, Executive Director, CSMA at Finn Center, Mountain View, CA has served as chief arts administrator at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Director of the Austin Arts Center and Director of the College’s new Office for the Arts. In 2005, he received the annual Elizabeth L. Mahaffey Fellowship, the State of Connecticut’s highest achievement award for excellence in arts administration. Walker’s professional experience in arts education includes faculty positions at Bucknell University (PA), West Virginia University and Drew University (NJ) as well as administrative work as Managing Director of Mandell Theater at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has worked as a production designer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder. Walker received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Theater at Ohio University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and Art from Slippery Rock State College (PA).
William A. Wallace is Chief Operating Officer at Merit School of Music, a community music school dedicated to removing economic barriers to high-quality music education in metropolitan Chicago. Mr. Wallace manages the school’s daily operations, oversees its fiscal health, and partners with Merit’s President and Board of Trustees on strategic issues. He joined Merit in 2001 as Director of Finance and overhauled the organization’s financial sophistication to support its rapid growth and to prepare for its $19 million capital campaign, which culminated in December 2005. During the 25 years prior to joining Merit’s team, Mr. Wallace built a distinguished career as a senior financial executive with broad experience in corporate financial functions, operations analysis, internal auditing, and public accounting. Mr. Wallace, a Certified Public Accountant, received a Bachelor of Science from Washington and Lee University. He serves as Chairman and Treasurer of various arts and educational organizations in the Chicago area.
Scott Ward has been the executive director of the Armory Center for the Arts for the past six years. Prior to that he was the executive director of the Palos Verdes Art Center from 1997 to 2001 and executive director of the Downey Museum of Art from 1987 to 1996. During that time he was partner in the International Center in San Francisco, an eighty thousand square foot performing arts building.
Pivotally involved in the community, Scott Ward is on several advisory boards of local organizations as well as serving on various steering committees such as the District Arts Team (DATCAT) and the City of Pasadena’s Arts & Ideas Festival. He has extensive experience as an art exhibition curator and a university lecturer. He taught Fine Art Photography at Loyola Marymount for many years and was the Gallery Director for the University Art Gallery at CSUSB from 1983 to 1985. After receiving his B.A. from the University of California, Ward earned his M.F.A. in photography from California Institute of the Arts. He is an accomplished photographer whose work has been exhibited extensively.
Daniel Windham joined The Wallace Foundation in February 2007 as Director of Arts. He leads the Foundation’s efforts to help the arts reach more people, both through The Wallace Excellence Awards which seeks to develop effective ways for arts organizations to engage more people, and through Wallace’s Arts for Young People initiative that seeks to help cities devise means to strengthen children’s access to high-quality arts education.
Prior to joining the Foundation, he served in a variety of leadership positions within arts organizations. He was President of the Cleveland Music School Settlement, one of the oldest community schools of the arts in the nation, where he provided leadership to faculty and staff, and artistic and educational direction to the community and partner institutions. >From 1992-2001, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Kansas City Young Audiences, Inc., which grew to become the largest arts education organization in the region. He has also served as: Executive Director of the Music Assistance Fund, administering national scholarship and orchestral programs operating in 22 cities; Director of Educational Activities for the New York Philharmonic, where he was senior administrator for the planning and development of education and audience development; and Director of Education and Audience Development for the National Symphony Orchestra, where he worked to coordinate public affairs, produce festival concerts and seminars, and develop new audiences for the arts.
In addition to his work within arts organizations, he has lectured on music history and literature at Wellesley College, where he created a curriculum in African-American music. As Director of Arts in Education for the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities, he created and managed partnerships between arts organizations, schools and community organizations.
A native New Yorker, he received his bachelor’s and master’s in music from the New England Conservatory of Music. An accomplished instrumentalist and vocalist, he has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and in festivals and recitals in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Jerry Yoshitomi is an independent cultural facilitator and consultant engaged by foundations, public arts agencies and arts organizations to research and provoke innovative new practices. Over ten thousand arts professionals, artists and arts organizations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have successfully implemented methods from his writings and workshops to increase attendance as well as earned and contributed income. Jerry was lead consultant on Information and Network Strategies for LINC—Leveraging Investments in Creativity—a national initiative to improve the lives and conditions of artists. He is the facilitator for a collaborative of Performing Arts Presenters at major research universities and served as Facilitator for the START (State Arts Agency) Initiative of the Wallace Foundation, managed by Arts Midwest. Mr. Yoshitomi also chaired the National Task Force on Presenting and Touring the Performing Arts, resulting in the 1989 seminal report, An American Dialogue. He chaired three panels at the National Endowment for the Arts, served four years on the California Arts Council, was Treasurer of the Music Center of Los Angeles County, and was the Executive Director of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles.
Jonathan Zeichner, executive director of Inside Out Community Arts, grew up in New Haven Connecticut before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area where he built houses and worked onstage as an actor. Moving to Los Angeles in 1988, Jonathan studied filmmaking at UCLA while performing, writing and directing for stage, film and television. A longtime guardian for his eldest brother, a musician suffering from schizophrenia, Jonathan joined the Imagination Workshop at UCLA’s Neuro Psychiatric Institute in 1989, a base from which he worked with other theater artists to lead theater and writing workshops and co-create performances with homeless clients and patients at shelters, hospitals, and maximum-security forensic psychiatric institutions. In 1992, as Artistic Director, Jonathan took the program into the V.A. Hospital in West L.A. to work with veterans recovering from drug and alcohol addictions and chronic homelessness. In 1993, in response to the civil unrest in Los Angeles, Jonathan gathered a group of theatre artists to create and implement The School Project, a prevention/intervention after-school program to give at-risk middle youth the social skills, tools and inspiration to make positive life choices and become active members of their communities. In 1996 Jonathan invited actor Camille Ameen to join him in founding Inside Out Community Arts to expand The School Project and implement additional programs for at-risk youth and families. The methodology has expanded to employ all arts media, including dance, visual arts and music, as well as field trips and a camping component. Inside Out has served thousands of youth throughout Los Angeles and includes a peer-mentoring program for returning high schoolers to volunteer beside professional artists. In January 2006 Inside Out received the Coming Up Taller Award for excellence in after school arts education, presented at the White House by the First Lady on behalf of The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.