THE 2016 STATEWIDE ARTS CONFERENCE PRESENTED BY
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
CONTENTS
Map of Bradley Academy.....................................................................................................2 Map of Patterson Park Community Center.....................................................................3 Collective Impact Introduction.......................................................................................... 5 Conference Schedule At-A-Glance................................................................................... 6 Conference Schedule ..........................................................................................................7 Plenary Speaker Bios......................................................................................................... 26 Featured Presenter Bios...................................................................................................30 Guest Artist Bios................................................................................................................. 32 Presenter Bios.....................................................................................................................34 Tennessee Arts Commission Bios..................................................................................44
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Bradley Academy 511 Mercury Blvd. Murfreesboro, TN 37130
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Patterson Park Community Center 521 Mercury Blvd. Murfreesboro, TN 37130
rson Park Community Center
ercury Blvd. esboro, TN 37130
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14 25 3 COMMON AGENDA
All participants have a shared vision for change including a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions.
SHARED MEASUREMENT
CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATION
Consistent and open communication is needed across all the many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives and appreciate common motivation.
Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable.
MUTUALLY REINFORCING ACTIVITIES
BACKBONE ORGANIZATION
The commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem or opportunity.
Creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organization, with staff and specific skills, to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative and to coordinate participating organizations.
Participant activities must be differentiated while still being coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action.
Adapted from John Kania and Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011, Volume 9, Number 1.
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Collective Impact Together As Community Change Agents BRADLEY ACADEMY & PATTERSON PARK COMMUNITY CENTER MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE JUNE 7-10, 2016 Bringing arts administrators, educators and artists together as community change agents, the Tennessee Arts Commission combines the former Create education institute with the statewide arts convention to bring you COLLECTIVE IMPACT. Collective Impact is the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem or opportunity. Unlike most collaborations, collective impact initiatives involve a centralized infrastructure, a dedicated staff and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement system, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication and backbone organization. With an “unconference” approach, this participant-driven gathering explores a common agenda to address community issues through the arts. Attendees identify opportunities and challenges, share and gather expertise from the field, and walk away with tools and strategies to be a part of the solution for lasting change in their communities. The agenda also includes “nuts and bolts” sessions, collaborative planning, time for networking and opportunities to experience the arts in the beautiful city of Murfreesboro. Welcome!
Tennessee Arts Commission would like to thank the following for their support and contributions: City of Murfreesboro Bradley Academy Patterson Park Community Center Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce Cultural Arts Murfreesboro Center for the Arts Discovery Center Boro Art Crawl Jerry’s Artarama Tennesseans For The Arts Photography by State of Tennessee Photo Services
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE AT-A-GLANCE
All times are CST
TUESDAY, JUNE 7 1:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.
Check-in
2:00 p.m. — 2:50 p.m.
Sparkplug Sessions
3:00 p.m. — 3:50 p.m.
Sparkplug Sessions
4:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.
Birds of a Feather
5:00 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m. — 8:00 p.m.
Keynote with Rich Harwood
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8 8:00 a.m. — 9:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00 a.m. — 10:15 a.m.
Plenary with Donna Collins
10:15 a.m. — 10:30 a.m.
Break
10:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Knowledge Café
11:30 a.m. — 11:50 a.m.
Group Reflection
12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 p.m. — 2:15 p.m.
Arts & Community Issues
2:15 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.
Break
2:30 p.m. — 3:45 p.m.
Arts & Community Issues/Sparkplug Sessions
3:55 p.m. — 4:30 p.m.
Group Reflection
5:00 p.m. — 10:00 p.m.
Summer Arts Jam
THURSDAY, JUNE 9 8:00 a.m. — 9:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00 a.m. — 10:15 a.m.
Plenary with Doug Borwick, Ph.D.
10:15 a.m. — 10:30 a.m.
Break
10:30 a.m. — 11:20 a.m.
Knowledge Café
11:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.
Sparkplug Sessions
12:30 p.m. — 1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30 p.m. — 3:30 p.m.
Digging Deeper: Learning From the Field
3:30 p.m. — 3:45 p.m.
Break
3:45 p.m. — 4:45 p.m.
Arts Experiences
5:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.
Reception
6:00 p.m. — 9:00 p.m.
VIP Boro Art Crawl/Dine-Arounds
FRIDAY, JUNE 10
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8:00 a.m. — 9:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00 a.m. — 10:15 a.m.
Plenary with Ivonne Chad O’Neal, Ph.D.
10:15 a.m. — 10:30 a.m.
Break
10:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Knowledge Café
11:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.
Lunch
12:30 p.m. — 2:00 p.m.
Endnote with Katie Smythe and Robert Gipe
1:00 p.m - 5:00 p.m. — CHECK-IN At Bradley Academy Rotunda 2:00 p.m. - 2:50 p.m. — SPARKPLUG SESSIONS Jumpstart your professional development or spark interest in a variety of topics. Learn practical skills and tools needed for daily work in arts management and education. Studio NPL: Teen Tech Learning Lab and Makerspace – Niq Tognoni
B201
Among many arts-based programs at NPL, Studio NPL is a teen tech learning lab and makerspace offering a unique opportunity to engage artists with patrons in a meaningful way. In this discussion, we will open up our model of employing artists for feedback, guidance and brainstorming. Supporting Learning through Invitations and Questions – Dee Kimbrell
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
B209
Many teachers want to evolve their role from teacher to learning facilitator, but keep finding they are following the “teacher” model they were taught. Aren’t teachers supposed to have all the answers? What about having the questions? Question-asking skills are not taught in traditional education, but are the tools you need to support your student’s natural curiosity. In this interactive workshop you will polish your question-asking skills that will open the doors of possibility. Log Cabin Quilts: Integrating Reading, History, Math and Art – Bailey Earith
B202
Participants will explore the world of Log Cabin quilts and discover how this one art lesson can be used to support reading, history and math with K-3 students. Participants will learn to craft a paper log cabin block and work together in groups to combine their squares into larger designs. We will discuss how to grade this project to increase or decrease its complexity. Making the Most of Your Time on Social Media – Kory Wells
PC
Whether you’re an artist or involved in an arts organization or project, social media may feel like the last thing you have time for and you may sometimes wonder if it’s worth your time at all. In this session we’ll explore the latest online tools and proven strategies, such as content calendars, to help you better integrate social media into the business side of your art. Arts Integration 101, Part I – Brandi Self and Kelly Farr
PA
What is arts integration? What exactly does it take to create an arts integrated lesson? How do you incorporate state standards for both arts and non-arts content in an integrated lesson? This lesson will provide answers to these questions, as well as focus on strategies for writing lessons, teaching the standards and assessing learning. Part II immediately follows this session. YOU MUST ALSO ATTEND PART II. Color Your Words – Nancy Cooley
B 203
Learn to use Pochoir and Frottage techniques to create unique broadsides, handouts, cards or leaflets. Social Justice, self-promotion or community information, the choice is yours. Join us and add another medium to your communication tool box in this fast paced, informative hour. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON THURSDAY. TN Arts Commission Online Grants – Hal Partlow and TN Arts Commission Program Staff
PB
This session will introduce attendees to the Tennessee Arts Commission’s new online grant vendor, what the new vendor means to existing and new grant applicants, and how the new online grant system will streamline the process of applying for funding and managing grant awards. This session is appropriate for all applicants - individuals, nonprofit organizations, schools and government agencies. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY.
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TUESDAY, JUNE 7
Bringing Children’s Literature to Life with Music, Movement and Creativity – Jennifer Vannatta-Hall
B 320
The Orff-Schulwerk approach to music education integrates music, movement, speech and drama. This arts experience will immerse participants in simple, yet fun and engaging experiences involving singing, playing instruments, creating and moving. We will bring the children’s book Secret Pizza Party by Adam Rubin to life by adding music, movement and creativity. This session will culminate in a short performance of Secret Pizza Party. Little Root Community Garden – Olive Durant
B 205
Learn about Little Root, a childhood garden of dreams that is the result of 12 weeks of imaginative work and play by children and adults at the Mountain Arts Community Center (MACC) on Signal Mountain. The idea to create a fairy garden occurred more than a year ago when staff members were brainstorming ways to beautify the Community Center’s surrounding 5.2 acres. The Industrial Revolution and Script Writing – Isormari Pozo and Allison Isom
B 330
Led by an ELL teacher and Theater Arts teacher, this workshop will provide educators with the tools for script writing with a historical context of the Industrial Revolution. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON THURSDAY. The Art and Soul of Reflection: Facilitating Transformative Education Through the Power of Storytelling – Cynthia Young
B 206
This generation of high achievers has fallen into a vicious cycle consumed with chasing Bigger! Better! Faster! Wealthier! Join me in an experience designed to HELP open our eyes and get us off this treadmill and more in touch with who we are at our core or our raison d’ etre. This session will bring theory to practice by harnessing the fundamentals of reflection and journaling using storytelling, narratives and poetry to weave personal tapestries. Learn to coach students on how to bring important concepts to life in class, engage others in creative research/projects and present their stories in compelling ways. In this fast paced interactive session, participants will learn how the power of the arts, reflection, journal writing and storytelling can heal, empower, expand and transform the lives of students. Participants will acquire creative strategies bridging mind, body and spirit to promote engaged learning, civic development, and overall well- being. Colleagues will walk away from this session with tools to enable students to move from one-dimensional academic pursuits, to a transformational educational experience they will remember far beyond graduation. 2:50 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. – BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive. 3:00 p.m. - 3:50 p.m. – SPARKPLUG SESSIONS Jumpstart your professional development or spark interest in a variety of topics. Learn practical skills and tools needed for daily work in arts management and education. Prospect Research for the Nonprofit Manager – Celine Thackston
B 214
This session will delve into foundation prospect research for the nonprofit arts manager. Identify the best tools for researching funding opportunities, glean useful information from a funder’s 990, build a system for identifying prospects, and develop a plan for approaching funders. The group will share tips, strategies and resources to create a comprehensive plan for prospect research. TN Arts Commission Grants Workshop – Hal Partlow and TN Arts Commission Program Staff P B This session will cover Tennessee Arts Commission grant opportunities for individuals, nonprofit organizations, schools and government agencies.
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B 209
This Sparkplug Session is a practical guide for planning, teaching and assessing a general music and movement lesson. An example 30-minute elementary music and movement lesson will be demonstrated, followed by discussion and multiple forms of assessment. The example lesson will be rooted in the Tennessee State Standards for Music. Principles of Choreography – Deborah Walker
B GYM
This session will focus on dance and choreography. The Five Principles of Choreography and strategies on how to group, manage and assess students will be introduced. The dances can be used for warm-up activities for classrooms and physical education. The session is great for Pre-K—8th grades. Defining and Measuring Social Media Success – Kory Wells
PC
Most of us are on Facebook, and some of us are on Twitter, Instagram and more, but are you using those platforms as effectively as possible to promote your art or arts organization and, just as importantly, to interact with the greater arts community? Do you have specific goals with regards to social media? If you don’t, what might some goals be? And in what ways and with what tools can you measure social media success? In this session, we’ll share ideas for taking our social media efforts to a new level and measuring those efforts. Teaching Artistry Meets Purpose – Beth Anne Musiker
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
The Arts in K-12 Schools: How Can Classroom Teachers and Arts Specialists Collaborate to Impact Change in Our Communities? – Jennifer Vannatta-Hall
B LIB
This interactive session will provide an opportunity to explore the purposes for which teaching artists are hired and the environments, methodologies, best practices, specific skill sets and degrees required for successful practice in each. We will also consider the need for and availability of training in each of these areas that ensures a highly trained work force of teaching artists. Additional focus will be given to Aesthetic Education practice and its value beyond the classroom. Going Off-Campus: Increasing Access to Quality Arts Learning Experiences through University Partnerships – Laurie Melnik
B 330
As a community-engaged campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga facilitates experiential learning opportunities around various community issues, such as increasing equitable access to quality K-12 arts education. The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at UTC partners across campus and with Hamilton County Schools to provide visual art opportunities to elementary schools without visual art specialists. If your school community lacks access to arts learning experiences in one or more areas, then this session is for you. This session provides practical strategies for partnering with universities to increase access to arts education during the school day. Arts Integration 101, Part II – Brandi Self
PA
What is arts integration? What exactly does it take to create an arts integrated lesson? How do you incorporate state standards for both arts and non-arts content in an integrated lesson? This lesson will provide answers to these questions as well as focus on strategies for writing lessons, teaching the standards and assessing learning. YOU MUST ALSO ATTEND PART I. Breaking Into Print: Using Our Talents to Write Books – Alice Faye Duncan
B 203
Led by the author of the book Honey Baby Sugar Child (Simon and Schuster), this session will help artists and teachers compose and submit manuscripts for publication. The National G.H.O.S.T. Project – Cherri Coleman
B 202
Produce better persuasive speakers and writers by harnessing student fascination with horror and ghost stories. We’ll explore folklore and urban legends, delve into history’s mysteries and examine societal fears. We’ll swap tales, examine techniques of plot, spacing and suspense, and guide students in writing and performing their own tantalizing tale. The expanded plans dive deeply into dark gothic literary classics, giving students a richer appreciation of authors such as Poe and the Brontë sisters. COLLECTIVE IMPACT
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Yarnbombing – Julie Dahlhauser
B 201
Yarnbombing has become a controversial urban art form. It annoys some people, yet others see it as a woolly hug from an anonymous neighbor. Learn how a school librarian incorporated math, design and problem-solving to get people knitting in the Binghampton neighborhood near Memphis’ Carpenter Art Garden. 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. – BIRDS OF A FEATHER Peer-to-Peer loosely facilitated conversations. Join your peer group or make your own: • ADA Coordinators – Kim Johnson and Sarah Sampson B 214 Does your organization have a disability policy? Have you ever thought about how a client or community member would access your building, your website, your services if he or she could not see or uses a wheelchair? There are about 1 million people in Tennessee who have disabilities. We will talk about what accessibility means to the Disability Community and steps you can take to be more accessible to us. • Artists – Carolyn German
B 201
• Arts Specialists – Holly Briggs
B 202
• Classroom Teachers – Libby Dawson Galster
B 204
• Classroom Teachers Interested in Arts Integration – Kelly Farr
PA
• Development Directors – Jennifer Harris
B 330
• Executive Directors/Board Members – Anne Pope
PB
• Local Arts Agencies – Shannon Ford
B 206
• Principals – Brandi Self
B 209
• Public Art Administrators – Caroline Vincent
B 207
• Social Media – Kory Wells
PC
• Teaching Artists – Beth Anne Musiker
B 203
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. – DINNER
P GYM
Performance by Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny. Opening remarks by Senator Jim Tracy, Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland and Executive Director Anne B. Pope.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - KEYNOTE
P THR
Americans as Builders: Restoring Our Belief and Can-Do Spirit by Rich Harwood We live in an era of mistrust and fragmentation where people have lost faith in their leaders and institutions. At issue is: how can we move away from a path of the status quo and toward a path of possibility? In his presentation Rich focuses on the theme that Americans are yearning for a sense of community. As trusted members of the community, arts organizations are natural centers for community gathering, with the potential to strengthen their role to improve civic life. In order to achieve their full potential, these organizations must move beyond their walls and be leaders in their local communities. This will require an alignment of their vision, goals and key services with the aspirations of the community.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. – BREAKFAST
P GYM
Performance by students from Bradley Academy. Opening remarks by Bradley Principal Jenny Ortiz and Executive Director Anne B. Pope. 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. – PLENARY
P THR
The Super Hero Powers of Arts Education Advocates by Donna Collins Join Donna Collins, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Council, for an engaging conversation about the power of people, both individuals and networks, to embrace positive change for arts education. Devel-
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10:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. – Arts Hive
P DR
On your breaks, drop by the Arts Hive today to silkscreen your conference takeaway. Hip Hues will be on hand from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. to help you screen the conference design onto a shirt, apron or print. Available Wednesday ONLY. Bring your ticket provided in your conference pack. 10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. – BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive. 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. – KNOWLEDGE CAFÉ 1
P GYM
An open conversation on topics of mutual interest to surface collective knowledge, share ideas, and gain deeper understanding of the subject/issues involved. Mimics a “third place” or “third space” for informal conversation. 11:30 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. – GROUP REFLECTION
P GYM
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. – LUNCH
P GYM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
oping habits of effective advocacy, understanding the power of coalitions and creating conditions for success all stem from the founding principles of collective impact: infrastructure, dedicated people, and a well thought-out process. Let’s identify your powers to impact arts education.
Performance by Ben Hall. Remarks by Dr. Kathleen Airhart, Deputy Commissioner/Chief Operating Officer of the Tennessee Department of Education. 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. – ARTS & COMMUNITY ISSUES Peace in the House – Deborah Frazier
B 207
Peace in the House uses the arts as a platform for conflict resolution from which youth become the authentic voices for alternative approaches to violence and inappropriate behavior. Generally, youth face difficult choices that transcend ethnicity, gender and socio-economic status. Youth learn and demonstrate how they can reduce or eliminate confrontational violence through creative expressions that promote peace. Puppetry Inspires Partnerships in Early Childhood Education – Elyse Adler
B 330
Community partnerships are the key to creating meaningful arts programming. Wishing Chair Productions will present a literature-inspired marionette show and puppet demonstration. In conjunction, leaders from the Nashville Public Library and Bringing Books to Life will share how the art of puppetry inspired the growth of a preschool education program that reflects and addresses the needs of the Nashville early childhood education community. Empty Bowl: Alleviating Hunger – Olive Durant
B 209
The Tennessee Craft/Handmade Here committee is showcasing two events that go hand-in-hand to highlight its 50th year in the Chattanooga area: Charit-a-Bowl Cause and Empty Bowl workshop. The initiatives encourage cultural offerings and provide a creative outlet that gives back to the community by alleviating hunger in the Chattanooga area. CommuniCREATE: Breaking Barriers to Parental Involvement through After School Studios – Laurie Melnik
B 216
Let’s CommuniCREATE! The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at UTC partnered with Barger Academy of Fine Arts to develop CommuniCREATE, a multifaceted project aimed at increasing parental involvement through providing access to experiential opportunities in the arts for K-12 students and their families. The project resulted in developing a toolkit of resources that helps other schools create a similar program for their community. During this session, participants will learn more about how to break barriers to parental involvement through arts education, actively explore the CommuniCREATE toolkit and develop parental engagement strategies for the communities they serve.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
Arts Organizations Shape a Community; Communities Shape Arts Organizations – Bill May
PA
Often the arts are viewed as something extraneous, frill rather than necessity. In reality, the arts are essential to creating a healthy community and economy. This presentation explores how the arts are vital to quality of life in a community and ways to build a community culture of support for arts. Using as examples, relationships among Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, city of Gatlinburg and Sevier County, this discussion focuses on the importance of building private/public partnerships to support the arts that are mutually beneficial and valued by all. Oasis Center: We Are Our Stories – Abby Whisenant
B 212
Today, young men of color are disproportionately represented in juvenile justice systems across the country. These young men receive certain damaging messages at very young ages about who they are and what they will become through those experiences. The We Are Our Stories mural series through Oasis Center’s Underground Art Studio aimed to put the power of the story into the hands of juvenile court-involved young men of color by addressing and challenging stereotypes that influence how they are perceived by themselves, their families, peers and their communities. Learn how art can be used in youth-centered restorative justice work. Writer Corps – Matthew Brown
B 204
Writer Corps is a community literacy project based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is comprised of and operated for U.S. military veterans and their families. Through creative writing workshops, reading, and the annual publication of a journal featuring works penned by group members, Writer Corps seeks to promote a sense of normalcy and connection for its members while raising awareness among the civilian population of the realities of the veteran experience. Writer Corps members are giving new voice to some of the oldest stories that draw us together as a culture and bind us as one people. Addressing Racial and Cultural Diversity: Two Chattanooga Case Studies – James McKissic
B 210
This hands-on and interactive workshop encourages arts professionals to address racial and cultural diversity in the arts through two examples in Chattanooga: Jazzanooga Music Festival and the city’s Outdoor Ambassador initiative. Ballet Tennessee – Anna Baker-VanCura
B 214
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ballet Tennessee’s Dance Alive and Talent Identification programs. These innovative and educational community programs introduce low-income community youth to the art of dance and afford long-term professional track training to dedicated, talented children. This presentation highlights the stories, leadership, community partnerships and evolution of these unique programs, which continue to be relevant and valuable assets in the Chattanooga community. Poverty and the Arts – Nicole Brandt and Clare Fernandez
PB
Poverty and the Arts is a local social enterprise nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower homeless and formerly homeless individuals as artists and creatives by helping them to form community relationships, generate income through their art, gain confidence and bring purpose to their lives. In this session, we will facilitate open and honest discussion on Nashville’s homeless community, as well as how the arts act as a transformative mechanism for change in transient populations. We will share information about our offered programs and testimonies from our artists, as well as the challenges and successes of using the arts to transform homelessness through creativity and community. This session is beneficial for community professionals, K-12 educators, university administrators and anyone with a vested interest in arts and social justice. The Bottle Cap: A Connector – Dee Kimbrell
B 205
The purpose of this workshop is to present an example of a community STEAM project that empowered a marginalized student body and resulted in the collaboration of 26 community partners and the beautification of the local neighborhood using recycled plastic bottle caps. Participants will work with open ended materials and participate in a discussion about the benefits of open ended and recycled materials to teach thinking skills and creativity. 12 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
B 206
In this session, we will discuss a case study of grassroots festival organizing in rural communities in the state looking at the Cumberland Hispanic Festival (CHF) organized by Crossville Para una Accion Solidaria (CPAS), a local committee of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). The Cumberland Hispanic Festival has the following two objectives: 1. to provide a platform for Latino artists and performers to display their artistic abilities and 2. to increase the acceptance of growing diversity within our community by introducing minority cultural practices and celebrations to the rural community members of the Upper Cumberland. CHF is the signature event for the welcoming work and leadership development of immigrant community members in the Crossville chapter of TIRRC’s work. 2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive. 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. – ARTS & COMMUNITY ISSUES/SPARKPLUG SESSIONS Arts as Community Platforms – Ekundayo Bandele
B 207
The social issues we commonly face are often well-understood, yet frequently people within a community are unwilling or unable to come together to develop solutions, despite knowing the benefits change would bring. Theater and other performing arts, combined with thoughtful arts-based programming can be effective tools for breaking down walls of division. Learn how, regardless of geography or demographics, the arts can be any community’s platform for raising awareness, sparking dialogue and problem-solving around jointly experienced issues, replacing power dynamics and polarization that exist elsewhere with the creativity, ingenuity and respect for collaboration that is rooted in the arts.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
The Cumberland Hispanic Festival: Celebrating Diversity through the Arts in Rural TN - Alysa Medina and Luis Medina
Accessibility and Cultural Engagement – Dana Everts-Boehm and Kim Johnson B 214 Tennessee’s population is increasingly diverse in ethnicity, language and cultural traditions. This session will discuss best practices in how to reach and work within nontraditional, diverse communities to create maximum arts participation and community engagement. A Conversation with Millennials – Molly Blankenship and Matthew Brown with Sarah Bandy, Nicole Brandt and Spencer Johnston
PA
This session will feature a panel discussion with members of the Millennial generation who are utilizing the arts in order to advance social justice and change. The conversation will center on an exploration of the generational traits that contribute to Millennial civic engagement, the issues that are important to them, the ways in which change can be achieved and the role that the arts play in that process. Sit in on this discussion and gain a more complete understanding of the generation that is at the forefront of the social justice movement. Integrating the Arts – Cherri Coleman
B 201
Need ideas for how to integrate the arts into non-arts subjects? Pair up with a multi-discipline teaching artist and fellow educators to brainstorm the possibilities. We’ll begin with a trunk full of examples of existing projects, quiz the artist with unlikely possibilities, stretch the limits of dynamic collaboration and then work in teams to explore new directions for classrooms and the arts. Teacher Collaboration for Musical Production – Carly Egan and Britiney Fife
B 320
This session will discuss the ins and outs of producing a full scale musical geared towards upper elementary students. Facilitators will include a music specialist and classroom teacher who specializes in drama. Connections between ELA and music will be the focus, as well as building community support. Participants will be given an overview of the start to finish process, with plenty of time for exploration of musical resources and questions.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
Creating Storytelling Sculptures with Model Magic Clay – Annamaria Gundlach
B 206
Let your fingers poke, pull and push Crayola model magic clay into characters or objects that let your imagine fly. Experience the relationship between creating art visually and its impact on verbal expression as you give voice to your creation. Learn fun and easy techniques to help you create your sculpture and tell its story. All children young and old delight in this clay experience. Connecting the World through Global Art Initiatives – Dee Kimbrell
B 202
Are your PK-5th grade students Global Students? This workshop will focus on a number of Global Initiatives that bring the arts to your classroom and meet STEAM objectives as well as connect personally with classrooms and issues around the world. Participants will collaborate on ideas of how to incorporate these art projects in their classroom and overcome any roadblocks. Learn how to easily expand your student’s curiosity and connection to peers around the world. Intro to Geometry: Creating Kaleidoscope Designs with 30 Degree Angles – Bailey Earith
B 203
Participants will learn how to get their students excited about geometry through this creative project. Students will learn to work with 30 degree angles to create a kaleidoscope star design. Art teachers will enjoy the opportunity to work with radial symmetry. We will discuss how to grade this project to increase or decrease its complexity. Sew Much Love – Deborah Frazier
B 204
Sew Much Love is a social enterprise that demonstrates how the arts can be used to increase self-worth and build community among homeless women. It embraces the premise that art, when situated within the framework of social change, can create awareness, inspire understanding and promote engagement. It challenges pervading views of homelessness through a creative lens that adds authentic voice and imagery to an underserved, marginalized population. It is a transformative process that encourages women to see beyond their present circumstances while finding joy in discovering who they are, what they can accomplish and what they want to become. Lights, Camera, Vocabulary – Kelly Farr
B 205
This lesson demonstration uses vocabulary words from various subjects to create skits. Participants will enjoy collaborating to create and perform skits using actors’ tools and content specific vocabulary words. The session will also include the lesson plans and everything necessary to use this lesson in their own classrooms and schools. Success in Alternative Venues – Carolyn German
B 209
As momentum builds for Arts and Community Engagement, more and more arts events are taking place in non-traditional venues. In this informative session, artists and event organizers will gain valuable insights into the practical side of taking arts into the community and into alternative venues. With these tips and tools, everyone can prevent snags, breathe easier and pave a smooth way for arts events in unique locations. TN Arts Commission Online Grants – Hal Partlow and TN Arts Commission Program Staff
B 216
This session will introduce attendees to the Tennessee Arts Commission’s new online grant vendor, what the new vendor means to existing and new grant applicants and how the new online grant system will streamline the process of applying for funding and managing grant awards. This session is appropriate for all applicants - individuals, nonprofit organizations, schools and government agencies. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON TUESDAY and THURSDAY. 3:55 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. – GROUP REFLECTION
P GYM
Raffle drawing for Glassblowing with Ryan Gothrup. Participants are limited to 20 attendees. Must be present to win. Glassblowing will begin at 5:00 p.m. in the Murfreesboro City parking lot, across from the Murfreesboro Civic Plaza between Church and Sevier street. 14 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
TN ARTS EDUCATION POLICY CONVENING 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. – BREAKFAST
P GYM
Performance by Students from Bradley Academy. Opening remarks by Bradley Principal Jenny Ortiz, TN Arts Commissioner Andrea Loughry and Executive Director Anne B. Pope. 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. – PLENARY The Super Hero Powers of Arts Education Advocates by Donna Collins
P THR
Join Donna Collins, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Council, for an engaging conversation about the power of people, both individuals and networks, to embrace positive change for arts education. Developing habits of effective advocacy, understanding the power of coalitions and creating conditions for success all stem from the founding principles of collective impact: infrastructure, dedicated people, and a well thoughtout process. Let’s identify your powers to impact arts education. 10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. – BREAK
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. – TN ARTS EDUCATION WORKING GROUP B LIB • Introductions by Ann Brown, Director of Arts Education, Tennessee Arts Commission • ESSA and Arts Education by Jeff Poulin, Arts Education Program Manager, AFTA • ESSA: A State Perspective by Kyle Southern, Director of Policy and Research, SCORE: State Collaborative on Reforming Education • Arts Education Data Project: Data Driving Policy by Robert Morrison,* Quadrant Research 12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M. – LUNCH P GYM Performance by Ben Hall. Remarks by Dr. Kathleen Airhart, Deputy Commissioner/Chief Operating Officer of the Tennessee Department of Education 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. – TN ARTS EDUCATION WORKING GROUP B LIB • Reflection, Facilitated by Donna Collins • Arts Standards Review by Dr. Dru Davison, Fine Arts Consultant and Project Chair of Tennessee Fine Arts State Standards Review Committee 2:15 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. – BREAK 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. – TN ARTS EDUCATION WORKING GROUP B LIB • Pecha Kucha Presentations: Snapshots from the Field - Well-Rounded Education by Laurie Melnik, Executive Director of Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; and Rodney Van Valkenburg, Director of Grants and Initiatives at ArtsBuild
- Dance Education Presentation by Sarah McCormick, Associate Professor of Dance/K-12 Dance Education at University of Tennessee at Martin
- Art Education Presentation by Lakesha Moore, Assistant Professor of Art Education at Tennessee State University
- Tennessee Portfolio Assessment by Heather Casteel, Visual Arts Specialist of Knox County Schools, Brad Foust, Instructional Facilitator at Bartlett Elementary School, and Amanda Galbraith, Art Teacher at Bartlett City Schools
- Professional Development and Advocacy by Stephen Coleman, President of Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation, and Frank Bluestein, Executive Director of Tennessee Arts Academy
• SWOT Analysis of Arts Education in Tennessee, Facilitated by Laurie Schell, Director of Music Makes Us • Establishing Goals, Stakeholders and Next Steps, Facilitated by Donna Collins * pending availability
COLLECTIVE IMPACT 15
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8 TEACHING ARTIST WORKSHOP 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. — BREAKFAST
P GYM
Performance by Students from Bradley Academy. Opening remarks by Bradley Principal Jenny Ortiz, TN Arts Commissioner Andrea Loughry and Executive Director Anne B. Pope.
9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. — PART 1: WHAT WILL I TEACH?
B 350
10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. — BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive.
10:30 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. — PART 2: HOW WILL I TEACH?
B 350
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. — LUNCH
P GYM
Performance by Ben Hall. Remarks by Dr. Kathleen Airhart, Deputy Commissioner/Chief Operating Officer of the Tennessee Department of Education.
1:00 p.m. -2:15 p.m. — PART 3: IS MY TEACHING WORKING?
B 350
2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.— BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive.
2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. — PART 4: WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHY AND WHERE?
B 350
4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. — REFLECTION
P GYM
16 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
WEDNESDAY J UNE 8 ART FAIR 5-8 P.M. CONCERT 7-10 P.M. MURFREESBORO CIVIC PLAZA • FREE MARCELA PINILLA BAND • SECRET COMMONWEALTH • MOUNTAINS LIKE WAX ARTIST BOOTHS • ARTS DEMONSTRATIONS • STORYTELLING • FOOD TRUCKS
A Celebration of the Arts in Murfreesboro
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. – SUMMER ARTS JAM
MURFREESBORO CIVIC PLAZA
In Partnership with the City of Murfreesboro, the Tennessee Arts Commission presents an evening celebration of the arts. Join us downtown on Murfreesboro’s City Plaza for an arts fair, dine-arounds and a concert. This event is free and open to the public. Schedule of Events: 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Arts Fair and Dine-Arounds on the Square Watch a performance by Center for the Arts. Browse the booths to see and purchase the work of local and regional artists. Enjoy dinner at one of the local restaurants featured on the Dine-Around map or at the food trucks located in the city parking lot. 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. - Glassblowing with Ryan Gothrup. Participants are limited to 20 attendees selected by a raffle drawing during Wednesday’s Group Reflection. Must be present to win. 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. – Cut Loose with Dr. Seuss by Dee Kimbrell A special Children’s Event at the Linebaugh Public Library 6:30 p.m. - Theater performance by Center for the Arts 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. – Concert on City Plaza - 7:00 p.m. - The Marcele Pinilla Band - 8:00 p.m. - Secret Commonwealth - 9:00 p.m. - Mountains Like Wax
THURSDAY, JUNE 9 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. – BREAKFAST
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Opening remarks by Majority Leader Senator Mark Norris and Tennesseans For The Arts. 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. – PLENARY
P THR
Making the Arts Indispensable by Doug Borwick, Ph.D. For some, the arts as indispensable is a preposterous idea, yet nearly every stakeholder in the industry believes the arts’ value to be unquestionable. That gap accounts for most of the challenges we face as arts educators and arts organizations. As long as the arts are seen as an amenity (at best), they will struggle in a world that only has time for that which is necessary. Communities must recognize what the arts do as meaningful, important, even life changing to them–collectively and/or individually. To be seen as meaningful, arts organizations must be and do things that make them so. Service to community was one of the origins of the arts, but the arts’ binding or healing power has been under-appreciated, under-valued and under-utilized by the arts infrastructure. It is time to more fully apply that power for the betterment of our communities. It is only when the vast majority of the electorate has personal experience with the transformative potential of the arts that public policy providing significant support for the arts and arts education will be possible. In a future fraught with challenges for our industry, “mere” relevance will not suffice. To compete in the marketplace of public value the required standard is indispensability. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. – Arts Hive
P DR
On your breaks, drop by the Arts Hive today to pickup information from various organizations and buy signed copies of the presenters’ books. 10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. – BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive. 10:30 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. – KNOWLEDGE CAFÉ 2
P GYM
An open conversation on topics of mutual interest to surface collective knowledge, share ideas, and gain deeper understanding of the subject/issues involved. Mimics a “third place” or “third space” for informal conversation. 18 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Music Makes Us – Laurie Schell
PA
This session will share outcomes of Music Makes Us, funded by the NEA Collective Impact grant. A joint effort of Metro Nashville Public Schools, the mayor’s office and music industry and community leaders, the Music Makes Us initiative aspires to be a national model for high quality music education. With a focus on music literacy and student participation, Music Makes Us is strengthening traditional school music while adding a contemporary curriculum that embraces new technologies and reflects our diverse student population. One Weird Trick: Social Media 101 – Erin Smith
PB
Social media keeps us connected to our friends, family and community, but there is more to using it effectively than asking people to “like” or “follow” us. This discussion, led by the social media team of Sundress Publications, will explore several popular social media platforms and present strategies for nonprofit and community organizations to network with followers, grow an audience and engage with passionate supporters. Planning, Teaching, Assessing: A Practical Guide for Teaching Music and Movement – Jennifer Vannatta-Hall
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – SPARKPLUG SESSIONS
B320
This session is a practical guide for planning, teaching and assessing a general music and movement lesson. An example 30-minute elementary music and movement lesson will be demonstrated, followed by a discussion of the example lesson plan and multiple forms of assessment. The example lesson will be rooted in the Tennessee State Standards for Music. Community Building through Creative Exchange – Rebecca Berrios
B LIB
Join the Director of Community Engagement for Metro Nashville Arts Commission in a session focused on ways to drive an equitable and vibrant community through the arts. We’ll explore national models, discuss successful local artist-driven projects and share information about funding sources that will inspire and activate your imagination to create your own shared art-making experiences in Nashville. The Industrial Revolution and Script Writing – Isormari Pozo and Allison Isom
B 207
Led by an ELL teacher and Theater Arts teacher, this workshop will provide educators with the tools for script writing with a historical context of the Industrial Revolution. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON TUESDAY. TN Arts Commission Grants Workshop – Hal Partlow and TN Arts Commission Program Staff B 216 This session will introduce attendees to the Tennessee Arts Commission’s new online grant vendor, what the new vendor means to existing and new grant applicants, and how the new online grant system will streamline the process of applying for funding and managing grant awards. This session is appropriate for all applicants - individuals, nonprofit organizations, schools and government agencies. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY. Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 – Grace Robinson
B 214
Want to be sure your organization is included in the largest national study of the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture? Join this session to learn more about Arts and Economic Prosperity 5, and find out why TN is participating for the first time on a statewide level, including regional and local studies. Pick up tips and tools, hear from local study partners and learn of the benefits and possible uses of the study in your community. Color Your Words – Nancy Cooley B 201 Learn to use Pochoir and Frottage techniques to create unique broadsides, handouts, cards or leaflets. Social Justice, self-promotion or community information, the choice is yours. Join us and add another medium to your communication tool box in this fast paced, informative hour. THIS SESSION IS REPEATED ON TUESDAY. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 19
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
Children’s Books and Collage Art – Dana Harrell
B 202
In this session, we will be creating children’s books using collage art (think Eric Carle...modified). This is a particularly useful lesson to use with science classes in a unit about biomes, life cycles, space etc. The participants will write a short children’s story and will create textured paper using crayon rubbings, paint and magazines. They will use their texture pages to create collages to illustrate the books. This activity can also be used in Language arts classes, math or social sciences. It is a fun, interactive art lesson perfectly integrated into any class. The supplies needed for your class are not too costly and are easy to obtain. The final product is a wonderful assessment for whatever standard you are covering in the book. We will give you resources, a slide show art lesson and book ideas! Getting Started with the Basics: Harmonization and Improvisation in the General Music Classroom – Janel Long and Jennifer Henderson
B 330
The Core Arts standards for Music include creating musical ideas as early as first grade. If these skills are begun early, there is no limit to what older students can accomplish. This session will include delightful repertoire in duple and triple meters and major and harmonic minor tonalities. Session participants will leave with new strategies and repertoire to foster a creative classroom environment that develops and nurtures the necessary musical skills our students need to become skilled harmonizers and improvisers. How to Make an Envelope Book to Creatively Present a Report – Bailey Earith
B 203
Participants will create a clever envelope book then, explore how to use it to creatively present reports in a variety of subject areas including: reading, writing, science and history. This book is very versatile and effective with K-8 students, including special education. What Schools Need from Teaching Artists – Brandi Self
B 209
This session will focus on what schools are looking for when bringing a teaching artist into their building. What are important “must haves” that schools need? What is the best way to get your information into the right hands? How are standards successfully integrated within a residency? 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – LUNCH
P GYM
Performance by Mariachi Olímpico de Nashville. 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. – DIGGING DEEPER: LEARNING FROM THE FIELD Explore strategies, nuts and bolts, best practices, and research in-depth. Creative Placemaking – Leonardo Vazquez
B LIB
Creative placemaking is a new way to make places better through arts and culture. What makes it different from other ways communities have used the arts to enhance quality of life? In this workshop, explore how creative placemaking can help you achieve short-term successes and longterm improvements. Participants will learn about and develop strategies for growing effective teams; clarifying assets, issues and opportunities; conducting short-term projects and doing long-term plans. Artists and Community Engagement: New Thinking Yields New Options – Doug Borwick, Ph.D.
PB
What does “community engagement” mean for artists now and in the future? New relationships and new ways of thinking about the arts hold promise for artists. Rather than cutting smaller slices of the pie, they represent the possibility of baking more pies. They also suggest the need for change in approaches and in understanding of the roles of the arts. How can community engagement be undertaken in ways that yield success and also maintain artistic integrity? This workshop will examine these questions. Build a Character: Creative Writing Prompt – Bailey Earith
B 209
Participants will construct three-dimensional figures from fabric, yarn, recycled and found objects. They will be led through a Critical Response analysis of their finished work in order to generate story 20 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Personal Stories as Human-Centered Approach to Evaluation – Deborah Frazier and Dr. Cynthia Sadler
B 214
Increasingly, the inclusion of personal stories and narratives has proven to be essential in adding authentic voice to program evaluations. While mixed-method evaluations typically combine qualitative and quantitative data, the use of storytelling represents a human-centered approach that places individuals and their expressed concerns/issues at the center of the evaluation process. Whether collected through individual interviews or discussion circles, these stories are complemented with multiple forms of evidence-based data, including focus groups, surveys, questionnaires and observations. Ultimately, the resulting evaluation can serve as an effective tool for program management, advocacy, fundraising, public relations and recruitment. Digging Deeper: Arts and Social Change – Linda Steele
B 207
This session introduces the ArtsMemphis Fellows Program and the role the arts can play in addressing social and community issues. The Program builds capacity in the field of arts and social change that began in 2014, and includes artists, leaders of community based organizations and neighborhood activists. The program invests in the power of the arts to transform and strengthen communities. Attendees will leave with information on the Fellows as a model for addressing community issues through the arts and learn the first steps of a strategic approach to do this work in their own communities. Community Healing Power of the Arts – Ellen Gilbert
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
ideas. Participants will learn how these figures can be used as writing prompts or to assess students’ comprehension of a novel they read. Modification suggestions will be offered for use with students in special education.
B 216
Global Education Center teaching artists and partners will share successful programs reflecting the healing power of the arts in improving individual health and community well-being. These programs address issues of racial and cultural inequality and their effect on the well-being of individuals and our community. Participants will discuss partnerships that bring together artists from diverse cultures, health care practitioners and educators. Using music, dance and literary arts, programs explore the power of the arts to aid in dispelling myths, dismantling stereotypes, unlearning biases and alleviating fears while creating an environment of inclusion and a climate promoting wellness and emotional well-being. Going Beyond the Basics I-II: Harmonization, Improvisation and Uneven Meters in the General Music Classroom – Janel Long and Jennifer Henderson
B 330
Scarborough Fair. Old Joe Clark. The Ghost of John. There is a wealth of excellent children’s music outside of major and minor tonalities. Experience harmonization and improvisation in tonalities such as dorian, mixolydian, and pure minor. We all teach duple and triple meters in our music classrooms, but what about meters such as 5/8 or 7/8? Many chants and songs written in uneven meters are suitable for the general music classroom. Session participants will leave with repertoire lists and strategies to enrich their students’ musical vocabularies and enable richer improvisations and harmonization, as well as with new repertoire in uneven meters and strategies to help students incorporate these meters into their musical vocabularies. The Armillary Sphere Sundial Lesson Unit – Cherri Coleman and Brandi Self
PC
Explore the Armillary Sphere Public Art Sculpture as science, as art and as a symbol of group identity. Experience the discovery of time in an entry activity, evolve into global thinking with a model myth, collaboratively engage in problem solving through the process of creative writing and engage in the creative process with your own metal work illustration. This unit provides a real world context for the application of 21st century learning skills. Arts as a Social Force for Social Change – Kiran Singh Sirah
B 212
In this workshop, the presenter will explore the role of the Storytelling Arts in what he describes as one of the greatest conflict prevention tools that we can use to foster and establish global peaceful communities, and how we might collectively use new storytelling forms across all art forms in the arenas of peace and international development to help establish a conflict free world. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 21
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
Moving Others through Movement: Dance for Social Change – Allison Brazzel
B 320
Learn about the project that culminated in live community performances. Given that a majority of Glencliff students are children of immigrants and refugees and children living in poverty, the goal was to create a safe environment for students to share their identity through storytelling and dance. The hope was that by participating, the students would not only get to develop themselves as storytellers and dancers, but also to learn to engage in change to make our community a better place. Rural Arts and Heritage – Bradley Hanson and Shawn Pitts with Donald Fann, Peggy Mathews and Gary Sexton
B 210
What distinctive opportunities and responsibilities confront Tennessee’s rural arts and heritage organizations? How can rural organizations better define missions for preserving the traditional cultural legacy and enhancing the cultural infrastructure of their communities? Though rural arts and heritage organizations face many obstacles, they are also well positioned to address critical social, cultural and economic community needs. This session will feature several case studies from rural arts leaders who are working to create a stronger sense of local place and pride. The discussion will focus on the practical concerns and key lessons learned in assessing and developing rural arts programming from the ground up. Speakers will also share significant experiences that have shaped their own personal pathway in rural arts leadership. 3:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. – BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Bradley Rotunda and Patterson Arts Hive. 3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. – ARTS EXPERIENCES Learn a new arts skill and complete a finished art work while reflecting on conference content. Explore Visual Storytelling – Elizabeth Sanford
B 202
Explore visual storytelling by making origami books. These playful structures unfold your story gradually, allowing you to control the sequence and pacing; introducing surprises and plot twists is part of the fun. Participants will choose from a variety of possible structures to make and will also have the option of creating origami envelopes or boxes to hold their books. Collective Impact as Muse: Write Your Own “Portrait of the Artist” Poem – Kory Wells
B 216
In this session we’ll each write our own portrait poem or statement by working through prompts that mine specific details of all we’ve experienced at the conference. Whether you write Portrait of the Artist as Bradley Academy, Portrait of My Students as an Interpretive Dance, Portrait of My Town as a Folk Song or something else, you’ll leave with a creative statement and some coalesced ideas of how the conference will continue to affect you back home. Mandalas – Holly Briggs
B 350
The word Mandala is Sanskrit for “circle.” Mandalas are spiritual symbols found throughout the world, particularly in Eastern culture, often representing the universe. While intricate and symbolic, mandalas use basic mathematical concepts of proportion, fraction, balance and radial symmetry to create amazingly beautiful and colorful works of art. Come create your own unique mandala, using paper circles, pencils, rulers and your imagination. This project fits to all ability levels, and can be adapted to suit all participants in grades 3-12, adults and cultural art enthusiasts. Crafting Theater from Shared Vision – Carolyn German
B 330
This is a fast-paced theatrical experience where Carolyn German teaches her approach to “finding a way into content”, in order to create performances, micro-plays or even full-length scripts. Reflecting on conference content, participants will choose a community issue as a theme to explore and then use 3 different theatrical contexts with which to create theater-based on that issue. German’s approach is valuable for artists in the early phases of creation of new work, as a rehearsal tool and for theater teachers/teaching artists. This session culminates in a performance of the short work created (usually 3-5 minutes).
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B 320
In this session, participants will learn how to communicate through percussion performance. African poly rhythms, call and response, and a circle social dance called Borborbor will be presented on the traditions of Ghana, West Africa. “I am from. . .” Storytelling – Allison Brazzel
B 210
Where are you from? Everyone has a story. Everyone’s story is unique. And everyone’s story is powerful. Together, with Allison Brazzel, Spanish and dance teacher at Glencliff High School in Nashville, tell your story through movement. And by sharing your story, move others to join in and be moved. Telling Your Story Via Collage Inspired by Romare Bearden – Annamaria Gundlach
B 205
No experience in drawing and sketching is necessary to create art inspired by Romare Bearden. This hands-on arts experience lets you tear, cut and paste newspapers, magazines and colored papers to create “your story” collage. You will think as an artist as you incorporate the elements of art to visually express who you are. This art activity encourages self-expression and is easily adaptable for lessons in creative writing. Romare Bearden’s collages can be tailored to early learners by using patterns to create colorful and expressive self-portraits. Yarn Paintings – Jairo Prado and Susan Prado
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
Drumming and Dancing: Other Forms of Communication – Kofi Mawuko
B 214
“Yarn paintings” are intricately composed folk art works originating from the Huichol Indians, the Aztec descendants of Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico, as part of their spiritual practice. Historical techniques involved pressing brightly colored yarn into wooden boards coated with resin or beeswax that had been softened in the sun. The resulting pictographic work colorfully illustrated the artist’s visionary narrative using traditional tribal symbols dating back centuries. In this hands-on session, facilitated by local artist Jairo Prado, participants will learn about the origins of the folk art tradition, and create their own stylized yarn painting using symbols to represent a personal narrative. This project can be adapted to all ability levels and ages, including children grades K-12 and adult learners. Aerial Dance – Jen Kintner
B GYM
Come experience the magic and beauty of aerial dance. Aerial dance is a branch of modern dance first created in the 1970s. You will learn beginning moves on aerial fabrics and create a short dance piece with fellow participants. Avian Automata for the Artistic – Nancy Cooley
B 206
Delight in the movement of your newly finished automata. Creating a simple machine can be both intriguing and informative. This is an introduction to the interactive and captivating fun you can have adding movement into your work. In the hour you will produce a form of kinetic sculpture that employs basic mechanisms to animate an object. Ever wonder “how’d they do that?” Now is your chance to find out. Building Community through Embroidery – Nick DeFord-Badges
B 201
In this session, participants will learn a few basic embroidery stitches so they can complete a small badge or patch that represents their artistic and creative interests. Emblems such as badges and patches are not only the perfect stitching exercise to practice new embroidery skills, but they also allow small groups to build fellowship through common identity, as the badges may then be proudly worn to symbolize people, places and creative stewardship. So pick up that needle and thread, and get stitching. Ensemble as Community – Leslie Barker
B 209
In the world of theater, we create through the power and unity of ensemble. A theatrical ensemble is a microcosm of what a working community looks like. A healthy ensemble, just like a healthy community, is made of working parts - community members who each have a voice and work together toward one common goal. In this workshop, we will create a performance piece about what a healthy, thriving community looks like. Together, we will examine how these techniques can be used on a larger scale to engage communities, create dialogue and tackle relevant social issues.
COLLECTIVE IMPACT 23
FRIDAY, JUNE 10
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. – RECEPTION Discovery Center, 502 SE Broad Street, Murfreesboro Sponsored by Tennesseans For The Arts (TFTA). • Opening remarks by TFTA and Discovery Center CEO, Tara MacDougall. • Hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. Embrace your inner child while mingling with friends and colleagues. • Shuttle service available from Patterson starting at 4:45 p.m. 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. – BORO ART CRAWL AND DINE-AROUNDS Sponsored by the Boro Art Crawl. • A special preview of this monthly Murfreesboro event features many downtown locations, along with several local dining options (see map in conference package). • Shuttle service to/from Discovery Center, Main Street Square and Patterson available from 4:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
FRIDAY, JUNE 10 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. – BREAKFAST
P GYM
9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. – PLENARY
P THR
Flourishing: The Role of the Arts in Building Prospering Societies by Ivonne Chand O’Neal, Ph.D. This presentation will feature a discussion of a number of topics on the forefront of arts policy, arts research and how the impact of the arts are being examined in our nation’s most under-resourced communities. Themes will also include the role of diversity in arts leadership, developmental timing and arts exposure in childhood, and the unveiling of a new initiative on the impact of the arts and humanities on human flourishing led by the University of Pennsylvania. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. – Arts Hive
P DR
On your breaks, drop by the Arts Hive today to pick up information from various organizations and buy signed copies of the presenters’ books. 10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. – BREAK Visit a snack trolley, located in the Patterson Arts Hive. 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. – KNOWLEDGE CAFÉ 3
P GYM
An open conversation on topics of mutual interest to surface collective knowledge, share ideas and gain deeper understanding of the subject/issues involved. Mimics a “third place” or “third space” for informal conversation. 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – LUNCH Performance by Mississippi Millie. Remarks by Senator Bill Ketron. Door prizes drawing, must be present to win.
24 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
P GYM
P GYM
Part 1: Mini-Collectives for Maximum Impact: Creative Alliances from the Ground Up by Katie Smythe True Collective Impact involves a series of strategic agreements between a group of organizations, several levels of collaboration and a backbone support structure. But how can smaller arts organizations begin engaging with valuable partners to create an integrated approach to Creative Youth Development through the Arts? You don’t have to have every part in place (or lots of money) to get started. Smythe will explore the process of identifying organizations that share facets of your mission, forging individual alliances and taking productive steps towards Collective Impact. Featuring guest artist, LeAnthony Douglas LeAnthony Douglas began studying dance at age 10 in the New Ballet Ensemble (NBE) residency program at Dunbar Elementary School in his inner-city neighborhood—the Orange Mound community in Memphis. He was accepted into the NBE studio program in the seventh grade where he became a serious ballet student, and still returned to Dunbar each afternoon to assist with the after-school program there.
FRIDAY, JUNE 10
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. – ENDNOTE
Since joining NBE, Douglas has danced in the company’s collaboration with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and legendary cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, and in a number of the company’s major productions, including the renowned Nut Remix. He has toured Shelby County schools with NBE teaching artists, traveled to New York City to perform at the Alvin Ailey school, and was in an NBE ensemble that performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in 2014, premiering a new work choreographed to Duke Ellington’s orchestral suite, “Harlem.” LeAnthony is a rising senior at Melrose High School in Memphis and this summer he’s a full scholarship student at the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.
Part 2: Asking “Why Art?” in an Economically Hard-Hit Rural Appalachian County by Robert Gipe What is the relationship between economic development and using the arts to name and explore the challenges facing communities? How do we engage the maximum number of community members in artistic expression of, by and for the community? How do we gain the world without losing ourselves? Higher Ground is a community-based arts initiative based in the Appalachian coalfields of Harlan County, Kentucky. Through theater, public art and arts in education, Higher Ground addresses these and other questions. Higher Ground’s presentation will describe and reflect on fifteen years of artscentered community engagement in one of the toughest counties in rural America.
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PLENARY PRESENTERS Rich Harwood Rich Harwood is founder and president of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a national nonprofit organization based in Bethesda, MD. The institute teaches and coaches people and organizations to solve pressing problems and change how communities work together. Harwood’s transformational work has spread to thousands of communities nationally and worldwide—from small towns to large cities—through concrete methods he created and has honed for more than 25 years. These proven practices are based on hands-on work with individuals, organizations and communities in their quest to create change. Harwood’s talks, coaching techniques and practical guides have provided the hope and inspiration for individuals and groups to improve their public and private lives. A visionary with the ability to help people identify obstacles and tap their aspirations, Harwood has inspired hundreds of audiences as he shares his philosophy of what it takes to be relevant and connected in today’s world. Harwood is also a prolific author whose books and guides include The Work of Hope: How Individuals and Organizations Can Authentically Do Good; Hope Unraveled; Make Hope Real; and Why We’re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward. Harwood has also written numerous studies and articles that chronicle the most vital issues of our time, and has appeared on national media including MSNBC, NPR, CNN’s Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, C-SPAN, CNN’s The Don Lemon Show, German Public Radio, China Central TV and Voice of Russia Radio. Learn more about Harwood and his inspirational personal journey. Follow Harwood on Twitter @Rich Harwood using his hashtag, #turnoutward. You can also join him on Facebook at Rich Harwood.
Donna Collins Donna Collins became director of the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) on July 1, 2014. Prior to leading the OAC, Collins served as the executive director of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (OAAE) since 1998 and as the executive director of the Ohio Citizens for the Arts and Foundation (OCA) since 2001. During her tenure, both the OAAE and OCA were recognized statewide and nationally for their success at increasing services to constituents, creating policy and generating more funds for the arts. Collins brings to the OAC more than 20 years of experience in leading statewide non-profit organizations, demonstrating consistent success and solid results that impact policy, education, economic development, and arts and culture. A proven leader in the field of arts education and arts advocacy, she has worked with the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) on the Network Leadership Committee and as a consultant to state Alliances across the nation. She also served as an Americans for the Arts State Captain and a State Arts Action Network member. She has received the Distinguished Fellow and Arts Administration Award by the Ohio Art Education Association; VSA Ohio’s Fran Bay Award; Executive Director recognition from the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network in 2003, 2008, 2011, and 2014; and induction into the Ohio Educational Theatre Association Hall of Fame. Collins was also honored by the Ohio PTA as a Life Member. In 2014 Americans for the Arts honored Ms. Collins with the Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award. Collins studied education at Otterbein University in Westerville and child development and communications at the Columbus Technical Institute. She lives in Glenford with her husband Howard. Together they have three sons: Timothy (forever 31), Joshua (and his wife Deidre) and Ryan, a student at Capital University. Joshua and Deidre have two children, Cierra and Chance.
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Dr. Doug Borwick Doug Borwick, Ph.D. is author of Engaging Matters, a blog for ArtsJournal; author/editor of Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the U.S.; and author of Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable. One of the country’s leading advocates for the arts and community engagement, Dr. Borwick has served as keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences across the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Beijing and Singapore. Notably, he has been a featured speaker for statewide arts gatherings in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin, as well as for the Canadian Arts Summit in Banff, Alberta. Dr. Borwick is past President of the Board for the Association of Arts Administration Educators, an international organization of higher education programs in the field. For three decades, he served as Director of the Arts Management and Not-for-Profit Management Programs at Salem College in WinstonSalem, NC. Dr. Borwick is CEO of Outfitters4, Inc., providing management services for nonprofits; and of ArtsEngaged, offering training and consultation services to artists and arts organizations seeking to more effectively engage with their communities. Dr. Borwick holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the Eastman School of Music and is an award-winning member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In addition to his conference presentation, Dr. Borwick will be also hosting a workshop.
Dr. Ivonne Chand O’Neal Ivonne Chand O’Neal, Ph.D., is Chief Research Officer and Senior Policy Analyst for Creativity Testing Services, a creativity research think tank which provides assessment, research design and evaluation services for multinational companies both in the United States and abroad, including Lego, Red Bull and Disney. She is also the founder of MUSE Research, through which she provides strategic research design consultation in the area of arts, culture, civic engagement and education; and serves as a Co-Investigator and Member of the Research Advisory Board for the Humanities and Human Flourishing Initiative: A Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration for Understanding, Cultivating and Assessing Well-Being with the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her current position, O’Neal served as the Founding Director of Research and Evaluation for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where she created the Center’s first national research agenda comprised of over 25 national and international research studies. With an emphasis on creativity, O’Neal directed all research and evaluation efforts, designed research studies to collect, analyze and report evidence of the impact of arts and culture on American life on local, national, and international scales. Projects included: examining the impact of such programs as Changing Education through the Arts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Scottish Ballet, Any Given Child, Ballet with Suzanne Farrell, Theater for Young Audiences, and One Mic: Hip Hop Culture Worldwide Festival; and assessing accessibility to the arts for K-12 students living with disabilities. Trained as a Cognitive Psychologist with emphasis on the creative process, program evaluation, psychometrics and experimental design, O’Neal has published and presented over 100 research papers, book chapters and webinars in a wide variety of fields, including creativity, innovation, research design, education, museology, visitor studies, student engagement, human flourishing and quality of life. Her work on the impact of arts integrated education on student creativity and engagement was highlighted by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2014. In addition, her work in arts research has been featured in the Huffington Post and various news outlets. She currently serves as: Co-Chair Arts, Culture, and Audiences for the American Evaluation Association; a reviewer for the journal, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts; and a member of the Editorial Board for the Creativity Research Journal. She has served as a working group member for the Santa Fe Institute, examining creativity and the brain; the Gallup Institute as an invited guest on UK-US Cultural Engagement; and Opera America on the use of opera to increase civic engagement throughout the United States. Her book, Arts Evaluation and Assessment: Measuring Impact in Schools and Communities will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 27
Her career has combined academic research with extensive practical experience in examining the relationships between creativity, research, society, culture and education. Prior to her role at the Kennedy Center, she held a joint appointment as Co-Investigator and Research Director at the David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine, where she examined the effects of acute cocaine administration on the creative process, the impact of humor on chronic pain in children and quality of life in men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. She also served as a member of the UCLA Tennenbaum Initiative on the Biology of Creativity. She has taught a number of courses on research methods, non-profit organizations, human development, memory and learning, and personality theory. On the practice side, she has served as a Curator for the Museum of Creativity, where she led in the development of exhibitions and programs to advance the use of creativity and innovation in everyday life. In the area of curriculum development, O’Neal currently serves as a consultant for The College Board, Educational Testing Service, National Geographic and has consulted with the Galef Institute on developing curriculum for K-8 students to incorporate creativity theory into core curriculum. She has served as a federally-appointed expert consultant for programmatic evidence evaluation for the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and currently serves as a grant reviewer for the US Department of Education to examine innovative approaches to literacy, and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to fund community and heritage arts programming in Washington, D.C. Her expertise has also extended to the entertainment industry where she has worked actively with the Disney Channel, NBC, TNBC and HipTV to increase creativity, civic engagement and social emotional learning in children’s programming and corresponding educational materials.
Katie Smythe Katie Smythe began studying ballet with her grandmother, Mary Clay Tate Smythe as soon as she could walk. As a student of Memphis Ballet, she studied with the Royal Academy of Dance and in the master class of the Banff Centre of Fine Arts. After graduating from Central High School, she performed professionally with the Minnesota Dance Theater and in New York and Los Angeles, creating programming for the Los Angeles Music Center’s arts in the schools. Returning to Memphis in 1997, she founded New Ballet Ensemble and School in 2001: to create a rigorous training program and an ensemble culture for the purpose of breaking down racial and economic barriers, opening its doors for every Memphis child to study dance, regardless of the ability to pay. Smythe has guided NBE to widen its artistic scope beyond classical ballet, seeking out talented young dancers from the city’s vibrant dance scene. By welcoming self-taught dancers into NBE’s classes. Smythe has engineered a way for the Memphis voice to inform classical ballet. Smythe’s choreographic fusion of formal and inherent dance has become New Ballet’s trademark. Acclaimed by the NY Times and Washington Post, Katie’s creative work in Nut ReMix ™, Harlem at the John F. Kennedy Center and her work with Charles “Lil Buck” Reilly has brought international attention to NBE, its high quality training and inclusive mission. On Smythe’s watch, New Ballet Ensemble has become a Creative Youth Development organization, focused on developing the educational and social skills of all students. In addition to dance training, students receive one-on-one tutoring and mentoring. The College Bound program prepares young dancers for college and the admissions process. Through the satellite programs in Title 1 schools, New Ballet has adopted a two generation approach, opening a Family Resource Center in the Orange Mound neighborhood to address expressed needs of parents, including support services for financial literacy, completion of high school and socio-emotional health. Since 2008, 100% of NBE graduates have attended college. In 2014, Katie accepted the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award on behalf of New Ballet Ensemble and School from Michelle Obama at the White House. In 2015, seven seniors earned over $800,000 in cumulative college scholarship offers.
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Smythe serves on the board of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and is a founding board member of the Levitt Shell. She has twice been named teacher of the year by the Governor’s School of the Arts and has also served on the Memphis Youth Guidance Commission, the Tennessee Association of Dance, the Community Learning Arts Education panel at the Tennessee Arts Commission and was a delegate to the first Creative Youth Development Summit in Boston MA.
Robert Gipe Robert Gipe’s first novel, Trampoline, was published by the Ohio University Press in 2015. Described by the Washington Independent Review of Books as, “jagged, dark and honest, Trampoline is a powerful portrait of a place struggling with the economic and social forces that threaten to define it or destroy it.” His book is an illustrated novel that takes place in fictional Canard County, Kentucky and is considered to be a new American masterpiece. Additionally, his fiction has appeared in Appalachian Heritage, the anthology Motif volume 4: Seeking Its Own Level and the online journal Still. Gipe is currently the director of the Appalachian Program at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Harlan County, Kentucky. Since 1997, he has coordinated community-based arts programming for the college. He is the executive producer of the Higher Ground series of community performances, which brings community residents together across the divides of race, class, age and county section to create theater out of local music and oral histories celebrating community strength and exploring challenges facing community residents such as drug abuse, racism, land use and the uncertain future of the community. Gipe teaches Appalachian Studies courses and has helped catalyze the college’s Honors program and coordinated the production of public artworks throughout Harlan County. In the past, he has also taught art marketing, English and American Studies classes for Southeast. He is a faculty coordinator for the Crawdad student arts series and the coordinator of Southeast’s participation in the Appalachian Teaching Project, a research and community engagement program of the Appalachian Regional Commission. The community-based art projects Gipe has catalyzed have been the subject of studies by Alessandro Portelli (They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History, Oxford University Press, 2010), Maureen Mullinax (in Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia, University of Illinois Press, 2012), and Bill Bishop (The Big Sort, Houghton-Mifflin, 2009). Gipe is the former director of Educational Services at Appalshop, a media arts center in Whitesburg, Kentucky and a scout for the Annenberg Rural Challenge, a philanthropic project for connecting rural K-12 curriculum to community cultural assets. Gipe grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, received his bachelors degree in English from Wake Forest University and his masters degree in American Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
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FEATURED PRESENTERS Kathleen M. Airhart, Ed.D. Dr. Kathleen Airhart was appointed as Deputy Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Education in January 2012. Previously she has served in roles for the Putnam County School System including teacher, Special Education Supervisor, and for the past 6 years, Director of Schools. She holds a Doctorate from Tennessee State University in Curriculum and Instruction and a Bachelors, Masters, and Ed.S. from Tennessee Tech University. She has authored numerous articles and received various awards related to education. She was named Superintendent of the Year by the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents for 2011-2012. During the course of her career, Dr. Airhart has actively engaged and led education reform efforts to improve PK-12 educational results for all children in Tennessee.
Becca Barniskis Becca Barniskis is a poet who has published her work in many journals, and she has a chapbook of poems, Mimi and Xavier Star in a Museum That Fits Entirely in One’s Pocket. She performs regularly as part of the bands Downrange Telemetrics and Pancake7. Barniskis also teaches and works as a freelance writer and consultant in arts education for a range of schools and arts organizations across the upper Midwest and around the US. She co-wrote the Teaching Artist Handbook, vol. 1: Tools, Techniques and Ideas to Help Any Artist Teach (University of Chicago Press) and was an associate editor at the Teaching Artist Journal for many years.
Dr. Dru Davison Dru Davison, Ph.D. is an arts administrator for Shelby County Schools and currently serves as the Fine Arts State Standards Revision Committee Project Chair for the Tennessee State Board of Education. His other positions and appointments include chair of the National Association for Music Education’s Council of Music Program Leaders and a revision team member for the National Opportunity to Learn Standards for Music Education. In addition, Dr. Davison has consulted for both the United States Department of Education and the Tennessee Department of Education as well as Insight Education Group. Dr. Davison has taught music to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, was an adjunct jazz instructor at Arkansas State University and served as a teaching fellow in music education for the University of North Texas. He has served on the Bill and Melinda Gates College Readiness Advisory Council and is a former national fellow for the Hope Street Group.
Nick Jaffe Nick Jaffe is a guitarist who has performed with such artists as Common, Estelle and Ice Cube, and recorded across a wide range of genres from soul and rock to free improvisational projects. As a teaching artist, his focus has been on setting up student-run recording studios in public schools. Nick is a co-author of The Teaching Artist Handbook (University of Chicago Press) and former Chief Editor of the Teaching Artist Journal.
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Jeff Poulin Jeff M. Poulin joined the arts education team at Americans for the Arts in 2013. He works to empower local, state and federal supporters of arts education to become effective advocates to advance policies supportive of equitable access to arts education for all students. In his role at Americans for the Arts, Jeff has trained over 10,000 advocates in all 50 states. He was also been instrumental in the publication of the 2014 National Core Arts Standards, a leader in the creative youth development movement and a founding board member of the Innovation Collaborative. Before arriving in D.C., Jeff worked for several nonprofit and commercial organizations in the US and abroad, focused primarily in production and programming, audience development, research and policy. Notably, he was a chief advisor on the implementation of the first national Arts in Education Charter under the directions of the Ministers of Arts and Education in the Republic of Ireland. Jeff frequently speaks at a number of nonprofit organizations and universities. Jeff hails from Portland, Maine and holds a Master of Arts degree in Arts Management and Cultural Policy from University College Dublin and a Bachelor of Science degree in Entertainment Business from Oklahoma City University.
Kyle Southern Kyle Southern focuses on connecting rigorous, relevant research to policies affecting education in Tennessee. Previously, Kyle held a research fellowship at the University of California-Berkeley and worked as a policy researcher for SCORE and a Washington, D.C., area nonprofit research and analysis corporation. He is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, where his research has focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Kyle holds a bachelor’s degree in American and Southern Studies and a master’s degree in education policy, both from Vanderbilt University.
Leonardo Vazquez Leonardo Vazquez is a national award-winning planner who is a leader in two emerging fields in urban planning: creative placemaking and cultural competency. He has two decades of experience in community development, community engagement, small group facilitation, local economic development, leadership development and strategic communications. He has worked with a wide variety of communities in New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, New York and Pennsylvania. With a strong focus on implementation and sustainability, he specializes in building leadership teams to oversee plans and raising funds to support planning and implementation efforts. In addition to his affiliation with the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, Vazquez is a Senior Associate at the Nishuane Group and a Lecturer at The Ohio State University. He is the author of Leading from the Middle: Strategic Thinking for Urban Planning and Community Development Professionals and co-editor of Dialogos: Placemaking in Latino Communities. He has written for several professional and general interest publications, including Planetizen, Planning, Progressive Planning and The Star-Ledger. He is the recipient of the 2012 American Planning Association National Leadership Award for Advancing Diversity and Social Justice in Honor of Paul Davidoff, the highest award given in the urban planning field on issues of social equity. Vazquez received a B.S. from Northwestern University and a M.P.A. and M.P., both from the University of Southern California.
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GUEST ARTISTS Tuesday, June 7, 5:00 p.m. UNCLE SHUFFELO AND HIS HAINT HOLLOW HOOTENANNY Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny is an eight-piece, old-time string band from Rover, Tennessee with a mission: to relieve stress, give off good vibes and cause a general feeling of well-being in all people, while promoting the awesomeness of old-time music. They can be counted on to deliver a high-energy performance influenced by Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, the Carter Family and other old-time greats. Members include: Uncle Shuffelo—Banjo, Vocals; Emma Jean Williams—Washboard, Autoharp, Jug, Vocals; Megan Williams—Washboard, Kazoo, Vocals; Courtney Williams—Tuba, Guitar, Banjo Uke, Vocals; Jimmy Bratcher—Guitar, Vocals; Brian Derryberry—Upright Bass, Vocals; Austin Derryberry—Fiddle, Banjo, Banjo Uke, Tenor Banjo, Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals; and Conner Derryberry—Spoons. Wednesday, June 8, Lunch BEN HALL Ben Hall is a multi-talented entertainer from Nashville, Tennessee. At the age of 16, he won the National and International Thumbstyle Guitar Contests, as well as the Horizon Award from the prestigious National Thumbstyle Guitar Hall of Fame. While attending Belmont University, Hall managed to perform at some of Nashville’s most famous venues, including the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. In 2011, New York based record label Tompkins Square, released the critically acclaimed album, entitled Ben Hall!. With the release of this debut recording, Hall brought forth a style that very few young guitarists pursue, in the tradition of Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. He continues the thumbstyle tradition by making frequent appearances as a soloist and clinician. Hall is also in high demand as a sideman and studio musician, performing alongside many artists from a variety of genres. Thursday, June 9, Lunch MARIACHI OLÍMPICO DE NASHVILLE Mariachi Olímpico de Nashville is a popular Mexican mariachi band currently performing throughout venues in Middle Tennessee, in particular every Sunday from 4:00 -8:00 p.m. at Los Arcos Mexican Restaurant in Nashville. The group’s members include: Alvarado Robles on vihuela, Juan Diego Sandoval on violin, Jesús Gordillo on guitarrón, and Juanito Martínez on trumpet. The newly formed Mariachi Olímpico wowed crowds at last year’s Celebration of Nations in Franklin and recently accompanied Country singer Tim McGraw on a Freddie Fender song in a recording session. Their repertoire features such mariachi standards 32 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
as “Son de La Negra,” “Son de la Madrugada” and “Cielito Lindo,” as well as jarocho tunes from Veracruz such as “La Bamba” and mariachi versions of Tennessee favorites such as “Rocky Top.” Mariachi is a folk musical form that was developed in Western Mexico in the nineteenth century. As the style evolved, it encompassed influences from norteña (northern Mexican) music such as polkas and waltzes, in addition to adopting the use of trumpets and the distinctive charro, or Jaliscan cowboy, outfits. Mariachi music rose to national prominence in the first half of the 20th century, becoming the predominant musical symbol of Mexican national identity. Thursday, June 9, 5:00 p.m. ELLIOTT MCLAIN Elliott McClain is an independent pianist, artist, and musician who specializes in session recording and live performance. Blind since birth, Elliott started playing piano as soon as he discovered a keyboard, and has been known ever since for his exceptional aural and improvisational skills in diverse musical styles. As a freshman, Elliott was selected to perform with the premier jazz ensemble at Belmont University. He was honored to have feature roles in the 2014 President’s concert, the nationally televised Christmas at the Belmont performance in 2013, and the Woods Piano Scholar Concert at Cheekwood Arts and Gardens. Prior to college, Elliott performed with Lake Rise Place (LRP), a local pop trio, as keyboardist and lead vocalist in numerous local events and venues from 2008-2012. Elliott has a Bachelor of Music degree in Commercial Music from Belmont University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Music. Friday, June 10, Lunch MISSISSIPPI MILLIE MCLAINE A child born with a veil over her face indicating a sixth sense, delivered by her midwife grandmother into a family of six children, Mississippi Millie remembers not just the hymns she heard the choir sing in the Baptist church where her mother played piano, but also the ‘Devil’s Music’ she heard performed in the Delta. When she was twelve, Millie found herself standing before Philadelphia audiences, belting out tunes made popular by such Blues greats as Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday. During the ’60s, Millie traveled to New York City with her sister. There she was offered the opportunity to tour Europe with the Catherine Dunham troupe as a “pivot girl.” Millie’s career gained momentum in the ‘70s when she was invited to sub for Roberta Hightower, lead singer for the Orlons. Eventually, Mille became their permanent lead, but at the end of five years she moved to Nashville, TN for a songwriting deal. Millie then moved to Los Angeles where she quickly built a solid fanbase. During this rich ‘80s musical period, Millie also traveled from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona, to headline the Women in Blues Week with KoKo Taylor and Sue Foley. All the while, this deep-down Blues singer remained true to her Delta roots, earning for herself the nickname, ‘Mississippi Millie.’ After 15 fruitful years in California, Millie moved back to Nashville and the impetus Millie needed to finally dig into a solo recording. Titled “Mississippi Millie, Acoustic Delta Blues,” the CD showcases an artist who is able to infuse the original sounds of the Mississippi Delta with her own brand of originality and style, while remaining true to the heart and soul of Blues music. While Mississippi Millie continues to record her original songs, she is also continually fine-tuning her onewoman show, “Mother Blues.” COLLECTIVE IMPACT 33
CONFERENCE PRESENTERS Elyse Adler has an undergraduate degree in Music from Syracuse University, and a Masters in Information Science from Vanderbilt University. She has been working for Nashville Public Library since 1985. Over her career at NPL, she has worked in a variety of roles—from Music and Film Deptartment Manager, to Collection Development Manager, to Branch Administrator—and currently serves as Associate Director for Community Engagement. Her job offers an opportunity to be creative in diverse areas, including developing pre-school literacy initiatives, creating teen engagement programs, overseeing the performing artists/puppeteers and developing community partnerships in every area of the city. Ekundayo Bandele is from Brooklyn, NY. He’s the author of six plays that include Judas Hands, If Scrooge was a Brother and an unpublished novel, Tales Go Round. In 2006, he founded and opened Hattiloo Theatre (named for his two daughters). He has directed several plays, including August Wilson’s Fences, The Bluest Eye (based on Toni Morrison’s novel), and Katori Hall’s Hurt Village. Some acting credits include King in King Hedley II, and Booth in Topdog/Underdog. As CEO from 2011-2013, he spearheaded a $4.3M capital campaign that resulted in the newly constructed Hattiloo Theatre in Overton Square that opened, debt-free, in June 2014. In 2015, Bandele led a second capital campaign that raised $750,000 for the construction of the Hattiloo Theatre Development Center scheduled to open in December 2016. Bandele serves on the boards of the Overton Park Conservancy and the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau. He has received awards from the Memphis Urban League, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, a Congressional Certificate of Honor, and many others. Memphis Business Quarterly has named him a Power Player every year since 2011. Anna Baker-VanCura received her dance training from national icons such as: Joseph Schwartz at Dayton City Ballet; Robert Joffrey at School of American Ballet; and Frederick Franklin at National Ballet of Washington, D.C. As a performing artist for 26 years, she was privileged to work with such American dance legends as George Balanchine, Margot Fonteyn, David Howard, Melissa Hayden, Anna Marie Holmes, Maggie Black and others. She performed with National Ballet of Washington, D.C., Ruth Page International Ballet, American Ballet Theater and as a free-lance artist throughout the Midwest and Southeast. Baker-VanCura continued her dance development by attending the following: Russian Teacher Seminar in Tblisi, Georgia and Moscow, International Ballet Conference in Vail, CO and the National Dance Conference of Dance/USA in Chautauqua, NY. She worked as an artist with WolfTrap Institute and the Headstart Program in Chattanooga, TN, as well as a guest instructor for Dance Masters in Nashville, TN. Along with her husband, she received the Margaret Martin Award from Tennessee Association of Dance in recognition of Outstanding Service to Dance in Tennessee. Baker-VanCura is the Executive/Artistic Director of Ballet Tennessee which she founded jointly with late husband Barry VanCura in 1987. Sarah Bandy received a B.A. in Art History from the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC in 2008 and then went on to found Girls Rock Charleston before moving to Nashville, TN in 2013. She started at YEAH! as Program Director in 2013 and has served as Executive Director since late 2015. She’s been organizing and volunteering at Girls Rock Camps around the country for the past seven years. Bandy is passionate about arming all youth with the tools to make the media that represents their experience. She believes that it’s important to educate teenagers about their power to eradicate systemic oppression through creative, collaborative expression. Leslie Barker is the Director of Outreach and Education at Theatre Memphis. She received her B.A. from William Carey University and her M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Memphis. Through her job at Theatre Memphis, she has the privilege of working with incredible young artists all over Memphis, particularly in the Orange Mound community with the performance group, SPEAK. Barker has collaborated with many wonderful Memphis arts and community organizations, including the Grizzlies Team Up Mentoring Program, RedZone Ministries, Voices of the South, the Caritas Village, Chatterbox Audio Theater, Rhodes College and Blues City Cultural Center. Rebecca Berrios is the Director of Community Engagement for the Metro Nashville Arts Commission (Metro Arts). With over 18 years of experience as an arts administrator, she has specialized in marketing, community relations and program management in the non-profit, higher education and government sectors. Berrios leads various initiatives to expand equity and support the arts in Nashville, including Metro Arts’ $1.9 million grants program; THRIVE, a neighborhood focused funding program that encourages professional development and community participation in the arts; Artober Nashville, a citywide celebration of arts and culture; and the Racial Equity and Arts Leadership (REAL) program. 34 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Molly Blankenship is Co-founder of Reclaim Ourselves, a nonprofit community organization in Murfreesboro, Tennessee that is dedicated to utilizing art as a mechanism for advancing social change. She is currently a senior at Middle Tennessee State University, where she is pursuing a B.S. in Liberal Studies with concentrations in Political Science and Social Work/Advocacy. Blankenship also serves as President of The Lavinia Project, a creative writing program for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. She is passionate about the power of the arts to connect people, foster compassion and thus provide a foundation from which real change can be achieved. Frank Bluestein is the 1996-1997 Disney National Performing Arts Teacher of the Year and the 1994 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. In October of 1998, USA Today named Bluestein as one of the top 40 teachers in the United States. He served for 37 years as Germantown High School Fine Arts Department chair and as executive producer for Germantown Community Television, a $3 million educational television facility located within the school. Bluestein currently serves as managing director of the Tennessee Arts Academy, a nationally recognized statewide teacher training institute. In September of 2013, he was inducted into the Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame in Minneapolis. Nicole Brandt is the Founder and Executive Director of Poverty and the Arts. She is an entrepreneur, animal-lover and social artist. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Belmont University in May 2014. She started the programs of Poverty and the Arts in fall of 2011 through an on-campus job at Belmont University. As a Junior in the spring 2013, she began the process to file for 501(c)3 status. Her senior year of college, Nicole interned at the Arts and Business Council and under the art therapist at Room in the Inn. Nicole has been working with the homeless since 2009. Holly Briggs has spent 12 years teaching Art in the classroom, with the past 10 years as the Visual Arts teacher at Mooreland Heights Elementary School, in Knoxville, Tennessee. In her philosophy of teaching, Ms. Briggs emphasizes and highlights the importance of an integrated curriculum, combining art and the core curricular subjects. Connecting art to the world around us fosters a love of art in young learners and enables children to grow in creativity and critical thinking. In her own artwork, Ms. Briggs focuses on the dream-like boundaries between reality and the ephemeral. Landscapes, galaxies, flora and fauna appear in her artwork, reimagined and expanded to include new perceptions of the familiar. During the 2007-2008 school year, the Tennessee Arts Commission presented Ms. Briggs with the Master Teacher Award through the Value Plus Program. In 2010, Ms. Briggs was recognized by the Knoxville News Sentinel Reader’s Poll as East Tennessee’s Best Artist. Ms. Briggs was featured in a 2013 Metro Pulse article as “People You Should Know, Holly Briggs: Knoxville’s Artistic Educator.” Allison Brazzel is an international artist and educator. She has performed her unique blend of blues, pop and folk music in North, Central and South America, as well as Asia, and she has been deeply influenced by the all of these places. She believes that the arts have the power to tear down walls and build bridges, and she fuses her spiritual foundation of hope into energetic and inspiring performances. She is currently teaching Spanish and Dance in Nashville, TN, as well as performing her show called, “The Voice of America: Life Stories Told Through The Power of Music.” Matthew Brown, Ph.D. is a writer, activist, editor and educator whose work has been published by literary presses and journals across the United States. He has been a featured lecturer and performs readings in community arts forums and at academic conferences regularly. In 2009, he founded Writer Corps, a community literacy project that helps veterans develop their stories of service and share them with peers and the public at large. Each spring, Writer Corps produces a literary journal, DMZ, which is circulated widely in veterans groups, libraries and universities. Chapters of Writer Corps and related community literacy programs based on its original model are operating throughout America, as well as in the Middle East. He currently teaches writing and literature at Middle Tennessee State University. Heather Casteel is the Visual Arts Specialist and Portfolio Coordinator for Knox County Schools, and she is the Division Lead for the revision of the Tennessee Visual Arts and Media Arts standards. She has been an art educator since obtaining her Masters of Science from the University of Tennessee in 2005. Casteel also has a BFA and is a practicing, exhibiting artist. Casteel is hoping to complete her PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UT this Fall. Cherri Coleman is a freelance curriculum writer and teacher of dance, theatre, storytelling and heritage arts. Graduates of her student-led performing arts programs have gone on to Broadway, international tours, careers in stagecraft and graphic arts, video, music and film. A native Tennessean, Cherri also keeps alive local traditions of storytelling, white oak and cane basketry, training the next generation of heritage art enthusiasts. Her current endeavor Celebrating Our COLLECTIVE IMPACT 35
Roots© partners with the National Storytelling Network and local historic sites to train high school and middle school students in leadership, community building and historic preservation. Stephen Coleman is the president of the Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation. His career as an arts educator spanned four decades at both the secondary and university level. Most recently he was Associate Professor of Music at Cumberland University, and prior to that directed the instrumental music program in the Tullahoma school system. Coleman has served as president of many arts education associations, including the Tennessee Music Education Association and the Tennessee Bandmasters Association. He has presented sessions on arts education at state and national conferences and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for both TMEA and the Tennessee Bandmasters Association. Nancy Cooley returned to school after nearly thirty years as an accomplished fine artist, freelance illustrator and clothing designer for country stars. While completing her B.F.A. at Middle Tennessee State University, she was introduced to book arts and letterpress printing. Since earning her degree in 2003, they have been her primary focus and have led to inclusion of her artist’s books in national exhibits, to her becoming a master printer in Tennessee Craft’s 2014 Master/Apprenticeship program and inclusion in the Frist’s Anthology show 2015/2016. Her newest books forms, Kinetic Text and Sculpted Haiku, explore the mechanics of movement. Julie Dahlhauser is the librarian at Haywood High School in Brownsville, TN. She is also a fiber artist who knits, spins and dyes. A member of the Jackson Knitting Underground, she tries to persuade her friends that their garments will fit better if they will just do the math. She has participated in two yarnbombing installations in Memphis. She and her daughter have a booth of knitted hats at the Cooper-Young Festival, “Much Ado About Knitting.” She is on the Volunteer State Book Award Committee, is president of her local public library board and sings with the Memphis Masterworks Chorale. Nick DeFord is an artist, educator, and arts administrator who resides in Knoxville, TN. He received his M.F.A. from Arizona State University, and a M.S. and B.F.A. from the University of Tennessee. He exhibits nationally, with recent exhibitions at the University of Mississippi, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Lindenwood University and Coastal Carolina University. He has had artwork or writing published in Surface Design Journal, Elephant Magazine, Hayden Ferry Review and Willow Springs. Alice Faye Duncan is a Memphis librarian who writes books for young readers. Her picture books include Miss Viola and Uncle Ed Lee, Christmas Soup and Honey Baby Sugar Child. In 2018, Boyd Mills Press will publish her new book, Memphis, Martin and the Mountaintop. It is a history of the 1968 Sanitation Strike. Olive Durant received her B.A. degree in Studio Art/ Education from Converse College for Women in Spartanburg, South Carolina and her M.A. degree in Studio Art/ Education from New York University in New York City. She received special training in magnet school curriculum and instruction as a full-time art educator and instructor in the Hamilton County School system in Chattanooga, TN. As “Roster Teaching Artist” with the Tennessee Arts Commission she works as a potter, print-maker and educator. As a volunteer potter, she coordinates “Empty Bowl” events in the Chattanooga area and works with her Southeast Chapter of Tennessee Craft in setting up exhibitions and demonstrations. Bailey Earith is a mixed media fiber artist and teaching artist in Knoxville, TN. She offers artistin-residencies to K-12 students through the STS grant. Using her Occupational Therapy skills, she specializes in teaching academics through art to children with disabilities. She has art work in collections around the world. She has been published extensively in magazines and books for her innovative work in the studio and as an artist-in-residence. She is proud to be a VSA and TN Arts Commission artist roster member and is associated with the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance. Carly Egan is the music teacher at Mooreland Heights Elementary School in Knoxville, TN. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from Carson-Newman College, master’s in music education from The University of Tennessee, and is currently finishing an EdS in curriculum and instruction from Lincoln Memorial University. Ms. Egan has performed in numerous musicals, and has directed three large-scale musicals while at MHES, Disney’s The Jungle Book, The Aristocats!, and Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka. Her students are a constant source of inspiration to the next, latest and greatest arts integrated lesson. Outside of teaching, Ms. Egan is passionate about playing piano, performing, health/ nutrition/cooking and most importantly, spending time with her husband and two sons. Donald Fann currently serves as the Director of Theater at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna, TN. He previously served as Executive Director of The Arts Center of Cannon County for 19 years. During his tenure, the organization grew from a local community theatre into an award-winning 36 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
regional rural Arts Center serving a worldwide audience of over 150,000 through its facility, web sites, publications and recording projects. In 2002, he founded Spring Fed Records, an independent non-profit record label that used field recordings and reissues to build a catalog of over 40 titles. Fann also worked to support both traditional and contemporary craft communities, and coordinated the creation of the Crafts Directory featuring over 150 local artists, as well as the Southern Visions Gallery, a retail crafts outlet located at The Arts Center. Clare Fernandez joined Poverty and the Arts as a volunteer in May 2014. She contributed her skills to event facilitation; writing and editing; board and volunteer recruitment; and marketing and social media efforts. She now serves on the board of directors, focusing on grant writing and education outreach. Clare is an avid arts and arts integrated education advocate. A graduate of Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Spanish and Theatre, Clare is a Data Analyst at Digital Reasoning. She enjoys reading, laughing, belting show tunes off-key, acting and is a founding member of a team that is creating a democratic school in Nashville. Britiney Fife is an elementary school teacher at Mooreland Heights Elementary School in Knoxville, Tennessee. She has been teaching for twelve years, and has helped organize and direct three musicals with the music teacher, Carly Egan. Britiney enjoys seeing the kids come to life on stage through creating dramatic characters and building confidence as the rehearsals progress. When not teaching, Britiney enjoys spending time with her husband and their three year-old son, Asher. Brad Foust is the Instructional Facilitator at Bartlett Elementary School in Bartlett, Tennessee, and he is an online instructor of music at Southern New Hampshire University. He holds degrees in music education and educational administration, and he is a degree candidate in the Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education program at Boston University. Mr. Foust has worked as a teacher and administrator for 20 years, and from 2009-2013, was the Project Director for the Shelby County Schools Arts Infusion Project, a U.S. Department of Education grant program. Mr. Foust resides in Olive Branch, Mississippi with his wife and two children. Deborah Frazier is co-founder and Project Director of Blues City Cultural Center (BCCC), a 37 yearold arts organization which has as its mission: ARTS FOR A BETTER WAY OF LIFE. Deborah has been instrumental in developing programs for BCCC that address social issues using the arts. These programs include: Peace in the House, a violence prevention program for youth, Sew Much Love, an entrepreneurial program for homeless women, and This Is Orange Mound, a creative place-making project designed to connect elders and youth in Orange Mound. Amanda Galbraith has enjoyed teaching elementary art for 15 years. She has also worked with secondary art programs during her time as the lead teacher for the district and has served as an adjunct instructor for the graduate program at Memphis College of Art. Galbraith serves as the director of the Arts Leadership, Administration and Assessment track at the Tennessee Arts Academy, is a member of the Tennessee Art Education Association and the TN Portfolio Steering Committee, has juried regional art shows, is the secretary of the Bartlett Arts Council, and has presented professional development sessions at local, state and national conferences. Libby Dawson Galster has taught 5th grade and 1st grade at Mooreland Heights Elementary in Knoxville, TN over the past eight years. Previously, she worked in marketing research and then earned a Masters of Education from the University of Tennessee. Her strong interest in arts integration lead her to teach at Mooreland Heights, a Value Plus School. She is a LEAD Teacher and has served as an Arts360 mentor to other elementary schools in Knox County. Libby was certified as an Arts Integration Specialist in 2011. She continues to grow as an art integration teacher, and strives to continue to find new ways to bring creativity and incorporate technology into the classroom using the arts. Carolyn German has been a creative professional for over 35 years, working as a producer, director, playwright, songwriter, performer, guest speaker and teaching artist. Her award-winning performance credits span from edgy Off-Broadway to over 25 projects with Tennessee Repertory Theater, and include Musical Theatre, Shakespeare, Improv comedy, cabaret performances and more. As a writer, Carolyn’s The Story-Builders, which she also directed and produced, was named Best Production 2003, by The Tennessean, and her commissioned play Burden of Justice:1863 was booked to tour area schools in both 2013 and 2014 through Tennessee Performing Arts Center Education. She is currently the Producing Artistic Director of Theater Craft, where she produces everything from shoe-string-budget readings to large-scale productions, facilitates numerous training and engagement opportunities and partners on special projects with industry-leaders like Tennessee Performing Arts Center and Quebec’s Le Teatre Tout a Trac. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 37
Emily Green-Cain is the Curriculum Coordinator for Bringing Books to Life, an early literacy program at the Nashville Public Library. She researches and develops literature-based, interdisciplinary curriculum for the library’s unique puppet shows; and delivers teacher trainings, story times, family literacy celebrations and family workshops. She brings 36 years of classroom experience as a teaching artist in public schools, preschools and a wide variety of community-based organizations. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from Virginia Polytechnic University, and an undergraduate degree in Theatre and Communications from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Ryan Gothrup has been producing one of a kind glass objects for eighteen years. Gothrup received his B.F.A. from Kent State University and received his M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University. He exhibits and sells his glass across the country. Gothrup Glass exemplifies a combination of Italian, Swedish, and German techniques with an American twist. Annamaria Gundlach is a professional artist and teaching artist who loves creating art and sharing her passion of art! She is an outreach artist with the Knoxville Museum of Art, the sculpture instructor at the Knoxville Fine Arts and Crafts Center and has received numerous grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission. Annamaria believes everyone is creative. She develops engaging hands-on activities for learners of all ages and skill levels. Her art activities are also multi-sensory and designed to develop mastery of the medium while encouraging confidence, creativity and selfexpression. She believes art helps students gain a deeper understanding of the physical world as all their senses are engaged when creating art. Thousands of students have experienced the joy of creating and learning with her. Annamaria lectures, gives workshops and exhibits her sculptures. Dee Kimbrell has been a member of the Tennessee Art Commission’s Artist Roster since 2004. A story teller, visual artist and workshop facilitator for over 30 years, Dee uses recycled materials to bring the joy of play into the learning process. Dee is also a certified Processology Practitioner, which means she specializes in the process of thoughts and feelings, learning strategies and the fine points of learning in all age categories. Dee is the founder of Creative Genius In YOU, an educational consulting and professional development company for those who desire to bring more collaboration, creativity and play into the learning process. Dana Harrell is in her 15th year of teaching chorus. She is currently the chorus teacher at West Jackson Middle School in Jefferson, GA. She also teaches private piano, voice and guitar. Dana has four children and three perfect grandchildren. Her undergraduate degree is in Music Education and Music Therapy from Ohio University. She also holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, Arts Integration, from Lesley University. Dana presented at the Create conference in 2014, teaches arts integration classes in her school system and spends the month of July teaching music theatre at the Boston Children’s Theatre. Jennifer Harris is Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the Andrew Jackson Foundation. She graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Anthropology and has spent her entire 25 year career working in Development for various non-profit organizations. She enjoys spending time with her family, being active and considers the ocean her sanctuary. Harris lives in Nashville. Jennifer Henderson is the K–8 Music Methods instructor at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, as well as a teacher of private piano and freshman class piano. She teaches piano and early childhood music classes for the Searcy Community School of Music. Henderson is an early childhood music specialist, with training from several recognized methodologies including Orff, Kodaly, Music Learning Theory (GIML.org), Kindermusik and Musikgarten. Currently working towards a doctorate in music education at the University of Memphis, Henderson is studying the historical and practical implications of “sound before sight before theory.” Allison Isom is a elementary drama teacher at Bradley Academy in Murfreesboro, TN and has been the director of the Musical Theatre program at Bradley since 2008. She has extensively studied the art of theatre since 1996. Through her studies at Brigham Young University, and extended education at Hamline and University of Minnesota, she has gained the knowledge and experience of teaching all grade levels not only a great product but the process behind it. She has directed 14 musicals with 3rd-6th grade students in an after-school theatre program. Isom introduced student’s work into the community, including Habitat for Humanity, Middle Tennessee State University, and the Tennessee Arts Commission. Isom was the “Teacher of the Year” and has been recognized by the Tennessee Arts Commission for having a “High Quality Theatre Program” during and after school. She has won the prestigious Music Theatre Internationals, Freddie Gershon Teacher in Excellence Award, an award given to only 6 teachers a year. 38 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Spencer Johnston is a 26-year old Murfreesboro native and has been a leading member of Writer Corps for four years. Several of his poems have appeared in the annual publication of Writer Corps titled DMZ. He is a Sergeant currently serving in his 9th year with the Tennessee Army National Guard stationed out of Dickson, Tennessee. He served overseas in Iraq in 2010 and 2011. Spencer is married, and he and his wife are expecting their first child, a baby boy in September. Janel Long is currently teaching K-5 elementary general music in Memphis, TN and previously taught PK-6 elementary general music in Helena-West Helena, AR. She has completed training in the Music Learning Theory for both Elementary General Music and Instrumental Music and also training in OrffSchulwerk. Long is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of Memphis. Ms. Long’s research interests include emergent music literacy, assessment design and teacher preparation. Kofi Mawuko, a native of Ghana, West Africa, began learning traditional rhythms on Ga, Ashanti and Ewe drums at the age of 10. He possesses a natural talent for singing, dancing and playing various musical instruments. Mawuko, as he prefers to be called, has traveled extensively throughout the world as lead dancer and master drummer with the Kyirem Cultural Troupe, a Ghanaian-based performing company that toured internationally in the ‘70s and ‘80s. In late 1980, he settled in London where he taught music and dance at local schools, composed songs and wrote plays for local theater groups. His musical compositions were selected for production in the Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival and the first African Emancipation Day celebration held in Accra, Ghana. Mawuko’s works have been publicized in numerous television and movie productions in Accra, Ghana and London, England. Peggy Mathews is owner of Mathews Consulting, an organization management and fund development consulting practice. Peggy has over 40 years of experience working with communitybased nonprofit organizations across the U.S., but primarily in rural communities of Appalachia and the Southeast. Over those years she worked as a marketer for a rural craft cooperative in east Kentucky, a community organizer and grassroots fundraiser for a coalfield citizens organization in east Tennessee, and was the founding executive director for Community Shares a statewide organization that raises money for Tennessee nonprofits through payroll deduction campaigns. For the past 19 years, Peggy has been an independent consultant and trainer for nonprofit organizations. Peggy was a founding board member of the Campbell Culture Coalition and served as its first vicepresident. For the past 10 years, Peggy has served as co-chair of the Culture Coalition’s Louie Bluie Music and Arts Festival and is the festival’s chief fundraiser. Bill May is an educator, designer, craftsman, writer and the executive director of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. He is a graduate of Tulane University. In 1992, May established May Studios which designed, fabricated and installed custom art glass for architectural settings throughout the country. Today, in addition to his role at Arrowmont, May serves as a juror for exhibitions and lectures on art education and the creative process. In 2014 he led an $8 million fundraising effort to purchase Arrowmont’s historic campus and was recognized by Governor Bill Haslam with the 2015 Governor’s Award for Arts Leadership. James McKissic is the Director of the City of Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs. His role for the City includes linking diverse businesses to City Government contracting opportunities, improving the City’s supplier diversity efforts, and working to promote inclusion and diversity among the employees and citizenry of Chattanooga. Since being appointed by Mayor Berke two years ago, McKissic has established the City’s Internship Program; set up a project to provide Citizenship assistance, free ESOL and GED classes to Chattanooga’s immigrant population; and managed a local hiring initiative for the demolition of the Harriet Tubman housing Development. He is a native of Cleveland, TN and has worked in the nonprofit and public sectors for more than 20 years. James holds a Bachelor of Science in secondary education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Master of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner School at New York University and an executive certificate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Sarah McCormick received her B.A. in World Arts and Culture from UCLA and her M.F.A. from SUNY Brockport. She is Associate Professor of Dance Education in the Department of Visual and Theatre Arts at the University of Tennessee at Martin (2008-present). She is a proud member of TAD, NDEO, and TAHPERD. McCormick and her dance education students have taught and performed at various West Tennessee schools. Her dance works have been seen at various Universities, Festivals, and Conferences. She has presented dance workshops in Martin and Memphis, as well as her research at NDEO, CORD, National Women’s Studies Organization, Dyersburg Book Festival, and TAHPERD. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 39
Alysa Medina works with Catholic Charities of East TN in the Office of Immigrant Services in Chattanooga as a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) Accredited Representative. She is a founding member of Crossville Para una Accion Solidaria (CPAS), a local committee of TIRRC, whose purpose is to educate, advocate, create a space for dialogue about the benefits of diversity in our community and uplift the voices of immigrant leaders in the Cumberland County area. Medina graduated summa cum laude from Middle TN State University with a Bachelor of Music with a concentration in Vocal Performance and studied on a Fulbright scholarship in the year 2000-2001, investigating the influence of the Moors on the Medieval music of Spain. Luis Medina serves as the production coordinator of the Cumberland Hispanic Festival. Luis is a founding member of Crossville Para una Accion Solidaria (CPAS) and an advocate in the immigrant community. He has represented the Cumberland County immigrant community in various statewide initiatives at the state capital and in Washington, D.C. to advocate for immigration reform. He is originally from Jalpa, Zacatecas, Mexico, but emigrated to the United States in 1992. He also volunteers with community groups such as the Obed Watershed, Knights of Columbus, St. Alphonsus Catholic Church and the Cumberland County Playhouse. He has been involved with the production and technical aspects of the festival since its inception in 2012. When not volunteering in the community, Luis is a self-employed stone mason (and general handyman) whose work includes foundations, patios, mailboxes and other creative projects such as indoor or outdoor fireplaces, outdoor grills and firepits. Lakesha Moore is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at Tennessee State University. She earned her M.F.A. with a focus on painting from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a B.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. She has completed graduate work for education at Lipscomb University and the University of the Virgin Islands. Her commitment to her faith and pursuit of culture study has given her many opportunities to study and travel abroad. Besides painting, her artistic practice is a melding of music, writing and community work. The theme that is central to her paintings is the potential for connection when personal histories are shared and embraced. This is fueled by a strong interest in the role that collective and personal memory have on one’s identity and psyche. Laurie Melnik is the Executive Director of the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where she cultivates partnerships to strengthen arts teaching and learning across diverse populations and interdisciplinary contexts. She has an M.F.A in Theatre for Young Audiences from the University of Central Florida, an M.P.A. in Nonprofit Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and is a 2013 Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute alum. She was one of sixteen nominees for the 2016 UT President’s Award, a top honor that recognizes excellence in the categories of educate, discover and connect. Beth Anne Musiker is a lead teaching artist for TPAC Education, bringing aesthetic education to students and providing professional development in arts integration to educators throughout middle Tennessee. Her work with TPAC Ed inspired her to create StageSmart Teaching Artists. StageSmart is a member of The Broadway League and provides and delivers experiential engagement to touring Broadway shows. Currently, she is preparing a Program of Creative Adventures for the upcoming national tour of Finding Neverland. Beth Anne serves as a director, music director and more for a variety of theatre productions. She earned her theatre degree from Northwestern and began her career as a working actor and singer in New York City. She made her Nashville debut while touring the country in Roger Miller’s Big River, appearing with Mr. Miller, himself. She recently released her first single, a cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, to Country Radio. Dr. Shawn Pitts is the founder of Arts in McNairy and a passionate community arts advocate. He serves on the board of directors of Humanities Tennessee and in the Peer Advisor Network for Tennessee Arts Commission. Pitts has been active documenting, writing and speaking about the cultural heritage of his native West Tennessee for almost twenty years. He is the current president of the Tennessee Folklore Society and leading voice for the preservation of Tennessee’s traditional culture. Isormari Pozo was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. At age five, her family moved to New Jersey. From then on she participated in both ESL and bilingual programs at school. These childhood experiences in school inspired her to become an ESL/Bilingual educator. She received a degree from the Interamerican University in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In May of 2011, she earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration/Supervision from Texas A&M University and has an administrative license in Texas. In Texas, Pozo worked at an International Baccalaureate Elementary School where she learned the value and effectiveness of integrated teaching and learning. As a second language
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learner, she fully understands the impact the arts have on language acquisition. She is committed to full arts integration that not only enables language acquisition but also infuses confidence, critical thinking and an understanding of the world around them. She has been teaching bilingual students for 15 years. Currently, Pozo is an ESL teacher at Bradley Academy where she helps the Theater Arts teacher with the schools musicals. When not busy at school, Pozo enjoys reading, painting, playing the violin, gardening and above all spending time with her family. Jairo Prado, a native of Colombia, South America, has lived and worked as a visual artist in Nashville for 32 years, creating commissioned works and exhibiting nationally and internationally. His architectural mosaic Migration, featured on the façade of the Casa Azafrán Community Center, was selected for the 2014 Mosaic Arts International Exhibition hosted by the Society of American Mosaic Artists, and recently named a “Best of the Southeast” travel destination by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Prado has also been an educator to the community, frequently collaborating with universities, community organizations and arts institutes, including Watkins College of Art, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and Conexión Américas. His work with the community focuses on celebrating the history, culture and creative expression of those who inhabit the city. Susan Prado is a native Nashvillian and practicing visual artist, writer, and designer. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design from MTSU in 2001, she practiced in the design profession for several years before shifting into the role of full-time visual artist, community instructor and project design coordinator. She has collaborated with partner, Jairo Prado, for the past 12 years, assisting his creative practice, establishing Prado Studio and coordinating multiple significant community outreach projects under his leadership, such as Migration, a 30’ x 12’ mosaic mural for the Casa Azafrán Community Center. Her personal and community-based work explores creative, cultural and spiritual identity, as well as visionary empowerment. Writing is another creative medium that allows her an outlet for expression. She takes great pleasure in the poetic craft of songwriting, in addition to writing about the value of creativity and the arts as a catalyst for personal and community transformation. Dr. Cynthia J. Sadler, an anthropologist and historian, collaborates with non-profit and communitybased organizations in utilizing human-centered, asset-based approaches that can lead to sustained value and growth. She believes organizations can transform the way they view themselves and how they are viewed by others through implementing innovative approaches that are informed by their constituencies. Dr. Sadler is well-versed in program design, project management and evaluation design. She also has extensive experience in proposal, grant and report writing. Her research generally focuses on the New South with an emphasis on the Mid-South and Mississippi Delta. Within that framework, she uses interdisciplinary approaches to examine the impact of race, class, gender and economics on cultural and geographical landscapes and public spaces. In addition to her work with numerous organizations, she also serves as Chief Engagement Consultant for the Memphis Heritage Trail project. Sarah Sampson has lived in Nashville for eight years and serves as the Director of Communications for the Tennessee Disability Coalition. The Coalition is a statewide non-profit organization that works to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. Sarah is also currently enrolled at Vanderbilt University, earning her Masters in Business Administration through the Owen School of Management. Elizabeth Sanford is a watercolor painter who was seduced by the book arts and now creates watercolor sculptures. Her work is in many collections including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, John Hopkins University and Ringling College of Art and Design. She has been teaching art for more than twenty years and holds an M.F.A. in painting and drawing from East Carolina University. Her most recent project is a 6-foot cube for the Modular Art Pods Event at OZ Nashville, June 21-25. Brandi Self earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from Maryville College and her EA&S in Educational Administration from Lincoln Memorial University. She was an intermediate teacher with Knox County Schools for 12 years, earning several teaching excellence awards. During that time she also served as Value Plus Leader at Mooreland Heights Elementary and helped lead the arts integration program. Self became the Arts360 District Coordinator for the Knox County Schools district arts integration model. She has been involved in curriculum planning on the school, district and state level. She has also conducted several staff developments on curriculum development, effective teaching practices, common core, technology and arts integration. Self is currently the Principal at Mooreland Heights Elementary and continues to oversee the arts integration initiatives, Arts360 and Value Plus, for Knox County Schools. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 41
Gary Sexton is a Social Studies teacher and the Director of the student-built and student–operated three-acre Museum of Scott County located on the campus of Scott County High School in Huntsville, Tennessee. He earned his Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Kentucky and his Masters of Education from Xavier University. Originally from Norwood, Ohio, Sexton has been teaching for 30 years, with the last at Scott High School. He also enjoys hunting, fishing, reading, writing poetry, teaching a high school/college class at his church, and spending time with his wife of thirty two years and five children on their family farm. Laurie Schell is the director of Music Makes Us, the public/private music education initiative in Metro Nashville Public Schools, jointly supported by the Mayor’s office, music industry leaders and the school district. Previously, Ms. Schell was the executive director of the California Alliance for Arts Education, a statewide arts education policy and advocacy organization. Schell holds a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. in Liberal Studies/Dance from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and pursued further studies at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Linda Steele is an Amherst College Wade Fellow and a 2016 recipient of an Artworks grant from The National Endowment for the Arts for The Fellows Program at ArtsMemphis. She oversees all social change grantmaking and capacity-building initiatives at the organization. Steele launched the Fellows program to build the capacity of Memphis arts groups, artists, and community-based nonprofits in the emerging field of arts-based social change and has presented across the country on her work. Steele came to Memphis from New York City where she was a Fellow with the Arts Leadership Institute at Columbia University. Her professional experience includes work at Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education, The Art Institute of Chicago and Cool Culture, Inc. Steele’s career has focused on building diverse and inclusive audiences for theaters, museums and performing arts venues. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard University. Prior to ArtsMemphis, Steele worked as an arts consultant based in New York City where she helped to open the first arts-based private pre-school in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She began her career in the arts at Playhouse Square Center and Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. She also has a background in youth development and K-12 education. Erin Elizabeth Smith is the Creative Director at the Sundress Academy for the Arts and holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Mississippi. She teaches writing for social media and digital rhetoric in the English Department at the University of Tennessee. She also serves as the managing editor of Sundress Publications and The Wardrobe. Kiran Singh Sirah is President of the International Storytelling Center (ISC), an educational and cultural institution dedicated to enriching the lives of people around the world through storytelling. ISC organizes the world’s premiere storytelling event, the National Storytelling Festival, and supports applied storytelling initiatives across a wide variety of industries. Prior to his appointment at ISC, Sirah developed a number of award-winning peace-building programs in cultural centers across the UK. As an artist, folklorist, teacher and advocate for social justice, he has used the power of human creativity to establish dialogue. An advisory member to UNESCO and a Rotary Peace fellow, he has developed educational programs and publications, articles, talks and conference papers about interdisciplinary approaches to relationship building in communities and around the globe. Celine Thackston is the Grants and Research Manager for the Nashville Symphony. Previously, she worked as a freelance grant writer and consultant, providing support to a portfolio of arts, education and human services organizations in Nashville, Los Angeles and New York. She has also served as Grants Manager for Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. Celine holds a D.M.A. in Music Performance from the University of Oregon, with supporting studies in Arts Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management. She resides in Nashville, where she is Founder/ Artistic Director of chatterbird, an alt-classical chamber music ensemble. Niq Tognoni joined Studio NPL and Nashville public library after working for the innovative Digital Youth Network and the Chicago Public Library’s YOUmedia learning lab for several years. Niq oversees all elements of the Studio NPL program including the recruitment, hiring and training of Studio mentors and teaching artists. Through his independent studies and research and his work with the Studio NPL team, he strives to bring new media literacy and relevancy to young people nation wide. Dr. Jennifer Vannatta-Hall is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Middle Tennessee State University, a position she has held since August 2010. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 1998. She taught pre-K through eighth grade general music and directed choirs in Rutherford County for two years. She then served as middle 42 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
school general music teacher for the next three years in Franklin Special School District, where she conducted choirs and led the musical theatre program for fifth through eighth graders. She also served as associate director of the Tennessee Choral Academy, conducting five choirs ranging in age from eight to eighteen. After teaching in the public schools for five years, Vannatta-Hall returned to MTSU and graduated with a Master of Arts in Music Education in 2004. She was hired as fulltime faculty for the MTSU School of Music for the 2004-2005 school year, where she taught music methods courses and conducted the MTSU Women’s Chorale. She then completed her doctoral coursework in music education at the University of Illinois and graduated with a Doctor of Education degree in August 2010. Vannatta-Hall is certified through the master level of the Orff-Schulwerk approach to music education as well as the Smithsonian Institute’s World Music Pedagogy. Rodney Van Valkenburg joined ArtsBuild in May 2001, after serving for more than 18 years with the Chattanooga Theatre Centre as Director of Programs and as Director of Education. Rodney holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Child Drama from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 1992, he was named Youth Theatre Director of the Year by the American Alliance for Theatre in Education and received the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Tennessee Theatre Association. Caroline Vincent is the Director of Public Art for the Metro Nashville Arts Commission (Metro Arts) in Nashville, Tennessee. In this role she leads the city’s public art program, supervises multiple monumental and neighborhood-based public art projects and administers the Percent for Art Fund. Tracking alongside Nashville’s growth, the public art collection has grown exponentially and uniquely reflects the city’s diverse neighborhoods and culture. Recently, she was elected to serve on the national Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Advisory Council. Deborah Walker is a dance teacher at Covington Integrated Arts Academy (CIAA) in Tipton County. She specializes in integrating dance with the core subjects such as language arts and math. From 2013-2016, CIAA has competed and won; and performed at the Memphis Grizzlies games. Ms. Walker is also a teaching artist for the Tennessee Arts Commission, and a certified dance instructor with a Master of Education, and Ed.S in Leadership. In 2011, She created Dine’ (Dancers Integrating New Energy). In 2015, Ms. Walker choreographed routines for the Daisy Theater on Beale Street and the Canon Center in Memphis. Kory Wells is a poet, writer and teaching artist whose first career was in software development. After gaining national recognition for her niche blogging and social media outreach, Wells now shares technology strategies with arts and advocacy communities. Author of the poetry collection Heaven Was the Moon (March Street Press), she performs her poetry with old-time musician Kelsey Wells, her daughter and collaborator on the album Decent Pan of Cornbread. The native Tennessean is a twotime Rash Award for Poetry finalist whose work appears in numerous journals and anthologies. She also mentors students in the low-residency program MTSU Write. Abby Whisenant, a native of Yazoo City, Mississippi, received her B.F.A. in Photography at Watkins College of Art, Design and Film in 2008. Through her photographic studies, Whisenant found a path for art and social justice. She is currently the program coordinator for the Underground Art Studio at Oasis Center, a program she developed and launched in January 2013. Since then, she has worked with hundreds of young people experiencing homelessness, navigating the juvenile justice system or overcoming substance abuse. Whisenant also trains local artists on authentic community engagement through Metro Arts’ THRIVE micro-funding program. Cindy Young has always had art in her life. In earlier days, Young could be found performing on stages at Rutgers University, Boston College, University of Connecticut, North Carolina A&T and the world renowned Cotton Club in New York City. Now, she empowers students to perform their own work on stages in the Nashville area and at Vanderbilt University where she is currently Assistant Director for Special Art initiatives for the Office of the Dean of Students. As the Artistic and Founding Director for Rhythm and Roots Performance Company, Young has an “open door” policy where all forms of art are explored and welcomed to help enhance the richness of the creative process to prepare the company’s productions. Her students learn to create performance works from their personal stories, which are brought out through the fundamentals of reflection and creative journaling, storytelling, narratives and poetry. What was once a blank page in a book becomes the backdrop for a collaborative product filled with authentic stories depicting the human condition, laced with original student voice and heart.
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TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION STAFF Anne B. Pope, Executive Director Anne B. Pope was named Executive Director of the Tennessee Arts Commission in May 2012. Pope previously served as the Vice President of STEM Education at the Oak Ridge National Lab; Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission where she led an asset-based economic development initiative that helped create jobs by maximizing arts and cultural assets throughout Appalachia; Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance; and Executive Director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission. In the private sector, Pope practiced law at Webster, Chamberlin and Bean in Washington, D.C., and served as President/CEO for the Parks-Belk Company, a department store chain in northeast Tennessee. A graduate of Vanderbilt University and the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Pope is admitted to practice law in Tennessee and the District of Columbia. Pope grew up in Kingsport, TN. Hal Partlow, Associate Director of Grants Hal Partlow provides leadership for all arts grant programs and oversees all internal agency functions related to grants. Prior to his current position, he served for seven years as Director of Performing Arts for the Commission. Two of the special projects he managed for the Commission include the Governor’s Arts Awards and the publication of Historic Tennessee Stages, an architectural and cultural survey of the state’s historic performance spaces. He is a veteran of the United States Army, and received his B.A. from St. Lawrence University in Canton. In addition, he has completed M.A. course work at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. Prior to joining the Tennessee Arts Commission, Hal worked twenty years as a professional actor and stage director. Carol White, Associate Director of Operations Carol White is responsible for the supervision of Tennessee Arts Commission’s budget, procurement, accounting, human resources, and day-to-day operations. She oversees all internal non-grant functions, assuring that all human and financial resources are moving towards agency goals. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University and her Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University. Prior to her current position, she was the executive director of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Shared Services Solutions division, which included five years working with the Tennessee Arts Commission. In addition, she previously was director of the Tennessee State Planning Office, founding director of Volunteer Tennessee and worked on the 1996 Tennessee Bicentennial Arts Festival, as well as the Tennessee Treasures museum exhibit. She is also a former member of the Tennessee Civil Service Commission. Currently, she is a Tennessee Promise Mentor for the Nashville School of the Arts and a member of the Nashville Committee for the Princeton Prize in Race Relations; the Truman Scholarship Southeast review panel; the Tennessee Government Executive Institute; and Tennesseans for the Arts. Suzanne Lynch, Director of Marketing and Development Suzanne Lynch joined the Tennessee Arts Commission in November of 2013. Her position includes agency brand development, Specialty License Plate Program promotions and agency communications. Prior to joining the Tennessee Arts Commission, Lynch was the creative manager for Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee. Before moving to Nashville in 2011, Lynch was the creative director for her own business, Message Brand Advertising, in Ithaca, New York. During those early startup years she was also an assistant professor in the Integrated Marketing Communications Degree Program at the Park School of Communications, Ithaca College. Previously, Lynch was an art director for several advertising agencies in New York City and worked on national accounts such as Verizon Wireless and Duncan Hines. She has a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Ball State University and a M.A. in Advertising Design from Syracuse University. 44 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Krishna Adams, Director of Visual Arts, Craft, Media, and Design Krishna Adams brings professional curatorial, programming, and development knowledge to the Tennessee Arts Commission. She spent the past 17 years at the Knoxville Museum of Art cultivating relationships with local, regional, and national artists, educators, and museum professionals. She holds a Master’s in Information Science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art from Middle Tennessee State University. Her extensive experience in the visual arts ensures that the Commission will continue to produce engaging and relevant exhibitions in its gallery as well as provide broad-based support for a wide variety of visual arts, craft, media and design in Tennessee. Lee Baird, Grants Analyst/Director of Literary Arts Lee Baird joined the Commission staff in June 2005. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1995 and worked in the wireless communications industry before joining the Commission. As Grants Analyst, he supervises the agency’s sub-recipient grant monitoring and serves as a liaison to grantees to ensure compliance with all contract requirements. He also assists in managing the eGrant application system and the PEARL grant database. In addition, he administers the Literary Arts Program for the Commission, which includes managing grants for literary organizations and individual writers and coordinating special literary projects. Ann Brown, Director of Arts Education Ann Talbott Brown, Director of Arts Education, joined the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2009. She manages seven grant categories, two arts integration programs, a statewide arts education conference, Poetry Out Loud, and the Teaching Artist Roster. She has served as a panelist or reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts, National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, and Kentucky Arts Council. Before joining the Commission, Brown worked with the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Willamette Valley Music Festival, Southern Illinois Music Festival, and university arts programs in Oregon and Illinois. Before that, she served as a licensed K-12 music educator and oboe instructor. Her interests are in supporting state arts leaders to improve policy and practice and increasing opportunities for educators and students through professional development and grants. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Southern Illinois University and a Master’s degree in Arts Administration with a certification in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon. Danielle “Dani” Brown, Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator Danielle “Dani” Brown has worked in the arts for over five years. Prior to joining the Tennessee Arts Commission as the Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator, she worked at Bubbles Academy in Chicago where she created unique arts integrated curriculum and planned signature events for all ages. Previously, she worked as a Teaching Artist via Northern Illinois and New York City. In the past, she has also helped curate and exhibit The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States and The Warhol Donation which consisted of 150 Polaroids and 52 Silver Gelatin Prints, by the Andy Warhol Photogenic Legacy Program as a part of the 20th anniversary of the Annual Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University Art Department in 2010, with an emphasis in Studio Art and Museum Studies. In her current role at the Commission, Brown organizes the Poetry Out Loud State Contest, manages the Teaching Artist Roster, and provides support for all Arts Education programs and activities. In her own body of work, she continues to create a series of ceramic bumble bees and human like figures. Mike Chambers, Information Technology Director Mike Chambers has the role of managing all the computer appliances, software licenses, and Apple technology utilized by the Tennessee Arts Commission. In his position, he oversees network security, ensures software licensing compliance, and creates code for the online grant system.
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Chambers is Microsoft certified and a member of the ITMA (Information Technology Management Association). He holds four Bachelor’s degrees—in Computer Science, General Business, Statistics, and Finances, and has completed Master’s work at Tennessee Technological University. Prior to his current position, he worked as a manager in the state Department of Children’s Services and the Department of Finance. In addition, Chambers previously ran his own business, and worked for companies such as BlueCross BlueShield, Semantic, and SCB Computer Technology. Dana Everts-Boehm, PhD, Folklife Program Assistant Dana Everts-Boehm works with Folklife Program Director Bradley Hanson to document, promote, and nurture Tennessee’s diverse cultural heritage and traditional arts. In addition to assisting applicants in the Folklife grant category, Dana maintains and updates the Folklife Archives, curates folklife exhibitions, and conducts field research to document Latino and immigrant traditional artists and events. She received a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California Berkeley and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University with a minor in Latin American Studies. From 1984-86 she worked as Project Folklorist for the Rio Grande Arts Center in Alamosa, Colorado. She was New Mexico State Folklorist from 1987-1990. She joined the Cultural Heritage Center in Columbia, Missouri in 1990, and was director of the Missouri Folk Arts Program from 1992 through 1999. After being the Assistant Director at the Center for the Arts in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for 7 years, she joined the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Folklife Program in 2007. Shannon Ford, Director of Community Arts Development Shannon Ford works with government agencies and nonprofits to strengthen the arts’ presence, impact and public value in communities statewide. He administers grants to local arts agencies, presenters, multi-disciplinary arts centers, and arts service organizations. He also works to strengthen small, emerging, and volunteer-driven arts organizations statewide through the Arts Build Communities program in collaboration with 13 designated agencies. Prior to joining the Commission, he was employed by the Ohio Arts Council for nine years, most recently as an Arts Learning Program Coordinator. He obtained his B.A. in Communication and Art from Trinity University and completed coursework towards a Master’s in Arts Policy and Administration at The Ohio State University. Bradley Hanson, Ph.D., Director of Folklife Dr. Bradley Hanson joined the Tennessee Arts Commission in January 2015. An ethnomusicologist and folklorist, he previously worked as a cultural interpreter for the Tennessee State Parks and the Friends of the Cumberland Trail. As part of the Cumberland Trail Music and Heritage project, his efforts included field research, archival management, interpretive writing, and record and radio production centered on regional culture and folklife. He has also collaborated on programming, preservation, and documentary projects with Humanities Tennessee, Campbell Cultural Coalition, Jubilee Community Arts, and the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. In 2011, he was given the Blanton Owen Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to support his fieldwork with bluegrass, country, and gospel musicians in East Tennessee. He graduated from Brown University with a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology in May 2014. His dissertation, Tuned Our Way: Music, Memory, and Heritage in East Tennessee, is currently being revised for publication by the University of Illinois Press. Kim Johnson, Director of Arts Access Kim Johnson joined the Tennessee Arts Commission in September 2015. Her position includes ensuring access to the arts for underserved communities, Title VI coordination and compliance, and increased arts opportunities for persons with disabilities. Prior to joining the Tennessee Arts Commission, Johnson worked as Director of Programs for the National Museum of African American Music and as Vice President of Programs at the Scarritt-Bennett Center, both nonprofit organizations located in Nashville where she developed programs for people in the community. At the Scarritt-Bennett Center, Johnson helped co-lead the award-winning multicultural festival, Celebration of Cultures, (now called Celebrate Nashville). She has extensive nonprofit 46 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
experience that spans over 25 years and before moving to Nashville, she worked at the United Way of Greater Cincinnati in allocations management and outcomes-based evaluations development. After graduate school, Johnson also spent two years as a college professor at Eastern Kentucky University. Johnson has a B.S. in Healthcare Administration from the University of South Alabama and a Masters in Public Administration from Eastern Kentucky University. Michelle McEwen, Accounting Technician II Michelle McEwen has been with the Tennessee Arts Commission since 2007. She is responsible for accounts payable, grant contracts, the inventory equipment, and procurement. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lane College, where she graduated magna cum laude. Previously, she worked as an accounting technician for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. She has also worked as a tax preparer, data entry clerk, and check processor at organizations such as the Nashville Career Advancement Center and American Standard. Currently she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Vickie McPherson, Arts Program Administrative Assistant Vickie McPherson is an Administrative Assistant for the Arts Programs. She has been with the Tennessee Arts Commission for five and a half years and has been a state employee of Tennessee for more than ten years. Her role is to support the arts program directors with grant processing and programming, mainly through researching organizations and categorizing grants. She also manages human resources transactions for the Commission. Her previous position was with the state Human Resources Department. Prior to that, she handled accounting for UPS and the Mid-State Automotive. Jared Morrison, Director of Performing Arts Jared Morrison began his tenure as Performing Arts Director at the Tennessee Arts Commission in January 2014. For the past 15 years, he has held marketing, development and artistic administration positions at many respected arts institutions, including the Nashville and Chicago symphony orchestras, Spivey Hall, Sarasota Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Morrison holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Shorter College, a M.M. in Arts Administration from Florida State University, and is a former OPERA America Fellow. In addition to his work with the Commission, he is an active vocal soloist and choral musician. Grace Robinson, Public Information and Research Coordinator Nashville native, Grace Robinson first joined the Tennessee Arts Commission as an intern in May of 2014 and then as a staff member in July of 2015. Her current position assists the Department of Marketing and Development with agency promotions and communications through traditional and social media. She also contributes to market research and event planning. While earning her degree, Robinson worked at St. Mary’s Bookstore, a family-owned Nashville business, before her extensive internship with the Commission. She graduated cum laude, and now holds a B.S. in mass communications with a concentration in advertising and public relations, and minors in economics and marketing from Middle Tennessee State University. Diane Williams, Director of Grants Management Diane Williams has been with the Tennessee Arts Commission since 2003. In her role, she oversees grant contracts from start to finish and works with grantees to ensure that proper filing and budgetary protocols are being followed. She also conducts pre-audits of grant payment requests and maintains a detailed record of all submitted and approved grants. In addition to her work with the Commission, Williams is a longtime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. for which she served previously as president, treasurer, and financial secretary. She is also a board member and former treasurer of the Fortitude Foundation. Prior to her current position, Williams worked in the banking industry for 28 years, starting her career at First American Bank. She received her B.S. from Tennessee State University. COLLECTIVE IMPACT 47
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NOTES
Tennessee Arts Commission Members Stephanie B. Conner, Nashville – Chair Lisa Bobango, Germantown - Vice Chair Connie S. Weathers, Chattanooga – Secretary Ritche Bowden, Memphis Patsy W. Camp, Jackson Donna Chase, Knoxville Hank Dye, Townsend Waymon L. Hickman Sr., Columbia Mary Donnet Johnson, Nashville Andrea Loughry, Murfreesboro Dr. Leo McGee, Cookeville Cindy C. Ogle, Gatlinburg Jan Ramsey, Chattanooga Ann C. Smith, Johnson City Lee D. Yeiser, Savannah
No person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, religion, or sex shall be excluded from participation in, or be denied benefits of, or otherwise be subject to discrimination of services, programs, and employment provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission and its contracting agencies. For ADA inquiries, please contact Kim Johnson at 615-532-9797 or Tennessee Relay Center 1-800-848-0298 (TTY) or 1-800-848-0299 (voice) Published in 2016 by Tennessee Arts Commission
Tennessee Arts Commission. Authorization #316664. 300 copies. Date of publication authorization: May 2016. This public document was promulgated at a cost of $5.25 per copy
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