Spider Kedelsky (The work)

Keynote Speaker: Eric Booth

As an actor, he performed in many plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway and around the country, playing over 23 Shakespearean roles, directing and producing in New York, and winning acting awards on both coasts.

As a businessman, he started a small company, Alert Publishing, that in seven years became the largest of its kind in the U.S. analyzing research on trends in American lifestyles. He was a frequent public spokesperson on trends with three books and regular appearances on CNN, NBC and in major print media.

As an author, he has had four books published. His most recent, The Everyday Work of Art won three awards and was a Book of the Month Club selection.  He has written dozens of magazine articles, has a column in Chamber Music magazine, and is the Founding Editor of the quarterly Teaching Artist Journal.

In arts learning, he is currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School and The Kennedy Center, has taught at Stanford University, NYU, Lincoln Center Institute (for 25 years), and has given classes for every level from kindergarten through graduate school; he has given workshops at over 30 universities, and 60 arts and cultural institutions. He started the Art and Education program at Juilliard, and now leads Juilliard’s new Mentor Program. He has designed and led over 20 research projects, and seven online courses and workshops.

He was the Faculty Chair of the Empire State Partnership program for three years (the largest arts-in-education project in America), and held one of six chairs on The College Board’s Arts Advisory Committee for seven years. He serves as a consultant for many organizations (including six of the nation's ten largest orchestras), cities, states and businesses around the country.  Formerly the Director of the Teacher Center of the Leonard Bernstein Center (now on its Board), he is a frequent keynote speaker on the arts to groups of all kinds.

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David Bury (The new philanthropy) works in development, planning, and fundraising for cultural organizations. Through David Bury & Associates, which he founded in 1981, David has helped more than 200 organizations create stronger development programs, carry out major fundraising initiatives, and conduct strategic planning processes. Prior to forming DB&A, David served as assistant director of the Vermont Arts Council and executive director of the New England Bach Festival. He was founder and former president of the Green Mountain Consortium for the Performing Arts. Among the thirty plus clients that his firm currently works with are: American Symphony Orchestra League, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Danspace Project, Jacob’s Pillow, Meet The Composer, National Performance Network, OPERA America, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

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Spider Kedelsky (The work) is the director of community programs and program producer at Town Hall Seattle, a community cultural center. Previously, he was national coordinator of the NEA’s Dance on Tour Program; education manager at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, founder/director of the Los Angeles International Dance Festival; producer of the landmark US tour, “Aboriginal Artists of Australia;” and curator of the “Dance and Music of Africa” at Jacob’s Pillow. A three-time recipient of NEA Choreography Fellowships, Spider has taught and lectured extensively on non-western performance, and served as a panelist or consultant for many arts agencies, foundations and organizations.

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David G. Mallette (Infrastructure) joined Management Consultants for the Arts in 2005 as an associate after working for more than two decades as a performing arts administrator in theater and dance. His background and skills bring together a unique blend of organizational leadership, production experience, creative innovation and business acumen. Mr. Mallette’s professional arts management experience began in 1984 at Houston’s Alley Theatre, where he was charged with both theater operations and touring productions. He then joined Houston Ballet as company manager. In 1990, Mr. Mallette was asked to join Fort Worth Ballet as executive director. During his 15-year tenure, Fort Worth Ballet would triple in size through its expansion across the region and the state, first as Fort Worth Dallas Ballet, then as Texas Ballet Theater. Mr. Mallette has been a frequent speaker, author and consultant, and has served on numerous boards and panels, most significantly as chair of Dance/USA (2002-05).

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Ms. Baraka Sele (Touring and presenting) is currently the Assistant Vice President of Programming and Curator/Producer of the NJPAC World Festival at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The festival features year-round performances by artists of New Jersey, the United States and from around the world, complemented by educational, humanities and residency programs. Besides working as a performing arts consultant, curator, producer and presenter, Ms.Sele has served on numerous local, national and international advisory committees, boards and panels, including International Society of the Performing Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Vera List Center for Arts and Politics, Walker Art Center, and The Kennedy Center's African Odyssey Festival. Ms. Sele has traveled extensively and she has been a guest speaker at conferences, seminars and universities. Throughout a more than 20-year career of working in the arts, Ms. Sele has focused on collaborations and presentations with artists of diverse cultures in order to build enduring partnerships and to facilitate international cultural exchange.

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Donna Walker-Kuhne (The new audience reality) acknowledged as the nation’s foremost expert in audience development by the Arts & Business Council, has devoted her professional career to increasing access to the arts. She was formerly director of marketing and audience development for The Public Theater and director of marketing for Dance Theatre of Harlem.  Presently, she is president of Walker International Communications Group, a marketing and audience development consulting company.  Her clients include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Signature Theater and Three Mo’ Tenors.  She was an associate producer for George C. Wolfe’s Harlem Song at the Apollo Theater and co-producer for the 2004 Audelco Awards.  Her first book, Invitation to the Party:  Building Bridges to Arts, Culture and Community, was published in 2005.  www.walkercommunicationsgroup.com.

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Linda Austin
With a background originally in theatre, Linda Austin began making performance and dance in 1983, presenting at Performance Space 122, the Danspace Project, the Kitchen, and Movement Research at Judson Church. From 1992 to 1994 she lived and made work in Mexico. In 1998, she moved back to Portland, Oregon, and, with lighting designer Jeff Forbes, founded the performing arts non-profit, Performance Works Northwest. Austin has since perfomed at both On the Boards and at PICA’s TBA Festival in Northwest New Works; as well as at Conduit. the Echo Theatre and Performance Works NorthWest. Austin will perform her adaptation of Deborah Hay’s “Room” at the 2006 TBA Festival.

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Fabian Barnes
Fabian Barnes, founder/artistic director of The Dance Institute of Washington, was born in Seattle, Washington. From 1979 Barnes danced professionally with the Dance Theatre of Harlem for 15 years, advancing from apprentice to soloist. He performed in The Four Temperaments, Allegro Brilliante, and Dougla among other works. Barnes founded DIW in 1987 to serve underprivileged youth. DIW’s dance training has launched many successful dancers and driven individuals. Barnes’ honors include the Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education, the Linowes Leadership Award, and the Oprah’s Angel Network’s Use Your Life Award. In 2003, he founded Washington Reflections Dance Company, whose passionate performances have impressed audiences and critics alike. This is Fabian’s third year on the Dance/USA Board of Trustees.

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Suzy Blok
Suzy Blok’s work is a combination of dance and physical theatre. People’s characters, individual qualities and often conflicting desires as well as society related topics are Suzy Blok’s main sources of inspiration.
She often collaborates with composers and live musicians, varying from Louis Andriessen to hip hop group, Poodle Naked and Alexander Balanescu. She began creating her own choreographies in 1986. From 1989 untill 1998 she collaborated with Christopher Steel under the name Blok&Steel. Her work has been awarded with the Prix de Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artistes and the IMZ Dance Screen Award. Besides dance performances, Suzy Blok has also made dance films, including Still you (7’ NOS/Springdance/Bergen 1993), Tus Ojos Negros (10’ BBC/NPS 2000) and Up at Down (29’ BBC/NPS/Satori 2003), a film adaptation of her theatre production Looking Up at Down. She choreographed the dance scenes in the feature film Ja zuster, Nee zuster (Pieter Kramer, Bos Bros 2002) in 2004 and created the choreography for Clara van Gool’s short film Reimerswaal.

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Peter Boal
Artistic Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School since 2005.
Peter Boal assumed artistic directorship of Pacific Northwest Ballet and PNB School following a 22-year career as a dancer with New York City Ballet. In addition to working with George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins, Mr. Boal originated roles in over 30 new works. He received his training at the School of American Ballet, joined New York City Ballet in 1983 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1989. From 1997 to 2005, he was a full-time faculty member at SAB. In 2004, he founded Peter Boal and Company, a critically acclaimed chamber ensemble. In 1996, Mr. Boal received the Dance Magazine Award, and in 2000, he received a New York Dance and Performance Award.

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Cecil C. Connor, Jr.
Cecil C. Connor, Jr. has served managing director of Houston Ballet since 1995. He came to Houston Ballet from The Joffrey Ballet in New York City, where he served as executive director from 1992 until 1995. From 1980 – 1994, Mr. Connor served as a managing partner of and later of counsel to Mandelbaum, Schweiger & Connor in New York City. Mr. Connor’s experience in the dance world has included work with the National Association of Regional Ballet, Inc., New York State Council for the Arts, Pauline Koner Dance Consort, and Tornay Management - all in New York City. He has served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, the Division of Cultural Affairs of the State of Florida and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

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Peter DiMuro
Peter DiMuro is the Producing Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. He has performed, taught, and choreographed throughout the United States and abroad for the past 26 years. In addition to creating works for professionals and communities with Dance Exchange, his work has been commissioned by Dance Umbrella/Boston, Boston Ballet II, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Bates Dance Festival and American Dance Festival. He was named a 1995 Mayor of Boston/ProArts Public Service in the Arts Award recipient and a White House Millennial Artist in 2000, and has received grants from the National Performance Network, Artists’ Foundation and the Cultural Council of Massachusetts. Current projects include “Funny Uncles”, a multi-media work that looks at the wide definitions of family in America today.

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Christine Elbel
Christine Elbel is the Executive Director of the Fleishhacker Foundation. Located in San Francisco, this family foundation makes grants to Bay Area organizations in the fields of Arts & Culture, and Precollegiate Education. Prior to assuming this position, Ms. Elbel was a consultant to nonprofit organizations in the areas of fund development and strategic planning. She was the Executive Director of Dance Bay Area, a dance service organization, in the mid-1980’s. Her background includes serving as a grant evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and private foundations. She has a background in arts education, and holds a B.A. in Fine Arts and M.S. in Education from Indiana University. She is a past board president of the Joe Goode Performance Group, and currently serves on the boards of Drew School and Northern California Grantmakers.

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Timothy J. DeBaets
Timothy J. DeBaets is a partner in the law firm of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP. CDAS has represented and counseled clients in the areas of entertainment law (including theatre, dance, music, film and tv), publishing, art law, copyright, trademark, trusts and estates, real estate, commercial/corporate transactions, new media and litigation for twenty years. Mr. DeBaets is a well-known transactional attorney for theater organizations, documentary filmmakers, television producers and directors, choreographers, dancers, writers, and playwrights. His clients in the dance field include Judith Jamison, Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, The Joyce Theatre, the Estate of Michel Fokine, and Elizabeth Streb, among others.

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Marion Koltun Dienstag
Marion Koltun Dienstag joined Dance Theater Workshop in June1999 and was appointed Executive Director in July 2003. Previously, Dienstag served as Executive Director of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, and as General Manager and Director of Operations at The New 42nd Street, Inc. Dienstag was also General Manager of The New York Dance Center, managing director of Mabou Mines and fundraising consultant for independent performance companies. Dienstag has taught at the Yale School of Drama, where she received her M.F.A. in Theater Administration, and Vassar College, where she received a B.A. in Theater, as well as attended the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders at Stanford University.

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Ken Foster
The Executive Director of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco California, Mr. Foster has a BA in English from Metropolitan State College and a MA in Educational Theatre from New York University. Mr. Foster has been in the performing arts presenting field for more than 20 years, directing programs at Millikin University, Penn State University and the University of Arizona, prior to coming to his current position in 2003. Mr. Foster has been active in several national arts service organizations throughout his career, including serving as Chair of the Board of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters from 2000-2003. In recent years, his interest in global performing arts has taken him to Asia, Africa and Latin America to investigate contemporary performing arts practice in non Western cultures. He has consulted extensively for numerous arts organizations and consortia, both large and small on issues related to arts presenting; is a frequent speaker and workshop leader at local, regional and national conferences and has written about the arts for various publications.

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Penelope Freeh
Penelope Freeh is a Minneapolis based choreographer, performer and teacher and is a twelve-year member of James Sewell Ballet. In 1998 she received a MN State Arts Board Fellowship and won a McKnight Fellowship for Dancers. She has received commissions from the Walker Arts Center, the Weisman Art Museum, JSB, Minnesota Orchestra and 3-Legged Race. Her first full evening of choreography was presented at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis in September. She serves on the board of the Minnesota Fringe whose annual summer festival hosted her choreographic debut. Visit her blog, barefootpenny.blogspot.com, to read her thoughts on dance.

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Itzik Galili
Tel Aviv born Itzik Galili studied with Nira Paz in Tel Aviv and went on to dance with Bat-Dor Dance Company and Batsheva Dance Company. Pushing his boundaries and vision, Galili has created pieces for companies including: Stuttgart Ballet, Ballets de Monte Carlo, Bayerisches Staatsoper Munich, Gulbenkian Ballet, Scapino, NDT II, Batsheva, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Royal Finnish Ballet, Bale da Cidade de Sao Paulo and Het Nationale Ballet. After the success of “Old Cartoon,” winner at the 1990 Gvanim Choreographic Competition, Itzik Galili moved to the Netherlands. In 1992 “The Butterfly Effect” won the Public Prize at the International Competition for Choreographers in Groningen. In 1997 he was nominated by the Ministry of Culture as Artistic Director of a newly founded and publicly supported dance company to be based in Groningen: NND/Galili Dance. Galili is staunch in his support of upcoming choreographic talent nurturing dancers towards creating and daring. In 1998 and 1999 he was director of the International Competition for Choreographers, Groningen.

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Michelle Heffner Hayes
Michelle Heffner Hayes became the Executive Director of Cultural Affairs at Miami Dade College in 1999, where she curates and manages a multidisciplinary performance and commissioning series devoted to contemporary and culturally specific work that is reflective of Miami’s multi-ethnic community. Formerly the Artistic Director of the Colorado Dance Festival, Hayes holds a Ph.D. in Dance History and Theory from UC-Riverside, where she taught from 1992-1996. A dancer, choreographer and dance scholar, she is a proud alumnus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where she will be joining the faculty of the Dance Division the Fall of 2006.

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Heather Hitchens
Ms. Hitchens was named President of Meet The Composer in 1999. As President, she has established a multi-million dollar endowment fund, stabilized Meet The Composer’s core programs, and developed and launched a number of significant new programs including Global Connections, New Music, New Donors and Music Alive!

Prior to Meet The Composer, she served as Executive Director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Under her leadership there, the Delaware Symphony exceeded fund raising goals, dramatically expanded its audience and donor base, and deepened its commitment to music education programs. Ms. Hitchens also worked in development for the American Music Theater Festival now known as The Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia, one of the most important centers for the development of new music theater and opera.

Ms. Hitchens holds a B.M. from DePauw University and a M.S. in Arts Administration from Drexel University. She is also a percussionist.

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Calvin Hunt
Calvin Hunt first joined the Ailey organization as Soundman/Assistant Electrician in 1982 and later became Stage Manager and then Production Stage Manager. He became General Manager/Director of Production in 1993. In that capacity, he supervises the Technical Director and a crew of 15. He arranges and oversees all aspects of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s touring and production, as well as serving as Production and Touring Advisor for Ailey II. Mr. Hunt began his career as Stage Manager for the Dance Theatre of Harlem and recently served for two years as Director of Touring and Production at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts.

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Tania Isaac
Tania Isaac, originally from St. Lucia, West Indies, is currently based in Philadelphia, PA. Her work is a unique marriage of Caribbean and contemporary movement, music and esthetics and has been presented throughout the U.S., England, Japan and the Caribbean. Tania received a
2004 Rocky Award for her evening length show home is where I am and was named one of “25 to Watch in 2006” by Dance Magazine. Tania is a former member of Rennie Harris Puremovement and Urban Bush Women. Her latest evening length work, standpipe is currently touring. Tania is a Commonwealth Speaker with the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

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In 1970, Jenkins returned to San Francisco, opened one of the West Coast's first studio-performing spaces and formed her own Company in 1973, for which she has made over 75 works touring regularly throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Jenkins’ recent activities have included a residency in Kolkata, India (2003) to create a new dance for the Tanusree Shankar Dance Company, the premiere of a new site-specific work, Danger Orange (2004) San Francisco, a three-week teaching residency in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Beijing, China (2004), and the premiere of running with the land (2005) at the opening of the new de Young Museum in the Barbro Osher Sculpture Garden, commissioned by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. In November of 2005, Jenkins and five members of her Company were invited to Kochi, India to participate in a four-week rehearsal and performance residency. The extended time in India allowed Jenkins to work with Indian dancers in collaboration with her Company to develop source material for the evening-length piece, A Slipping Glimpse which premiered at YBCA in the Gardens and the Forum on May 17, 2006.

For her unique artistic vision, Jenkins has received numerous commissions and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Irvine Fellowship in Dance, the San Francisco Arts Commission Award of Honor, the Bernard Osher Cultural Award. She is committed to an art of inquiry and to advance the field through a variety of projects: Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange (CHIME), Choreographers in Action (CIA), and the Center for Creative Research in New York. The Margaret Jenkins Dance Lab hosts many of these activities and provides a unique rehearsal space for artists including her Company.
Please visit www.mjdc.org

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John R. Killacky
John R. Killacky, Program Officer for Arts and Culture, joined The San Francisco Foundation in March 2003. Previously, he served as Executive Director of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for six years and Curator of Performing Arts for the Walker Art Center for eight years. Other past positions include Program Officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, General Manager of PepsiCo SUMMERFARE, and Managing Director of the Trisha Brown and Laura Dean dance companies. He received the First Bank Award Sally Ordway Irvine Award in Artistic Vision; the William Dawson Award for Programming Excellence from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters; Dance/USA's "Ernie" Award as an unsung hero; a Gerbode Foundation Professional Development Fellowship; a scholarship to Harvard Business School's summer intensive; and in 2004, the Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award for Exemplary Service to the Field of Professional Presenting from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Mr. Killacky has served as a panelist, lecturer, and consultant for a broad range of arts and funding organizations. He has written numerous publications on the arts, and written and directed several award winning short films and videos.

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Russell King
During the last 20 years Russell King has served in a number of leadership roles for performing arts organizations. He is President of Malashock Dance Company Board of Directors and the Director of Mandeville Auditorium at the University of California San Diego. At UCSD, Russell is very active on a number of campus administrative and oversight committees. Prior to joining UCSD, he worked at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts where he coordinated all touring events at the Center. He has completed the education requirements for the CFRE (Certified Fund-Raising Executive) and has a degree in theatre Management. He is active in a number of non-profit organizations, including the Rotary Club of La Jolla.

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In Louisville, he serves on the board for the new Partnership for Creative Economics, chairs the marketing committee for Arts & Cultural Attractions Council and is a member of the Advisory Group for Kentucky State University’s new BS in Music Business Management.

Mr. Lemmon holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and an M.F.A. in Arts Administration from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

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His successes in the marketing field led him to positions as president/executive director of the San Antonio (TX) Symphony, the Charlotte (NC) Symphony Orchestra, and the Knoxville Symphony (TN). In each of these organizations, Rick helped achieve records for both earned and contributed revenues.

For more than a decade before he founded Lester & Associates, Rick had also been a freelance consultant to orchestras, as well as to numerous state and national non-profit organizations.

Rick Lester has assisted with projects for the American Symphony Orchestra League (he was both Vice-Chair and Chair of Group 2 Orchestra Managers and a frequent presenter); the National Endowment for the Arts (he was a member of the NEA’s Challenge Panel for Policy Review); the Pew Charitable Trusts; and the Cleveland Foundation. In 1996, Rick earned an MBA from Queens College in Charlotte, NC. Rick is a member of the board of trustees of Drury University in Springfield, MO, and is a former trustee of the American Symphony Orchestra League.

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John Malashock
John Malashock founded Malashock Dance in 1988 after a distinguished performing career with Twyla Tharp Dance in New York and other companies. Malashock’s productions have earned top awards in San Diego among the dance and theatre communities. His dance films have garnered six EMMY Awards, as well as AURORA, TELLY, and REMI Awards. John’s collaborative credits include choreography for the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theatre, San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Music Society, and the San Diego, San Francisco and New York City Operas. He has served as a faculty member at the American Dance Festival, California State University Long Beach, and has taught throughout Europe, Asia and Central America. John is also a fellow and affiliated artist of the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Recently, Malashock has taken the leadership role in the development of a major new dance center at San Diego’s NTC Promenade.

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Fidelma McGinn
Fidelma McGinn is the Executive Director of Artist Trust, a not-for-profit organization dedicated exclusively to supporting Washington State artists working in all creative disciplines. Prior to this appointment, she was the Executive Director of Film Arts Foundation, one of the nation's top resource centers for independent filmmakers, located in San Francisco, CA and the Executive Director for 911 Media Arts Center, based in Seattle. She has served as a panelist and nominator for grantmakers such as the Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Cultural Development Authority of King County. She is currently the board chair of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC). Before joining the non-profit sector, Ms. McGinn had a successful career in marketing in the high-tech industry. She spent seven years at Microsoft Corporation developing localization strategies for the Desktop Applications Division. She has a degree in Marketing and Communications from the College of Commerce in Dublin and is a graduate of Stanford Graduate Business School’s program for Executive Leadership in the non-profit Arts.

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Douglas McLennan
Douglas McLennan is an arts journalist and critic and the founder and editor of ArtsJournal.com, the leading aggregator of arts journalism on the internet. Each day ArtsJournal combs through more than 200 publications worldwide and posts links to the best cultural stories. Prior to starting ArtsJournal, Mr. McLennan was arts columnist and music critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A former concert pianist, he has a Master's degree in music from the Juilliard School in New York. He has performed in Asia, Europe and North America and lived and worked in Italy and in China, where he spent a year as artist-in-residence at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. He has written on the arts for numerous publications, including as music critic for Salon.com, and for Newsweek, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and the London Evening Standard. He has been a music critic for National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and is a contributor to the new edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians. He is a recipient of several awards for arts criticism and reporting, including a National Arts Journalism Program Fellowship at Columbia University and a Deems Taylor/ASCAP Award for music journalism. He was recently named one of 100 Outstanding Graduates of the Juilliard School for the school’s centennial.

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Previously, Mr. Miller served as Executive Director of the New England Foundation for the Arts for ten years. Under his leadership NEFA launched important new projects in New England like the Creative Economy Initiative and Expeditions (a program which supports regional touring of interdisciplinary arts projects). Mr. Miller also pioneered a number of nationally significant programs at NEFA, including the National Dance Project and the Cambodian Artists Project, in partnership with Asia Society and the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. Prior to NEFA, Mr. Miller was at Jacob’s Pillow where he served as Executive Director and President. He has also worked with Pilobolus Dance Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, and managed various theater renovation projects in New England.

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Stephen Mills
Under the artistic leadership of Mr. Mills, Ballet Austin has emerged as one of the nations’ premiere dance organizations. Mills has created more than 40 works for companies in the United States and abroad. His ballets are in the repertories of such companies as American Ballet Theater Studio Company, Washington Ballet, The Atlanta Ballet, Cuballet in Havana, Cuba, BalletMet/Columbus, The Dayton Ballet, The Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Ballet Pacifica, Dallas Black Dance Theater, The Louisville Ballet, The Nashville Ballet, Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet and Kaleidoscope. His work has been showcased in New York four times at the choreographic showcase, Ballet Builders, at Ballet Austin’s premiere performances at The Joyce Theater, and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Mills has also performed with a wide variety of companies, dancing a very diverse repertoire to include Harkness Ballet and The American Dance Machine. Mills is committed as a master teacher to developing dancers at many pre-professional academies. Mills has received The Steinberg Award and was recently honored with the Humanitarian Award from the Anti-Defamation League. Mr. Mills serves on the Board of Trustees of Dance/USA.

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Cora Mirikitani
Cora Mirikitani is the President and CEO of the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), a knowledge and financial services incubator for individual artists. Mirikitani has more than 10 years of experience in philanthropy, as Program Officer for Culture at The Pew Charitable Trusts and later as Senior Program Director at The James Irvine Foundation in charge of their Arts program and Innovation Fund. She has also held key leadership positions as an arts administrator, as CEO of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, Director of Performing Arts and Film at the Japan Society in New York, and Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. In addition to working as a consultant to foundations and nonprofit arts organizations, Cora has participated on numerous arts funding, policy and advisory panels and boards during her career. She was elected to the board of directors of Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) and chaired the 1999 GIA Conference held in San Francisco. She was appointed as a member of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Council for the Arts in 2004 and served on the national advisory committee to the Japan Foundation’s Performing Arts Japan program in the U.S. from 2002-2004. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.

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Elisa Monte
In 1981 Elisa Monte founded the company that bears her name. As a dancer, Monte was a principal with Martha Graham, Lar Lubovitch and Pilobolus, among others. Her choreographic work, widely recognized for its emotional and sensual style, was first taken into the repertory of Alvin Ailey and has been in the repertory of many companies including Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, North Carolina Dance Theater, Batsheva Dance Company of Israel and Philadanco. Currently commemorating its 25th anniversary, the Company is celebrating its rich history and Elisa’s intimate connection to many of the century’s greatest masters.

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Rachel Moore
A former member of ABT’s corps de ballet from 1984-1988, Rachel S. Moore was named Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre in April 2004. Prior to her appointment, she served as Director of Boston Ballet’s Center for Dance Education (2001-04), North America’s largest professional ballet school. From 1998-2001, Moore served as Executive Director of Project STEP, a classical music school for students of color in Boston. Since 1994, she has held positions at leading dance and arts organizations including Managing Director of Ballet Theatre of Boston; Director and Coordinator of the Center for Community Development and the Arts at Americans for the Arts; and Development Officer for the National Cultural Alliance, both in Washington, DC. Moore also served as an Arts Administration Fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts (1990).

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Tom Mossbrucker
Tom Mossbrucker is the founding artistic director along with Jean-Philippe Malaty, of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. The company has steadily gained notoriety with its rich repertoire of works by both established and rising choreographers and its engaging ensemble of dancers. ASFB has performed throughout the country and in Europe. The company has appeared twice at both the Joyce Theater and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. In 1999, ASFB took the helm of the Aspen Dance Festival and is now a year round presenter of dance in both Aspen and Santa Fe. Mr. Mossbrucker trained at School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School and with David Howard. As a dancer, he danced for 20 years with the Joffrey Ballet, appearing in principal roles by choreographers such as John Cranko, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp and William Forsythe. He also performed with Atlanta Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He served as adjudicator at the Surrey Festival of Dance Society in Canada and is in high demand as a teacher, conducting workshops and master classes at universities and companies.

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Julie Peeler
Julie is an accomplished market researcher and marketing strategist with nearly two decades of experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit arena. While working at J. Walter Thompson and Foote, Cone & Belding, both major international advertising agencies, she developed growth plans for Fortune 500 clients including S.C. Johnson Wax, Kraft Foods, The Kellogg Co., and The Quaker Oats Co., as well as for the U.S. Olympic Committee. At the Arts and Business Council of Americans for the Arts, Julie manages the national expansion, implementation, measurement, and the dissemination of results and learnings from Business Volunteers for the Arts®, the National Arts Marketing Project, the MetLife Foundation National Arts Issues Forum Series, United Arts Funds, and other initiatives. Ms. Peeler is the founding director of the National Arts Marketing Project, which is designed to help nonprofit arts organizations understand the marketplace in which they operate, and develop innovative and effective marketing plans. She holds a BA in journalism from Loyola University of Chicago and a Master’s in Management in Marketing and Nonprofit Management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University.

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Marianne Pohle
Marianne Pohle currently holds the position of Supervisor, Contributions for Altria Corporate Services, Inc. Marianne, a Texan at heart, is a former professional dancer who holds an MBA as well as an MA, Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University. Prior to graduate school, Marianne was an intern in the Dance Program at the New York State Council on the Arts and the first House Manager at Joyce SoHo in New York City. After graduating with a BFA from Texas Christian University, she performed with the Corpus Christi Ballet and several companies in New York City. Marianne is on the Board of Directors of KDNY and Danspace Project.

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Jessica Robinson
Jessica Robinson is the Executive Director of CounterPULSE, a nonprofit organization that provides support and low cost resources for emerging artists, serving as an incubator space to create socially relevant, diverse, community-based art in San Francisco. She is a writer, performer and political activist, and her dance writing has been published in In Dance and on CriticalDance.com. Jessica is an adjunct faculty member at the New College of California where she teaches courses in Activist Arts, Arts Administration and Cultural Organizing. She also serves on the Board of Alternate Roots, a nonprofit that supports community-based artists based in the Southeast.

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Ms. Robinsons’ special field of interest and expertise is that of direct marketing, in which she earned an advanced degree from the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Jill received her MBA from the University of Colorado in 2003, and completed her undergraduate studies at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Ms. Robinson’s career within the performing arts industry included senior level marketing management positions at the Milwaukee, Kansas City, and South Bend (IN) symphonies. Jill started in the performing arts at the Fort Wayne (IN) Philharmonic.

Ms. Robinson is a frequent presenter at professional conferences, including the national conferences of American Symphony Orchestra League, Dance/USA, Opera America and INTIX.

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Harijono Roebana
Harijono Roebana studied modern dance at the Amsterdam Theatre School as well as philosophy and theatre sciences at the University of Amsterdam. He danced in various productions created by Dutch/Belgian based choreographers and in many of the productions he created with Andrea Leine.
Since 1989, Andrea Leine and Harijono Roebana have been making characteristic work that elaborates on the expression in pure movement. The relationship between music and dance is an essential focus of their work. Their work has been recognised by national and international awards and has been presented throughout Europe and abroad. A tour in 2007-2008 through North America is in preparation with support of the NDP. Their next production, Merg (Marrow), an adventurous combination of ancient music and dance, opera singers and dancers, will premiere in Februari 2007.

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Verdery Roosevelt
Verdery Roosevelt joined Ballet Hispanico in 1978, and has overseen its growth under Artistic Director Tina Ramirez into an internationally recognized cultural institution, with newly-expanded headquarters on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Ms. Roosevelt is a former Chairman of Dance/USA and has been a guest speaker at seminars and arts administration programs, including, the Kennedy Center’s Vilar Symposium, the Yale School of Drama and the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her master’s degree. She has recently learned the first copla of the Sevillanas.

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Jeffrey Rosenstock
Jeffrey Rosenstock has served as Executive Director of Queens Theatre in the Park since 1989. During his tenure, he has transformed an abandoned building into a premier performing arts center and increased the operating budget from $500,000 to $2.7 million. Mr. Rosenstock is a guest lecturer on fundraising and audience development and leads workshops and seminars on diversifying and expanding audiences. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York and the Queens Chamber of Commerce, and was selected as a Business Person of the Year by the Queens Chamber of Commerce in 2004.

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Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
Daniel is a composer/performer who seamlessly blends funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music into a new sonic vision that is “far out and creative in another world.” Voted #3 Best Classical Moment of 2003 by the New York Times and raved by critics, DBR has collaborated with Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vernon Reid, DJ's Radar, Spooky, and Scientific, Savion Glover, Susan Sarandon, Cassandra Wilson, and an array of orchestras and chamber ensembles. The orchestras of Dallas, Memphis, San Antonio, and St. Louis have performed or commissioned his works, and he regularly collaborates with the OSL as Assistant Composer-in-Residence of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. His nine-member band, DBR & THE MISSION, presents lively, genre-jumping contemporary music that capture varying audiences nationwide. For more info, visit www.dbrmusic.com.

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Cookie Ruiz
Ms. Ruiz has more than 20 years experience in the areas of strategic planning, program development and non-profit fund-raising/management, which includes work with the United Way and the American Red Cross. In 2002 she was awarded the professional designation of Certified Fund Raising Executive (C.F.R.E.) by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Her community honors include Austin Business Journal’s “2005 Profiles in Power” award, the American Red Cross “Clara Barton Medal of Honor,” Volunteer of the Year for the Austin Independent School District, the 2003 Lone Star Girl Scout Council “Women of Distinction” award, and is a former President of the Junior League of Austin and graduate of Leadership Austin. Ms. Ruiz is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Dance/USA, American Arts Alliance, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau, KMFA radio, and is a community advisor to the Young Women’s Alliance (YWA). In 1996 Ms. Ruiz joined the staff of Ballet Austin as development director, became general manager in 1997 and executive director in 1999.

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Mr. Russell is currently pursuing writing, teaching and independent curatorial projects with Dance Theater Workshop, The Apollo Theater, and the Public Theater. From 1983-2004, Russell was the Executive Artistic Director of Performance Space 122 (P.S. 122).

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Diane Sanchez
Prior to joining the Community Investment Department at EBCF Diane Sanchez had a consulting practice in organizational development for 14 years. Her clients included a wide variety of corporations and community based organizations. Much of her work focused on strategic change management as well as race and gender issues. She held senior management potions with J. Walter Thompson, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation and Bedford Properties. Throughout her career she has been active in the community serving on the boards of La Raza Graphics, The Spanish Speaking Unity Council, The City of Oakland Civil Service Commission, Goodwill Industries, and the East Bay Community Foundation, where she served as Chair. Currently she is a Vice President of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts board. She serves as the co-chair of the Northern California Grant makers Arts Loan Committee and is a committee member of the Northern California Community Loan Fund, Performing Arts Fund.

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Gema Sandoval
Gema Sandoval, founder, artistic director and choreographer of Danza Floricanto/USA is devoted to illuminating her Mexican-American heritage through dance. In additional to her traditional work, over the past twelve years, Sandoval has created over a dozen theme works that address her artistic vision as a Chicana. Sandoval has also choreographed a half dozen works for the theater.

Among the honors she has received are the 1994 and 1995 Lester Horton Awards, the California Arts Council's Fellowship in Dance Program, the Irvine Foundation's California Dancemaker awards for 2001, and a New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project production grant for 2003-04.

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Gloria Sewell
Gloria Sewell brings more than 35 years of arts board experience in Minneapolis and St. Paul to Dance/USA's conference. She was Director of Development for Minnesota Public Radio for 12 years and is now President of the Sewell Family Foundation. She currently serves on the boards of the Madeline Island Music Camp, Artspace Project and is chair emeritus of the Shubert Theater Steering Committee. Gloria and her husband Fred are members of a group of six couples who together have commissioned more than a dozen new classical music works.

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James Sewell
James Sewell is the artistic director and choreographer for James Sewell Ballet which he founded in 1990. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Dance/USA. He was a lead dancer with Feld Ballets/NY for six years. His many commissions include woks for the New York Choreographic Institute, Feld Ballets N/Y, and the Minnesota Orchestra. He received a 2002 Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship to explore the application of Improvisation in ballet and to broaden his knowledge of the world dance community.

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Arlene Shuler
Arlene Shuler (New York City Center President & CEO), joined New York City Center in June 2003, coming from The Howard Gilman Foundation, a private foundation with a major focus on performing arts, where she was Executive Director. Prior to that, she was the Senior Vice President of Planning and External Affairs at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Shuler began her career as a professional dancer with The Joffrey Ballet on the City Center stage. She later worked as an administrator for the dance program of the National Endowment for the Arts. She also served as a legislative assistant to Congressman Ted Weiss, bearing responsibility for arts and humanities; and as Executive Director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, New York. In the field of philanthropy, in addition to the Gilman Foundation, she served as Deputy Director of the Wallace Funds, New York; President of General Atlantic Partners Foundation; and Vice President of Atlantic Philanthropic Service Company. Ms. Shuler is a graduate of Columbia University and Columbia Law School.

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Jill Sigman
Jill Sigman is a choreographer, performer, writer and teacher. She creates dances to raise questions through the medium of the body. In 1998, Sigman founded jill sigman/thinkdance, which presents experimental performance at the intersection of dance, theater, and visual installation, often employing non-traditional environments, formats, and ways of engaging the viewer. Sigman’s work has been seen at such venues as DTW, Danspace Project (New York on New York), Dancing in the Streets (Dances for Wave Hill), BAX, The 92nd Street Y, and Dixon Place, and internationally in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, and India. As an educator, Sigman has been a member of the dance faculty at Princeton University, a tutor at the Imaginary Academy in Groznjan, Croatia, a frequent guest teacher in Belgium, and an adjunct professor of aesthetics at Brooklyn College. Sigman is currently an Associate Director at David Bury & Associates, a development consulting firm for arts and cultural institutions in New York City. She was previously Development Manager and workshop facilitator at the New York based art services organization The Field. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University.

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A passionate arts advocate, Silver is also a VP for the NY Chapter of The GRAMMY’s. She conceived/chaired its first Hip Hop/R&B Conference, and its first poetry showcase. She currently chairs its Spoken Word Committee. Silver also founded a widely popular list serv dedicated to the urban and progressive arts community.

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Amy Smith
Amy Smith is a founder and Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater, a Philadelphia-based contemporary dance company. Headlong is a collaboratively-run company that has made over 35 new works in 13 years, and is proud to be part of the recent Philly dance/theater explosion. Amy grew up in Michigan and attended Wesleyan University and the Center for New Dance Development in Holland. In addition to Headlong, Amy has also performed in the works of Deborah Hay, Ishmael Houston Jones, and other choreographers, as well as in theater and cabaret. She serves on numerous boards and in the recent past has served as Board Chair for a committee that is working towards establishing a new dance service organization for Philadelphia, in partnership with Dance/USA.

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Judith Smith
Judith Smith is the Artistic Director and a founding member of AXIS Dance Company. Under her leadership, AXIS has commissioned works by some of the nation’s best choreographers, composers and designers. Judith teaches and lectures nationally and has been on the faculty of Florida Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival. She serves on the advisory boards of the National Art and Disability Center, Bates Dance Festival, Dancers’ Group and the National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. Judith received KQED’s Local Hero award in 2005.

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Douglas Sonntag
Douglas Sonntag is the director of the Office of National Initiatives at the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the NEA’s director of dance. He has served as a judge for the American College Dance Festival/Dance Magazine Awards, and as a panelist for the Utah Arts Council, the Jerome Foundation, and the Carlisle Project. He has spoken at and served on panels for the Monaco Dance Forum, the International Tanzmesse NRW in Düsseldorf, Germany, Dance/USA, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the International Association of Blacks in Dance, and at conferences in Colorado, Michigan, Texas, Nevada, Florida, and New York. He has taught arts administration courses at the University of Utah, and was a consultant to the University’s Department of Ballet. Mr. Sonntag attended the American College in Paris and the University of Utah.

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Donna Williams Sutton
As the Senior Audience Development Officer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Donna Sutton develops and implements the Multicultural Audience Development Initiative, which reflects the Museum’s founding mission to educate and inspire by reaching out to all of its constituencies. Ms. Sutton holds degrees in music and education, and has served as Director of Community and Educational Affairs at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco and Manager of Special Services at the Metropolitan Museum. Ms. Sutton is a member of ArtTable, Inc., the Arts & Business Council, and a friend for the Theatre Development Fund Committee and serves on the Board of The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. She has appeared on radio and television as commentator and spokesperson for The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the topic of diversity in the Arts. Donna received the 2004 Beacon Award for the Arts by the National Coalition of One Hundred Black Women and received a proclamation from the City of New York for her community leadership.

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George Thorn
George Thorn is the Co-Director of Arts Action Research, a national arts-consulting group. As a consultant, he works with arts organizations and makes presentations to conferences and workshops. In parallel with his consulting activities, for eighteen years he directed the graduate program in Arts Administration at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was the Associate Director of FEDAPT. Prior to these activities, he was the Executive Vice-President of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. George spent sixteen years in New York where he had a general management firm that managed Broadway, Off-Broadway, and touring companies. He began his career as a stage manager of Broadway productions.

With Nello McDaniel, he has co-authored a number of publications, including the following:
Leading Arts Boards
Growing Audiences
Arts Planning: A Dynamic Balance

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Minh Tran
Born in Vietnam, Minh Tran immigrated to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee. In addition to receiving dance training in classical Vietnamese Opera at the National School of Fine and Performing Arts in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), he holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Washington and Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration / Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis from Portland State University. Tran is the artistic director of Minh Tran & Company (www.mtdance.org), a contemporary dance company based in Portland, Oregon. His approach to contemporary movement draws from his Vietnamese cultural background and embodies his dedication to removing cultural and racial barriers. Tran has been commissioned by an array of both classical and contemporary dance companies with his work being performed nationally and internationally. A sought-after dance educator, Tran is a 2005 recipient of the Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Award. Minh Tran & Company will be performing at PSU Lincoln Hall as part of the Dance/USA 2006 Showcases June 23/24 @ 8PM.

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Ms. Uprichard has served on the Boards of Dance/USA and Movement Research. She has been a frequent panelist and site visitor as well as co-chairing the New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Awards Committee. In 2001, she was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture.

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Luis Valverde
Luis Valverde (Peruvian musician, dancer and researcher of Andean Art) comes from a family of artists. He began his career in 1991 under Master of Music Americo, Valencia Chacon, and dance Master Edgar Meza Arestegui. Valverde has been Director of the Conjunto de Zamponas of the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos. He has also been a member of Brisas Del Titicaca, the Center for Peruvian Music Research (CIDEMP), the International Dance Council (CID-UNESCO) and participated in many festivals and events. Valverde became the Director of Ballet Antakella in the Tradicion Peruana Cultural Center in San Francisco in 2000. During this time, Valverde also became an instructor of Andean Dance in the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, an artistic advisor for various Peruvian ensembles in the Bay Area, and a choreographic contributor for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and the educational program “People Like Me.” In 2002 Valverde founded the Peruvian Dance Company.

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Prior to forming Genovese Vanderhoof & Associates, Dory Vanderhoof served as Director of Development for the Canadian Opera Company (1978-1989) where he was instrumental in the growth of the company from $2.4 to $15 million. During that period, the COC’s Development Department was considered the model for the Canadian Cultural Sector, introducing new techniques and programs to Canada, which lead to the development of the largest corporate sponsorship program, individual patron and major gifts programs in the country.

Dory is proud of being part of the senior management team that introduced “Surtitles” to opera, a process that is currently embraced by every major opera company throughout the world and is credited for opera’s ever expanding audience reach.

After receiving his BA in Music from Bucknell University and his MBA from the special arts management institute of the State University of New York, Dory worked as a Music Program Analyst Intern for the New York State Council on the Arts.

Dory has served as the Director of the Professional Opera Companies of Canada (now Opera.ca), and as a board member of Opera Atelier, the Danny Grossman Dance Company, the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives (Association of Fund Raising Professionals), the Association of Cultural Executives and as a member of Canada Council’s National Tax Task Force. He has been a panelist for the Ohio State Arts Council and the Canada Council and a faculty member of Confederation College and the University of Waterloo. He is proud of having trained more than 200 arts professionals through the University of Waterloo and Cultural Careers Council Ontario “Income Managers Program” which he founded with partner Margaret Genovese. He is currently a board member of the League of Historic Theatres, where he is able to pursue his interest in historic restoration and adaptive reuse.

Trained as a saxophonist, music director and arranger, Dory has played back-up for many artists including, Bobby Rydell, the Coasters, the Drifters, the Platters and Little Anthony and the Imperials. He fondly recalls his time spent as music director of BJRE (Bucknell Jazz and Rock Ensemble) on the bus touring Europe and North America.

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Deborah Brooks Vaughan
Deborah Brooks Vaughan is the Artistic Director, Principal Choreographer and co-founder of Dimensions Dance Theater, a contemporary dance company that was founded in Oakland, California in 1972 to promote public awareness of the central role that African Americans have played in defining American Art, culture, and social change. The Company also hosts a community based dance program for bay area youth. Deborah is strongly committed to artistic collaboration, and has worked with an eclectic mix of internationally recognized performing and creative artists. Her contributions to dance and to the community have been commended by numerous commissions and awards. She has received two choreography fellowships from NEA, two Izzies awards, a Channel 7/KGO Jefferson Award for Community Leadership in The Arts and recently was inducted into the Womens’ Hall of Fame for Arts and Culture by Alameda Health Foundation. Deborah received her M.A. in dance from Mills College. She has traveled and studied dance/culture in West Africa, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil and Trinidad.

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Eduardo Vilaro
Eduardo Vilaro, dancer, choreographer and teacher was born in Havana, Cuba, and grew up in New York City. He received his training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance School and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and then received his BFA from Adelphi University in 1988. He was a principle dancer with Ballet Hispanico of New York and has taught and toured throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America, and the Middle East. In 1999 Mr. Vilaro received a Masters degree from Columbia College and founded Luna Negra Dance Theater for which he has created over 20 original works. He has also received commissions to create works for Ravinia Festival, Chicago Sinfonietta, Lexington Ballet, New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble, Civic Ballet, and Same Planet Different World. Eduardo was a recipient of a 2001 Ruth Page Award in choreography and was honored at Panama's II International Festival of Ballet for his choreographic work. In 2004 he was honored with a grant award from the Cuban Artists Fund and a Choreography Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council. He has been on the faculty of the Dance Center of Columbia College and the Chicago Academy of the Arts and currently serves on the board directors of Dance/USA.

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Huong T. Vu
Huong T. Vu is the arts and culture program officer at the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The Foundation awards approximately $30M annually to the Pacific Northwest (AK, WA, OR, ID and MT) with $6-8M designated to the arts. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2002, Huong was the guest curator at On the Boards, director of grants programs at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and organizer of visual arts exhibitions. Huong graduated from the University of Washington where she studied business administration and visual arts; and was a recipient of an NEA Arts Management Fellowship. Huong is an active member of Philanthropy Northwest and Grantmakers in the Arts, as well as a practicing studio artist (ceramics).

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Brenda Way
Brenda Way, Artistic Director, trained at The School of American Ballet. She created ODC/San Francisco and built the ODC Dance Commons, a community performance and training campus in San Francisco. Her commissions include On a Train Heading South (CSU Monterey) Remnants of Song, (Stanford Lively Arts) Scissors Paper Stone (Alvin Ailey) Western Women (Cal Performances, Rutgers, Jacob's Pillow); Ghosts of an Old Ceremony (Walker Art Center, Minnesota Orchestra); Krazy Kat (San Francisco Ballet); This Point in Time (Oakland Ballet); Tamina (San Francisco Performances); and Invisible Cities ( Stanford Lively Arts and Stanford Robotics Research Laboratory.)Ms. Way has received 20 years of NEA support and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the mother of four children.

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June Wilson
June Wilson , a native of California, currently lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is currently the chief operations officer for the National Performance Network, a national organization that supports the creation and touring of contemporary performing arts. Prior to her work with NPN, she served as the CEO for Minnesota Dance Alliance/DanceToday, a state wide service organization and presenter. Ms. Wilson was also the founder, artistic director, choreographer and performer of her Minneapolis based dance company “Circle of Choice Ensemble” from 1993-1998. She has served on panels for the NEA, been an advisor for the National Dance Project and is on the Board of Dance/USA.

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Reggie Wilson
Reggie Wilson founded, Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group in 1989. Wilson brings post-modern structure and his own contemporary movement style to movement languages of the blues, slave and spiritual cultures of Africans in the Americas to create "post-African/Neo-HooDoo Modern dance." His work has been presented nationally and internationally. Wilson received a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts - NYU. His work has been supported by numerous foundations including the NEA, The Rockefeller Foundation, the NPN's Creation Fund, and The National Dance Project to name a few. In 2002 Wilson received a BESSIE and was named a Guggenheim Fellow.

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San San Wong
With 20+ years experience, San San Wong is a consultant working in strategic planning, developing and managing new initiatives, and organizing and facilitating convenings. Some current and recent projects: NDP/NEFA’s Regional Dance Development Initiative and a Cultural Mapping Initiative, both working with San Francisco Bay Area traditional and tradition-inspired dance artists; Asia Society’s investigation of artistic production in U.S. immigrant and diasporic communities; La Peña Cultural Center’s “Future Aesthetics: Hip Hop & Contemporary Performance”; co-curating Melbourne International Arts Festival’s international presenters convening; strategic planning with Res Artis, an international network of artist residency centers; and development of an Asian region network centered on artist mobility and exchange.

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Cathy Zimmerman
Cathy Zimmerman danced professionally for twenty years in New York City with numerous artists/companies including Meredith Monk/The House, Ping Chong and the Fiji Company, Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks and Marta Renzi/The Project Company. She taught dance and choreography at Long Island University for seven years and has guest taught at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing.

Since 1989, Ms. Zimmerman has worked with U.S. and international performing artists and arts organizations in various capacities including producing, curating, project development and management, artist representation, public relations and fundraising. She was Artistic Director of SoHo Booking, a non-profit performing arts touring and management program from 1992-1996 when she moved the SoHo Booking operations to Pentacle and was Producing Director for Bebe Miller Company from 1998-2000.

Since 1998, Zimmerman has been Co-Director and Producer of MultiArts Projects & Productions, a New York City-based arts organization that produces and manages national and international arts programs and established artists while developing new ways for artists to continue working in a supportive environment. MAPP is a founding member and general manager of the Africa Consortium.

Ms. Zimmerman has served on review panels for state and regional arts organizations, conducted a lecture series on marketing for the arts, been part of a pilot program for training artist managers, consulted with artistic directors and their administrators and mentored emerging artists. Zimmerman holds a B.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland/College Park.

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