Dance Forum MIDWEST Speakers

Christine Tschida has recently returned to work as an artist representative, working with Joyce Theater Productions and Belsher Arts Management of Canada. She spent the past seven years as Director of Northrop at The University of Minnesota, re-opening the facility after a major renovation. There, she was the presenter of the acclaimed Northrop Dance series, with a focus on nationally and internationally recognized work, often performed with live orchestra or other live musical accompaniment. She embraced the opportunity to present approximately 10 different large scale ballet and contemporary dance companies annually, and introduced a film series to accompany those engagements. She served as guest curator for The Joyce Theater's 2018 American Dance Platform. 

As an agent, Christine spent ten years with Rena Shagan Associates in New York, known for its prestigious roster of American and International Dance. 

She spent 11 years as producer of Garrison Keillor’s popular public radio program, A Prairie Home Companion, creating live broadcasts from hundreds of different venues in every state in the US, as well as international broadcasts from Berlin, London, Dublin, Limerick, and Edinburgh. 

Christine also worked on international theater exchanges for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, taking Peter Brook’s production of The Cherry Orchard to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tblisi and Tokyo.   As Director of Special Projects for Peter Sellars’ American National Theater at The Kennedy Center, she arranged for presentations and exchanges with the Haifa Municipal Theater of Israel, Dario Fo, The Wilma Theatre, and The La Jolla Playhouse.  Her experience producing tours began here in Minneapolis at The Guthrie Theater, where, as Director of Outreach Programs, she produced the most extensive national tour the theater had even undertaken.

Krista Bradley is Director of Programs and Resources at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), the national service organization for the performing arts presenting industry.  At APAP she’s responsible for the professional development programming for the annual conference as well as year-round programs, leadership development initiatives, regranting programs , and resources that advance the skills, knowledge and capabilities of APAP's membership. Prior to APAP, she was Executive and Artistic Director of BlackRock Center for the Arts, a nonprofit multidisciplinary arts center in Maryland, and Program Officer of Performing Arts for Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She brings more than twenty years of experience working in the nonprofit, performing arts, and philanthropy sectors as a curator, funder, arts administrator and consultant for organizations such as the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Walker Arts Center, Houston Grand Opera and Opera America.  Krista is also a practicing musician and former board member of APAP.  She holds a B.A. degree in Literature and Society from Brown University.

Kristen Brogdon joined the staff of Northrop at the University of Minnesota in June 2019 as Director of Programming. She curates Northrop’s Dance and Music Series and leads the organization’s artistic vision and planning. From 2015-2019 she directed the Office of the Arts at UNC Wilmington where she founded the Lumina Festival of the Arts in the Summer of 2017. At UNCW she also curated the UNCW Presents series including Seahawk Family Arts Matinees, coordinated events in collaboration with five academic arts departments, and oversaw UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium.  For two years she was UNCW’s Interim AVC for Community Engagement, managing community partnerships, scholarly engagement, and four departments that engage with campus & community partners. Prior to her time in Wilmington, Ms. Brogdon spent almost eight years at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago as Artistic Administrator and General Manager, and nine years at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. At Hubbard Street, she managed the operations of one of America’s leading contemporary dance institutions, overseeing finance, facilities, human resources, artistic planning and touring. She facilitated collaborations with major Chicago cultural institutions including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Art Institute of Chicago, The Second City, and Illinois Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture. During her tenure at the Kennedy Center, Ms. Brogdon was respon¬sible for programming the facility’s unparalleled ballet and contemporary dance season. She man¬aged the Suzanne Farrell Ballet from its incep¬tion in September 2001 and was instrumental in the creation and growth of the Metro D.C. Dance Awards. Ms. Brogdon also created and produced a commissioning program for local choreographers, facilitating work by 20 artists from D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Ms. Brogdon holds a masters of arts in business with a concentration in arts administration from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor of arts in economics from Duke University. She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband David and children Sol and Nicholas, and she knows that art and artists have the power to change the world.

Shane Fernando is the executive & artistic director of the Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College.  This venue is the largest and most technologically advanced performing arts center in eastern North Carolina, presenting national Broadway and headlining tours, as well as a series devoted to dance.  He previously served at UNC Wilmington, as Director of Campus Life Arts and Programs and taught as an adjunct professor in the UNCW Department of Communication Studies. 

Fernando earned a communication studies degree and a master's degree in public administration from UNC Wilmington.  As senior class president, he conceived and spearheaded the concept and fundraising for the UNCW Millennium Clock Tower, which still is the largest student organized gift project in the nation.  After graduation he moved to Washington, DC to work in the U.S. Senate.  He serves as a trustee for Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts and is also the programming consultant for the Hall, overseeing the booking of the Main Attractions Series. 

Fernando serves as a trustee for Dance/USA and serves on the North Carolina Arts Council Choreography Fellowship Panel.  He has served for the last three years as an advisor to the National Dance Project by the New England Foundation for the Arts.  He is also a founding cohort member of the South Arts Dance Touring Initiative, advocating for the dance genre across the American South. 

In addition, Fernando serves as president of the North Carolina Presenters Consortium, is a public arts commentator for WHQR Public Radio and a member of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).  He has been a director, property master, and actor in over 150 Wilmington theatre productions. 

Shane is also a backyard beekeeper. 

Back to Dance Forum MIDWEST page

PART II: Marketing Dance Snapshots

Charles Santos, TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND, Executive Director/Artistic Director, has had an extensive career in the field of presenting, performing and producing. He studied dance at UT Austin and danced with Sharir Dance Company for 9 years. He founded the Austin Festival of Dance, benefiting AIDS Services of Austin in 1992, which ran for 10 years.  Mr. Santos moved to New York in 1995 as the Managing Director/Development Director for Eos Orchestra. After two years producing concerts at New York’s Lincoln Center, recordings and books, he became the Producing Director for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA), a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. At DRA, he produced events with such luminaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bill T. Jones and Bebe Neuwirth, as well as creating national grass-roots fundraising programs with dance students across the country. Before coming to Dallas, he was the Managing Director/Associate Producer for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council producing the highly acclaimed Evening Stars series at the World Trade Center. Evening Stars was named as “Best of New York” festivals for the extraordinarily high caliber of music and dance artists being presented annually on the plaza of the World Trade Center. Mr. Santos moved to Dallas October 2001 as Executive Director/Artistic Director of TITAS. He brought a wealth of experience, energy, connections, collaborations and initiatives to Dallas. Mr. Santos has served on many local and national boards including Dance/USA, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, DRA National Advisory Board and Booker T Washington HSPVA Advisory Board, Dallas Arts District. He continues to regularly work with the National Endowment of the Arts and the Texas Commission of the Arts and many cities reviewing grants and cultural collaboration projects. Mr. Santos created a new business model for TITAS with the AT&T Performing Arts Center that has flourished and has generated a wide array of new works, commissions and cultural collaborations. Now TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND, the company continues to expand the North Texas cultural landscape, create cultural collaborations and building upon important international relationships for the organization and our city. 

Indira Goodwine is the new Program Director for Dance at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) where she directs NEFA’s National Dance Project and major dance initiatives in New England. With a dual background in dance and arts administration, Indira most recently served as the Managing Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD, Inc.) for the past two and a half years, and served as the Company Manager for several years prior. At CABD, Inc., she shepherded the organization through the attainment of 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, established of the organization’s founding Board of Directors, enhanced the institutional and individual fundraising efforts, increased the budget by at least 30% per year since 2012, and provided oversight of the development, implementation and continued growth of CABD’s dance engagement program, “EVERY BODY MOVE.” Prior to her leadership role with CABD, Inc., Indira held positions at Harlem Stage, collaborating with operations, community partnerships, finance, and programming of the annual dance program, “E-Moves.” A 2016 New York Community Trust Fellow, she has participated in notable programs, such as the American Express Leadership Academy and Dance/USA’s DILT Program, contributed to various panel discussions within the field of dance, and received several awards and citations for her work professionally and within her community. Indira holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Florida State University and an MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University.

Jay Peterson, Director of Marketing & Special Events - Dayton Contemporary Dance Company since 2009, has over twenty-five years experience in non-profit marketing, public relations, fundraising & special events. A true 'generalist' - working all areas of fund-raising, event planning, and marketing. Venues include: higher education, arts organizations, social service organizations. Assisting non-profits in their over-all marketing, volunteer management, events management, donor services, social media and fund-raising goals. An avid volunteer who applies his education & work experience to assist other non-profits including church, March of Dimes, Dayton Children's Hospital and over 8 years with the Miss Ohio organization. Specialty? - Marketing on a dime! 

Back to Dance Forum MIDWEST page