SPEAKERS

Jamie Bennett, Chief of Staff and Director of Public Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts

Jamie Bennett is Chief of Staff and Director of Public Affairs at the National Endowment for the Arts. Previously, Jamie was Chief of Staff at the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Agnes Gund Foundation, and to the President of Columbia University. He also worked in fundraising at The Museum of Modern Art, the New York Philharmonic, and Columbia College. Before entering the public sector, Jamie served on the boards of the HERE Arts Center, Art 21, and No-Pants Theatre Company; and was a founding co-chair of Studio in a School’s Associates Committee and Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s Foot-in-the-Door Committee.

Vin Cipolla, President, Municipal Art Society of New York

Vin Cipolla is recognized for his business and civic entrepreneurship, having achieved parallel successes in the private and public sectors. He has served on more than twenty-five nonprofit boards and nine corporate boards. A six-time corporate CEO, he has founded three successful companies in the media, marketing and technology fields, developing and overseeing global operations. In early 2009, he became President of the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS), having been elected to its Board in 2008. Previously he was President and CEO of the National Park Foundation (which is a Presidential appointment), and then served as the foundation’s Citizen Chairman until 2011. Twelve years earlier, Mr. Cipolla was Executive Vice President and Publisher of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Prior to his appointment with the National Park Foundation, Mr. Cipolla was in business serving as a President and CEO with Fidelity, and served on two Fidelity boards, Fidelity Charitable Services, Inc. and Veritude LLC, through 2007, as well as serving as Board Chairman of HNW. He began his career with Avon and Warner Communications (now Time Warner) in New York City. Also among his many charitable endeavors, he was Board Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, spearheading the development of the museum’s stunning new building on Boston Harbor. Past trustee appointments have also included Clark University, the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, the Orton Foundation, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he was Vice Chairman. In addition to Municipal Art Society, he currently serves on the nonprofit boards of the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy, Ballet Hispanico and The Christie’s Charity.

Anne Coates, Vice President, Arts and Cultural Development, Municipal Art Society of New York

Arthur Cohen, Chief Executive Officer, LaPlaca Cohen

As President and Chief Executive Officer of LaPlaca Cohen, Arthur consults directly with major arts organizations throughout the world, working with both
staff and Board members on communications and strategic planning issues. He is recognized as instrumental in advancing the field of cultural branding and organizational vision development through his professional, academic, and lecturing activities. These include speaking engagements to cultural professionals throughout the United States and Europe, and serving as Associate Professor at New York University, where he teaches Cultural Branding—a course he created for graduate students in NYU's Visual Arts Administration program. He also oversees LaPlaca Cohen's ongoing research study, known as Culture Track, which tracks the shifting attitudes and behaviors of cultural audiences in the United States. Arthur is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania.

Tim Cynova, Deputy Director, Fractured Atlas

Tim Cynova is Fractured Atlas's Deputy Director. Prior to joining Fractured Atlas, he served as the Executive Director of The Parsons Dance Company and of High 5 Tickets to the Arts. Before coming to New York, Tim worked for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Association for the Advancement of Arts Education, and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. In his relative free time, he co-hosts #SKYNOVA: The only Internet TV program featuring culture warriors in their native habitat (http://skynova.tv). He holds a degree in Music History from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Certificate in Global Affairs from New York University.

Emma Dunch, President, Dunch Arts, LLC

Dunch Arts (www.duncharts.com) is a New York-based leader in management consulting for arts and cultural organizations that specializes in hands-on interim management, fundraising consulting, executive search, organizational strategic planning, and Board development. Its dance clients include The Joyce Theater Foundation, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dance/NYC, Dance Theater of Harlem, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Ballet Hispanico, among others; dance projects have been funded by national philanthropies and featured in The New York Times’ Sunday Arts & Leisure section. Its president, Emma Dunch, has also worked across the United States with organizations including the Aspen Music Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, International Contemporary Ensemble, Jazz at Lincoln Center, League of American Orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, San Francisco Symphony, and WNYC: New York Public Radio. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Bachelor of Music Performance in Opera, and is a graduate of the League of American Orchestra’s Orchestral Management Fellowship Program. She trained as an interim executive director at New York’s Support Center for Non-Profit Management, and has undertaken advanced studies at New York University’s Heymann Center for Philanthropy and at the American Management Association. She founded Dunch Arts, LLC in 2008.

Jennifer Edwards, Change Management Consultant, Edwards & Skybetter | Change Agency

Jennifer Edwards is a consultant specializing in messaging, organizational change, and leadership. She is also a choreographer, writer and culture critic. She writes for various publications including The Huffington Post, In Dance, and From the Greenroom, on topics including innovation in dance, shifting culture, and the positive impact of technology. Her work as a stress management expert has been featured in the New York Times, Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Magazine, and an app that Edwards has developed called home/body. The founder of JenEd Productions (jened.com), Jennifer enjoys pairing her passions for dance, multi-media content, and exploring new ways to activate audiences. Additionally, she is a founding partner at Edwards & Skybetter | Change Agency (edwardsandskybetter.com), a next-generation strategic planning consultancy emphasizing positioning, technology, product development, organizational transparency, and change management. Her client list includes national organizations such as American Heart Association, and The Girl Scouts of America, Mark Morris Dance Group, and the Oklahoma City Ballet.

Gina Gibney, Artistic Director, Gibney Dance Center

Gina Gibney has created a repertory of dance works that have been presented and commissioned by prestigious venues in the US and abroad, including Danspace Project, White Bird Dance, the Yale Repertory Theater, The Joyce Theater, the Guggenheim Museum, L’Agora de la Danse and internationale tanzmesse nrw. Considered a pioneer in connecting the arts with the broader community, her company’s Community Action Programs have reached thousands of domestic violence survivors, individuals affected by HIV/AIDS and youth-at-risk. She is the founder of Gibney Dance Center, a seven-studio facility at 890 Broadway that serves the dance field with classes, space and unique programming. Gibney proudly serves on the Boards of Danspace Project and the Advisory Committee of Dance/NYC. She has received recognition and support from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York Community Trust and many others. Gibney graduated with high honors and received a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Case Western Reserve University. www.gibneydance.org

Brandon Gryde, Director of Government Affairs, Dance/USA and OPERA America

Brandon Gryde, director of government affairs at Dance/USA and OPERA America, works on numerous issues that impact the field of nonprofit, professional dance including arts appropriations, tax policy, and international exchange. He was previously the Director of Communications for Youth Service America, a national youth engagement organization, and Director of Publications at Jump Street, a community arts organization in Harrisburg, PA, where he ran a variety of arts education programs for youth and adults. Brandon has a B.A. in Ethnomusicology and American Literature and Culture from UCLA and an M.A. in American Studies from Penn State.

Lane Harwell, Director, Dance/NYC

Lane became director of Dance/NYC in September, 2010. Prior to joining Dance/NYC, he was the director of development at New York’s arts-wide advocacy group, the Alliance for the Arts. His lifelong history in the arts also includes training at the School of American Ballet, a performance career with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, and management experience in diverse theater and service contexts. Lane attended the Professional Children’s School while performing with ABT. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Princeton University and an MA in Performance Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School, focusing on the applicability of for-profit management approaches to the nonprofit sector. Lane chairs the Steering Committee for the New York Dance and Performance Awards (aka the Bessie Awards). He is also a member of the Steering Committee for the New York City Arts Coalition and of the Policy Leadership Circle for the Cultural Strategies Initiative.

Robert Johnson, Dance Critic, The Star-Ledger and Former Board Member, Dance Critics Association

Robert Johnson is staff dance critic for “The Star-Ledger,” in Newark, New Jersey. For more than 25 years he has written about the New York and international dance scenes for daily papers, trade magazines, books and scholarly journals. He has taught and lectured on dance history and criticism; and has worked as an editor for “Dance Magazine” and “Pointe Magazine.” He trained in ballet with Nina Youshkevitch; and holds a master’s degree in Performance Studies from New York University. In 2005 Dance New Jersey, the local service organization, awarded him its first “Dance Advocate Award.” He is a past board member and vice-president of the Dance Critics Association.

Julia Kelly, Dancer and Former Junior Committee Chair

Kerry McCarthy, Program Officer for Education, Arts & Human Justice, The New York Community Trust

Before joining The Trust in 2009, Kerry ran a consulting company serving City nonprofit arts organizations. She has more than twenty years experience in museum and performing arts administration with organizations as varied as the Queens Museum of Art and Jim Henson Productions. She has curated exhibitions for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts. Kerry holds an M.A. in Folk Art Studies from New York University and B.A. from Sewanee: The University of the South. She is a graduate of Coro's Leadership New York Program, and serves as co-chair of the City’s Dance Funders Group.

Terence McFarland, Executive Director, LA Stage Alliance

Ian David Moss, Research Director, Fractured Atlas

As Research Director for Fractured Atlas, Ian David Moss helps funders, government agencies, and others support the field more effectively by harnessing the power of data to drive informed decision-making. Ian designed and leads implementation of Fractured Atlas's pioneering cultural asset mapping software, Archipelago, which aggregates and visualizes information about creative activities in a particular geography in order to better illuminate who's making art, who's engaging with it, where it's happening, and how it's made possible. Since 2007, he has also been editor of Createquity, a highly acclaimed arts policy blog read regularly by nearly 2,000 arts managers and enthusiasts around the world. Previously, he was Development Manager for the American Music Center and founded two first-of-their-kind performing ensembles: a hybrid electric chamber group/experimental rock band and a choral collective devoted to the music of the past 25 years. He holds BA and MBA degrees from Yale University.

Wendy Perron, Editor-in-Chief, Dance Magazine

Wendy Perron is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and currently the editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine. Perron graduated from Bennington College in 1969. She began her career in New York as a choreographer and dancer with the Trisha Brown Dance Company (1975 to 1978) and studied with Twyla Tharp. Perron has taught dance and related studies at Bennington College, Princeton University, NYU, Rutgers and City College of New York. She also led the Wendy Perron Dance Company from 1983 to 1994 and was a Senior Fellow of The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School. Perron has written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Ballet Review, and the Dance Research Journal. She joined the editorial staff of Dance Magazine in 2000 and became its editor-in-chief in 2004. In April, 2011, she was one of three artists inducted into New York Foundation for the Arts' inaugural Hall of Fame.

Carla Peterson, Artistic Director, New York Live Arts

Kaylen Ratto, Director of External Affairs, Youth American Grand Prix

Kaylen Ratto is the Director of External Affairs at Youth America Grand Prix, an international ballet competition and scholarship program which provides extraordinary educational and professional opportunities to young dancers, acting as a stepping stone to a professional dance career. Kaylen oversees the organizations PR, Marketing, Special Events and Development. Kaylen was previously the Gala and Client Outreach Coordinator at Career Transition For Dancers. Kaylen is also developing a line of dancewear for full-figured women with ABT soloist, Misty Copeland. Kaylen was previously a Teaching Artist in Washington, DC to over 500 students (children and adults) in all levels of ballet, creative movement, modern and tap techniques. Kaylen is originally from Southern California and received a BA in Dance, minor in Education from the University of California, Irvine. This is her second year on the Dance/NYC Junior Committee.

Lisa Robb, Executive Director, New York State Council on the Arts

Lisa Robb joined NYSCA after a long career as an executive in arts organizations. Most recently she served for 11 years as Director of the Pelham Art Center, a community arts center in Westchester County. During her tenure there, she launched the organization's web site; expanded public participation; developed dozens of program partnerships; and completed a facility renovation. She was also Director of Operations at both the Bronx Museum of the Arts and The Friends of Photography/Ansel Adams Center in San Francisco, CA. Lisa received a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and completed The Getty Trust's Museum Management Institute.

Lesley Rosenthal, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lesley Rosenthal is the author of Good Counsel: Meeting the Legal Needs of Nonprofits (John Wiley & Sons 2012). Newly released in January 2012, Good Counsel is already a Bestseller on Amazon's lists for both nonprofit management and corporate law. Ms. Rosenthal leads the legal, governance, and compliance functions of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. Since 2005, she has fashioned the legal context for the renowned arts center's world-class cultural and educational offerings, its entrepreneurial initiatives in media, fashion, and international consulting, and the $1.2 billion redevelopment of its iconic physical complex. For 13 years, she was in private practice as a business, litigation, and technology lawyer at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Manhattan. Rosenthal has served in many roles throughout the nonprofit sector, including for the New York State Bar Association and its Foundation. She began her professional engagements with nonprofits as a board member and outside pro bono General Counsel of the Doug Elkins Dance Company in the early 1990s. Rosenthal graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. The National Organization for Women (NOW-nyc) has named her a "Woman of Power and Influence," and the Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel has named her Counsel of the Year for Excellence in the Arts. Follow her on Twitter @GoodCounselBook or find her on Facebook at facebook.com/GoodCounselBook.

Brian Seibert, Dance Critic, The New York Times

Brian Seibert is a dance critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. His reviews, features, and essays have appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Sun, Slate, Dance Magazine, and The Threepenny Review. He has published three children’s books about dance, and is completing What The Eye Hears, a history of tap dance for Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. He teaches writing at Columbia University.

Sydney Skybetter, Technology Consultant, Edwards & Skybetter | Change Agency

Sydney Skybetter is a choreographer, curator, and consultant for performing arts organizations. After studying at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Columbia, and New York University, Skybetter performed with Christopher Williams and the Anna Sokolow Foundation. His choreography has been presented in New York at The Joyce Theater, The Joyce SoHo, Dance Theater Workshop / New York Live Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and The Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, among many others. Skybetter is a founding partner at Edwards & Skybetter | Change Agency, which provides product development, brand management and technology consulting for such international organizations as the Mark Morris Dance Group and The Fresh Arts Coalition, and has written about performance history and technology for the Ballet Review and The Huffington Post. He is a Producer with the Dance [NOW] NYC Festival, a teacher for the NYU Tisch Dance Department, and a lecturer on Dance History for the LEAP Program at St. Mary’s College. Skybetter serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Gotham Arts Exchange / Zia Artists, and as the Founding Chairman of the Technology Committee for the Board of Trustees of Dance/USA. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography from New York University.

Victoria Smith, Manger of Research, Dance/USA

Gus Solomons, Jr., Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Writer and Arts Professor at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, Paradigm

Gus Solomons Jr. dances, makes dances, writes about dance for Dance Magazine, Gay City News, and www.solomons-says.com, and teaches dance as an Arts Professor at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. He has a degree in architecture from M.I.T. and danced with Pearl Lang, Donald McKayle, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham, among others. He created the leading role in Donald Byrd/The Group’s nationally acclaimed The Harlem Nutcracker; in 2000, received a N. Y. Dance and Performance Award (a.k.a. "Bessie") for Sustained Achievement in Choreography; in 2001, the first Robert A. Muh Award for a distinguished M.I.T. artist/alumnus; in 2004, the American Dance Festival’s Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching; in 2006-7, he was a national Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. And in 2010, he received another Bessie Award for PARADIGM, his troupe of dancers over 50. He bicycles everywhere.

Elizabeth Streb, Chairman of STREB, Inc. and Artistic Director for STREB Lab for Action Mechanics, Action Architect

Elizabeth Streb is a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius’ Award (1997) and a member of the New York City Mayor’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission. She holds a Master of Arts from New York University and wrote the book STREB: How to Become an Extreme Action Hero (2010, Feminist Press). Streb has been a featured speaker, presenting her Keynote lectures at such places as the Institute for Technology and Education (ISTE), POPTECH, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in conversation with Brian Greene. In 2003, Streb established The STREB Lab for Action Mechanics in Brooklyn, NY (www.streb.org). And in 2011, STREB was commissioned by the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Mayor of London to participate in the London 2012 Festival.

Edwin Torres, Associate Director for New York City Opportunities Fund, Rockefeller Foundation

Edwin Torres joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 2009. As Associate Director for New York City Opportunities Fund, Mr. Torres oversees the foundation’s commitment to New York City including the Cultural Innovation Fund and the Jane Jacobs Medal. The fund also supports NYC’s economically vulnerable through equitable access to employment opportunities as well as addressing the integration of climate mitigation and adaptation into NYC’s communities. Mr. Torres also leads the foundation’s Philanthropic Sector portfolio, which aims to expand the reach and impact of philanthropic practice. Mr. Torres also serves on the fund through which the foundation builds learning about and the capacity for innovation for the non-profit field. Prior to joining the Foundation, Mr. Torres was Director of External Partnerships for Parsons The New School for Design, where he cultivated and managed faculty and student design projects with outside organizations and companies. Before that, he served as Program Associate for Arts and Culture at The Ford Foundation. Prior, Mr. Torres served as Director of Longwood Art Project, the visual art facility of The Bronx Council on the Arts. Mr. Torres holds a master’s degree in Art History from Hunter College and one in Management from The New School.

SMART BAR TENDERS
 

Helene Blieberg, Principal, Helene Blieberg Associates LLC
Specialties: Board Development, Communications, Governance, Management, Marketing, Strategic Planning
Helene Blieberg has been providing management, communication and grantmaking services to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, corporations, and foundations since 2001. She is a specialist in working with organizations undergoing transitions and has served as Interim Executive Director for seven nonprofits. She is currently working with Ballet Hispanico in that capacity. Helene spent 18 years with CBS, having held management positions in philanthropy, communications, media relations, sales development and promotion. She served as Vice President and Executive Director of the CBS Foundation and as Vice President of Communications for the company’s national radio division. She has also been a marketing and sales executive in the hospitality industry and was an account executive at a New York public relations firm. A frequent speaker and presenter, Helene regularly leads public programs and workshops in arts management, leadership, communications and grantmaking. She devotes time and expertise to the boards of service organizations across the nonprofit field and currently serves on the Board of Directors or advisory boards of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, the Coro New York Leadership Center, the Support Center for Nonprofit Management, the Arts and Business Council, and the University at Buffalo’s Alumni Association.

Ada Ciniglio, Principal, The Ciniglio Company
Specialties: Communications, Fundraising, Management, Strategic Planning
Ada Ciniglio, principal of The Ciniglio Company, acts as consultant to corporations and client institutions in planning, directing and implementing development, marketing, public relations, and promotion initiatives. She has wide experience in nonprofit management, board development, fundraising, communications and education. Throughout her more than 40 years of work experience, she has managed hundreds of print projects—from concept to final product. Preceding its merger with ArtsConnection, she was the founder and executive director of High 5 Tickets to the Arts, for which work she was recognized by the Arts and Business Council with its Arts Manager of the Year award. Currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Design at Pratt she serves as Treasurer of the Board and on the Executive Committee of ArtTable and on the Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Directors of ArtsConnection.

Emma Dunch, President, Dunch Arts, LLC
Specialties: Board Development, Fundraising, Marketing, Strategic Planning
Dunch Arts (www.duncharts.com) is a New York-based leader in management consulting for arts and cultural organizations that specializes in hands-on interim management, fundraising consulting, executive search, organizational strategic planning, and Board development. Its dance clients include The Joyce Theater Foundation, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dance/NYC, Dance Theater of Harlem, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Ballet Hispanico, among others; dance projects have been funded by national philanthropies and featured in The New York Times’ Sunday Arts & Leisure section. Its president, Emma Dunch, has also worked across the United States with organizations including the Aspen Music Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, International Contemporary Ensemble, Jazz at Lincoln Center, League of American Orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, San Francisco Symphony, and WNYC: New York Public Radio. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Bachelor of Music Performance in Opera, and is a graduate of the League of American Orchestra’s Orchestral Management Fellowship Program. She trained as an interim executive director at New York’s Support Center for Non-Profit Management, and has undertaken advanced studies at New York University’s Heymann Center for Philanthropy and at the American Management Association. She founded Dunch Arts, LLC in 2008.

Lauren Gibbs, Development Director, Jose Limon Dance Foundation and Development Consultant
Specialties: Board Development, Development Strategy, General Management
Lauren Gibbs joined Jose Limon Dance Foundation as Development Director in September 2011. In this capacity, she oversees strategy and implementation for all areas of fundraising, including individual giving and board development, institutional giving, and special events. Previously, she served as Deputy Director of Development at Ballet Hispanico. Working with a wonderful External Affairs team during her four-year tenure at BH, she helped lead efforts that increased contributed income by over $1M and brought in new capital support to renovate the building and purchase essential production equipment. In her spare time, she enjoys the challenge of providing development and general administrative consulting for other dance companies in NYC such as Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Company Stefanie Batten Bland, Gallim Dance, Malcolm Low, and Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, among others. She has served as a guest professor at Brooklyn College’s Masters Program for Theater Management and as a dance grant panelist for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Gibbs received her M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from N.Y.U. and a dual Bachelors Degree in Dance/Theatre and International Business/French concentration from James Madison University.

Ellen Mittenthal, Arts Consultant, Performer and Producer
Specialties: Capital Projects, Individual & Institutional Giving, Organizational Development, Special Events
For over 20 years, Ellen Mittenthal has worked extensively as a strategic consultant, producer, performer, and arts administrator. She has consulted with more than fifty theatre, music, dance, arts education and arts service organizations in New York City, providing leadership and direction in strategic and capital planning, organizational development, institutional and individual fundraising, board development and governance, special events, marketing and communication. As a consultant to the Alliance of Resident Theatres (A.R.T./New York), she has worked with over two-dozen Off-Broadway theatres as part of their Theatre Leadership Institute, served on funding panels, and created an online Fundraising Guide To Small Theatres. As a benefit consultant, she has spearheaded and produced galas and special events at premiere venues for dozens of non-profits. Also an actress and singer, she has appeared on tv, in musical theater, concerts and cabaret in New York, regionally, and throughout the U.S. With her eclectic experience, she brings a broad and unique perspective and energy to all aspects of arts management.

Molly Penn, President, Penn Consulting
Specialties: Board Development, Organizational Development, Strategic Planning
Molly Penn (www.pennconsultingllc.com) has over 25 years experience in the nonprofit sector. She has been consulting since 2000 in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, executive coaching, board development and fund raising. Molly has done strategic planning with a variety of organizations in the fields of: the arts; faith groups; environment; human service; and community development. Molly is one of the founding partners of The Consulting Collaborative, a group ofconsultants with complementary expertise working together to improve the capacity of nonprofit organizations and foundations. She also leads workshops at nonprofit capacity-building conferences regularly. Before becoming a consultant, Molly worked at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Actors Studio, and The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a registered fund raising consultant with the NYS Charities Bureau and a member of the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers. She has an M.B.A. in Management from Fordham University, an M.F.A. in Arts Management from Columbia University and a B.A. in Dance from Bard College, and she is trained as a professional coach.

Susan Schear, President, ARTISIN, LLC
Specialties: Business & Strategic Planning, Board Development, Collaboration/Partnerships, Earned Income Opportunities, Marketing/Branding/Identity, Project Planning & Implementation
Susan Koblin Schear, consultant, speaker, educator, and leader, founded ARTISIN, LLC in 1995 to offer comprehensive business development, management and implementation services to the arts and cultural sector. Ms. Schear benefits her clients by customizing services and providing all aspects of goal setting and planning including, strategic, business and marketing. In addition to concentrating on organization and capacity building, she also focuses on board development, membership campaigns, audience development, collaboration/partnerships, earned income opportunities, needs assessment, community development and outreach, cultural tourism, and funding initiatives. She facilitates board retreats, focus group and town hall meetings as well as presenting workshops for artists and arts organizations. Clients include: Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, The ARTS Council of the Southern Fingerlakes, Louisiana State University School of Art, NYSCA, Queens Council on the Arts, Queens College, Center for Books Arts, Newark Arts Council, Louisiana Crafts Guild, and Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. She serves as the National Professional-Development Workshop Consultant for the College Art Association. She is a visiting assistant professor at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Arts and Cultural Management Program for the past nine years, where she is also a thesis advisor. Ms. Schear is an active board trustee. She serves on the advisory committee for ArtsPlan NJ. Ms. Schear has received several awards and honors. In 2010 she was recognized as one of the top 50 Women Business Owners in New Jersey.

Elinor Slomba, Principal, E. Slomba Arts Services
Specialties: Adaptive Planning, Storycraft: Grantwriting, Public Relations, Social Media
Elinor Slomba is a fundraising and strategic planning consultant based in Connecticut. She helps performing arts clients practice visual thinking and storytelling tools used by today’s game-changing corporations. For the past four years she has been modeling, testing and documenting new programs for Benchmark Senior Living, the largest senior living corporation in New England. For five years prior, she wrote grant proposals for Dance/USA, Dance Heritage Coalition and Bates Dance Festival. For Dance/USA she crafted proposals to Mertz Gilmore and Doris Duke Foundations which enabled the formation of Dance/NYC and two other regional branches. She assisted Dance/USA in transitioning Dance/NYC from outsourced fundraising support to an in-house development department. She was Jacob's Pillow's Development Manager for Institutional Support during its $12.5 million Millennium Campaign, and drafted the Pillow's first Open Space Plan concerning management of its 100+ acre campus. She has worked with many performing artists, including the internationally-acclaimed Balkan jazz ensemble Slavic Soul Party, whom she helped travel to Serbia to research folk traditions and broadcast live from what was then the only jazz radio station in the Balkans. She is a contributing member of the International Women's Writers Guild and Lead Organizer for Connecticut Creative Writers Group.

Susan Stedman, Principal, Nonprofit and Philanthropic Management
Specialties: Board Development, Communications, Development, Fiscal Planning, Governance
In recent years Susan Stedman’s consulting practice has been devoted to building the capacity and financial resources of arts, educational, humanitarian and social justice organizations. In this role she conducts strategic planning, facilitates governance and board leadership, marketing and communications; and manages philanthropic campaigns, both annual and capital. She enabled La Napoule Art Foundation to establish its international artists residency program in the south of France; as Executive Director, launched the North American campaign for the British Natural History Museum’s International Trust; directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s annual campaign nationwide; initiated the MGH Institute of Health Professions’ endowment campaign; supervised the national campaign for the American Indian College Fund’s 32 tribal colleges; and managed The Bronx Museum of the Arts’ annual and capital campaigns. Other clients and projects include: Cincinnati Museum; Detroit Historical Museum; Corporate Arts Programs, Metropolitan Life; Joffrey Ballet; Consortium of New England Museums of Art; Lenox Hill Hospital; Asian Americans for Equality; CUE Art Foundation; The Paper Bag Players; Romare Bearden Foundation; The Luther Henderson Scholarship Fund for the Juilliard School; Women’s Refugee Commission; Intl Coalition of Sites of Conscience; College of Labor & Employment Law; and Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art.

Kate Taylor, Principal, Kate Taylor Consulting
Specialties: Board Development, Fundraising & Development
Kate Taylor provides creative development and fundraising services for nonprofit organizations in the arts and culture sector. With a record of securing new funding in a notably difficult climate, Ms. Taylor helps nonprofits generate funds from institutional and individual sources. Ms. Taylor’s company, Kate Taylor Consulting, also provides Board development assistance including facilitating educational and planning retreats for new nonprofit Boards. Previous positions in development include overseeing all fundraising activities at Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts as well as institutional grant writing at New York Foundation for the Arts. She has led workshops on fundraising at DTW, the Queens Council for the Arts, and NYFA. Ms. Taylor has performed for many years with the Nancy Meehan Dance Company. Her choreography has been presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as festivals across the country. Recent highlights of Ms. Taylor’s solo career in dance and comedy includes a partnership with musician Martha C. Galie and the debut of a new solo in Toronto. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College where she studied with Viola Farber.

Leslie Yerman, Principal, Leslie J. Yerman Communications
Specialties: Communications, Management
Leslie J. Yerman is a multifaceted communications consultant, writer/editor and project manager with more than 25 years experience in communications, marketing, special events and administration. With a background in the nonprofit, private and public sectors, Yerman specializes in independent film and the arts, nonprofit organizations and healthcare communications. She helps clients develop communications, fundraising and administrative strategies, writes/edits Internet and print materials and manages communications projects from inception to completion. Clients have included Artisan Baking School (UK), Blue Lotus Acupuncture Center, Bhm Productions, Chalice Well Productions, Collaborative Care Interactive, Heart Valve Society of America, The Howard Gilman Institute for Heart Valve Disease, Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Links Media, Isaac Solotaroff Productions and The Synergos Institute. She was also a pro bono adviser to the start-up nonprofit, Pando Projects. Yerman is also a photographer. www.lesliejyerman.com
 

MASTER CLASS GUEST TEACHERS

Patrick Corbin
In 1989 after being a member of the Joffrey Ballet, Patrick joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company where he danced until 2005. In 2001 Patrick was the recipient of the New York Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement with The Paul Taylor Dance Company, Patrick founded his own company CorbinDances in 2003 and stages his own work as well as the work of Paul Taylor on companies through out the United States. Patrick teaches modern dance at the Taylor School and ballet at Gibney Dance Center and has developed a movement program for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder called FUNdaMENTALS.

Sarah Donnelly
Sarah Donnelly is originally from Oakland California. She graduated from
New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a double major in Dance and Political Science. Sarah learned how to fly at the STREB Lab for Action Mechanics (SLAM) in 2005 and since that time has been obsessed with extreme action. She was a member of the STREB performing company from 2005-2011 and continues to teach Pop Action to both kids and adults at the SLAM. Sarah has been fortunate to perform in Melt and The White Box Project choreographed by the site-specific choreographer Noemie La France, the Fisherspooner music video Never Win and The Graveyard Shift: The American Tragedy Musical choreographed by Sydney Skybetter. She is a founding member and Associate Artistic Director of Refractions Dance Collective and is currently creating new work for New York City engagements and regional tours.

Doug Elkins
Doug Elkins (dougelkinschoreography.com) is a two-time New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award-winning choreographer who began his career as a B-Boy, touring the world with break dance groups New York Dance Express and Magnificent Force, among others. He has created over 40 original dances during his career for Doug Elkins Dance Company (1988-2003), doug elkins choreography, etc., and a number of university and professional companies. Until this month, he taught at The Beacon School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where his tenure was the subject of Where the Dance Is, a short film by Marta Renzi. He is a graduate of SUNY/Purchase and Hollins University/ADF (MFA, 2007). Calendar 2012 will bring the New York preview of Mo(or)town/Redux at 92Y Harkness Dance Festival (March 2-4) and world premiere at American Dance Institute/ADI in Rockville, MD (May 5-6). Doug will also be choreographing The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Arin Arbus, for Theatre for a New Audience (March 17-April 21 at The Duke on 42nd Street); and continue his collaboration with theater director Anne Kauffman while in residence at Joyce SoHo. Doug Elkins & Friends’ Fraulein Maria will resume touring this summer including an encore performance at Jacob’s Pillow, August 22-26.

Andrea Miller
Award-winning choreographer, Andrea Miller, established Gallim Dance in 2007 in New York City. In 2009, Miller was selected for Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” and in April 2011, Gallim Dance was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine. The company has gone on to present throughout the US, Canada, Russia, and Europe. Miller has been awarded the 2009 Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship in Choreography, 2010 Princess Grace Foundation USA Works in Progress Award, Youth America Grand Prix award for Emerging Choreographers, and the Mariam McGlone Choreographers Award from Wesleyan University. Miller is the 2012 recipient of the Joyce SoHo residency and the inaugural artist in residence at New York City Center. Miller’s highly sought after works have been commissioned nationally and internationally. Her most recent commission for Ballet Bern was presented at Royal Opera House in London, and her collaboration with Phantom Limb was presented at BAM Next Wave in Fall 2011. Miller was the associate choreographer of Noord Nederlandse Dans (2009-2011). Miller’s strong commitment to education include co-creating the Movement Invention Program alongside Jill Johnson and Alexandra Wells, a program dedicated to improvisation, and her work as resident choreographer at Dancewave, a pre-professional dance program based in Brooklyn. She teaches master classes, workshops, and sets work on many conservatories and universities across the world. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Andrea Miller is a graduate of the Juilliard School where she received her BFA in Dance. Upon graduating, Miller joined Ohad Naharin’s Ensemble Batsheva in Israel to perform the works of Naharin and Sharon Eyal, resident choreographer. She has also performed as a guest artist with Cedar Lake and Limon Dance Company. Prior to attending Juilliard, Miller was a student and performer of Doris Humphrey’s works and solos under the direction of Ernestine Stodelle and Gail Corbin. Miller is a citizen of both the United States and Spain, and she is fluent in English, Spanish, and Hebrew.