Ramona Baker

Director and Lecturer , Master of Arts in Arts Administration Goucher College

Ramona Baker is Director of the graduate program in Arts Administration at Goucher College.  In her 25+ years of leadership experience, she has been the executive director of arts councils, arts centers, and cultural organizations.  She has also been responsible for the development and leadership of capital construction projects, public art programs, cultural tourism initiatives, arts festivals, and marketing research.  Ramona has led teams through the development of new board initiatives, strategic plans, and new funding sources.  As a consultant she has supported arts organizations through mergers, leadership crises, and financial changes.  She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Americans for the Arts.  For more information, see her website: www.ramonabaker.com.

E'Vonne Coleman Cook

Chief Operating Officer, Durham Convention and  Visitors Bureau

Former assistant director, Duke University Office of Continuing Studies and Summer Session; arts consultant and motivational speaker; former executive director, Durham Arts Council; former special assistant to the chairman, National Endowment for the Arts; former assistant director, expansion arts program, National Endowment for the Arts; director, management services, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; director, Community Services, Arts and Science Council of Charlotte; recipient, Robert Gard Award from the University of Massachusetts Arts Extension Services; former board member, National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, Grantmakers in the Arts; evaluator and panelist, National Endowment for the Arts. B.A., North Carolina Central University; M.A., Performing Arts Management, The American University.

Camille Schenkkan

Emerging Artists and Arts Professionals Program Manager, Center Theatre Group

Schenkkan came to Center Theatre Group from Arts for LA, the regional advocacy organization for Los Angeles County.  She is passionate about mentorship and professional development for theatre professionals, and is an alumna of the California State Summer School for the Arts, Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program, and Emerging Arts Leaders/Los Angeles.  Since 2004, she served as the volunteer Development Director for Circle X Theatre Co., and recently transitioned to Managing Director.  Schenkkan sits on the Advisory Board for Emerging Arts Leaders/LA and co-chaired the National Emerging Leader Council through Americans for the Arts from 2011-2013.  She holds a Masters in Arts Management through Claremont Graduate University/The Drucker School.  She currently serves as an Issue Expert for the Kennedy Center’s Alliance for Arts Education Network.

Leslie Johnson

Director of Education and Community Partnerships, Center Theatre Group

Leslie has been responsible for providing strategic, creative and visionary leadership in the development, operation and evaluation of all CTG’s education and engagement programs since 2008 following a national search for her position. She previously served as the director of school programs for the Music Center, the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County. She is president of the board of the directors for 24thStreet Theatre and is a past chair of the board for the California Alliance for Arts Education– the local affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center’s National Alliance for Arts Education and co-chaired the KCAAEN National Advocacy Committee. Leslie regularly contributes her expertise to the field, including her service as an advisor to the state superintendent of public instruction and secretary of education to determine key policy priorities for arts education statewide; and recent work on the National Corporate Theatre Fund’s Impact Creativity Task Force. She is a practicing yogini, an avid eclipse chaser and other celestial events, and wishes she had more time to read.

Brea M. Heidelberg

Assistant Professor of Arts Administration at Rider University

Her classes focus on how arts and culture intersect with international relations, public policy, and social justice. Brea also serves on the Multicultural Studies Faculty. She is the Internship Coordinator and runs the professional development series within the arts administration curriculum. In addition to teaching, Brea consults for small and midsized arts organizations in Philadelphia and New Jersey, focusing on staffing and board development. She is serves on the board of the Association of Arts Administration Educators as well as Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council.  Brea earned her PhD in Arts Administration, Education and Policy from The Ohio State University. Her research interests include professional development issues facing arts administrators, arts advocacy rhetoric, and (inter)national cultural diplomacy.  She can be reached at [email protected].

Christina Jensen

Deputy Director, Hyde Park Art Center

The Hyde Park Art Center is a one-of-a-kind contemporary art venue, studio art school, and community space in Chicago. In her role she connects all of the dots to ensure the organization’s programs, fundraising, marketing and communications are working together to fulfill the Art Center’s charge of advancing Chicago artists through community engagement. Christina received an MSW and Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy from Loyola University Chicago and a BA in Dance from the University of Northern Colorado. Christina was one of five recipients of the 2009 Joyce Fellowship through Americans for the Arts Professional  Development Fund for Emerging Leaders of Color, and was one of five 2009 Association of Fundraising Professionals Chicago Fellows. Currently she serves on the board for the Association of Fundraising Professionals Chicago and is a member of the Emerging Leaders Council, a national advisory body to Americans for the Arts.

Tod A. Kniazuk

Executive Director, Arts Services Initiative of Western New York, Inc.

Tod A. Kniazuk, a lifelong resident of Buffalo, NY, has focused his career on regional collaboration and management, especially in the fields of culture and policy. Tod is the current – and first – executive director of the Arts Services Initiative (ASI) of Western New York, Inc.  ASI is a regional organization charged with capacity building, collaboration, and advocacy for the area’s cultural sector.  In only a few months on the job, he has activated a dozen programs including mapping of the sector’s impact, a health insurance program, SWOT analyses for organizations, and revisions to the county’s process for cultural funding.

Jax Deluca

Executive Director at Squeaky Wheel Media Art Center in Buffalo, NY (squeaky.org).

Actively involved in the regional arts and culture scene, she currently serves on the Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurship Advisory Council at Buffalo State College, on the leadership team for Arts Partners for Learning of Western New York (APL), and as an advisory panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts. In addition to arts administration, she maintains an artistic practice under the name of Flatsitter, an electronic media arts collaborative (flatsitter.net).