Sharon Ball Executive Director Broome County Arts Council. Sharon Ball joined the Broome County Arts Council as Executive Director in late 2004 and oversees the organization's fundraising and grant making activities, member services, advocacy and programs.  Her professional background includes cultural journalism, vocal performance, development and group facilitation.  She is a business owner and writer.  Her essay "Remembering Octavia" was published this year in the book "Antrhopology Off the Shelf: Anthropologists on Writing" by Maria Vesperi, Editor and Alise Waterston, Editor  (Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.).

Michelle Bishop Founder and President Harlem Needle Arts, Inc. As an independent consultant and President of Harlem Needle Arts, Inc. Michelle Bishop serves as a technology mentor to affiliate artists and organizations to aid in the development of their national and international successes in exhibitions, data manipulation and marketing.  With her business acumen as a marketing strategist and an IT professional Ms. Bishop has a solid professional foundation in corporate and special event fundraising and a client portfolio which includes Jazz at Lincoln Center, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, New York Knicks 50th Birthday Bash, Black Enterprise 25th Anniversary and Entrepreneurs Conference and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration. Proceeds raised exceed $4 million for an individual event.    Michelle holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Pace University in New York City in Management Information Systems and a certificate from Cornel University Community E-Institute.  She currently resides in Harlem, New York with her daughter.

 Randall Bourscheidt  - President of the Alliance for the Arts, a nonprofit arts advocacy organization in New York.  His long-time professional involvement in the arts in New York has included serving as Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs in the 1980s and as Chairman of the New York City Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs in the 1990s.  He is a trustee of the American Friends of the Paris Opera and Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, the George Balanchine Foundation, the Landmarks Preservation Foundation, and Moving Theater.  He is a former Chairman of the Committee for the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and former trustee of Creative Time.  He is a member of the National Committee of Glimmerglass Opera and the Advisory Committee of Chez Bushwick.  He chairs the Brendan Gill Prize jury of the Municipal Art Society.

Stephen Butler -Executive Director of the Cultural Resources Council of Syracuse and Onondaga County.  Prior to coming to CRC he was the executive director of the Mental Health Association of Onondaga County, Before returning to CNY in 2004, he worked and resided in New York City from the mid-1980s to 2004, he managed information systems for the Manhattan Theatre Club before becoming membership services and then program director for the Alliance of Resident Theaters/NY. Butler also was the director of public affairs for the Alliance of NYS Arts Councils and later the executive director of Creative Alternatives of NY. He received his MA in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and he also was awarded an NEA Fellowship in Strategic Planning.

Doug Fox- Great Dance- Internet Consultant.  My one-sentence description from above. I received error message:    A hands-on social media jump-start class that focuses on the nuts and bolts of how to use Facebook and Twitter for your arts organization. Doug Fox speaks, writes and consults about the Internet and social media for dance and the arts. In 2005, Doug created one of the first dance-focused blogs, Great Dance greatdance.org  which focuses on the intersection of dance, the Internet and technology. In July 2009, Doug co-produced a Kids Make Hiphop kidsmakehiphop.com pilot project in Queens, New York that integrates dance teaching with multimedia production and social media applications.   

Elaine Giguere-  Has been the Executive Director of Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the Arts Council for Sullivan County, since 1978. She has  overseen capital projects on the Delaware Arts Center and Tusten Theatre, development of contemporary art galleries; performing and literary arts and film series; DIGit, a digital media festival and Riverfest, a music, art and environmental festival.  In addition to being a founder of  Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, she was a founding trustee of The River Reporter and the Tusten-Cochecton Library and currently serves on the Boards of the Sullivan County Visitors Association and Sullivan-Wawarsing REAP.

Christine Hoffer The Towns and Villages of the Battenkill Valley. Christine Hoffer is a Managing Member of the Towns & Villages of the Battenkill Valley (www.visitbattenkillvalley.com), a regional tourism and commerce promotion organization comprised of tourism related business people based in Southern Washington County.  The TVOBV’s goal is to promote the region as a destination by creating demand during non-peak times, increasing awareness and exposure through crossover marketing and building brand recognition.  The TVOBV is a volunteer-run organization with 60 members from the tourism, business and art industries.  Christine also owns and operates the Rice Mansion Inn, a twelve room Inn located in Cambridge in the heart of the Battenkill Valley (www.ricemansioninn.com).   She has been in the travel and tourism industry for twenty five years working for companies like Alaska Airlines, the Red Lion Hotel Chain and Double Tree Hotel where she learned the essentials of customer service, sales, marketing and promotion.      Locally, Christine helped develop and promote the Battenkill Valley through her work on the Community Development and Preservation Partnership, Cambridge Valley Chamber of Commerce and Hubbard Hall Projects, Inc, The Tour of the Battenkill (the largest cycling race in the United Sates) and the Towns and Villages of the Battenkill Valley.

Casey Rae-Hunter- Communications Director Future of Music Coalition.  Casey Rae-Hunter is a musician, recording engineer, journalist and editor. His music writing has appeared in Washington City Paper, Dusted, Signal to Noise, Grooves, and Seven Days Newspaper. He attended university for jazz guitar at 17, but spent most of the 1990s toiling in the indie music trenches, fronting and/or playing guitar for a list of bands too long to mention. He made the transition to studio rat around 2000. Since then, he has mixed and mastered numerous releases in genres ranging from power-pop to technical metal. As a music journalist and critic, he has profiled some of the leading figures in both underground and mainstream music, including Antony & the Johnsons, Mike Watt, The Books, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective, Jolie Holland and Built to Spill. He currently, writes records under the moniker The Contrarian.

Dan Hunter -Executive director of the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities (MAASH) a statewide advocacy and education group. An award-winning playwright, songwriter and humorist, Hunter also has 25 years’ experience in politics and arts advocacy, serving as Director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs (a cabinet appointment requiring Senate confirmation) and running a successful advertising and political consultancy firm in Des Moines. As director of MAASH, Hunter has successfully campaigned for cultural facilities funding and an increase of 70% in cultural funding during a time when the total state budget increased by only 14%. Hunter is the author of two books, Let’s Keep Des Moines a Private Joke and The Search for Iowa (& We Don’t Grow Potatoes). He has written several plays including Un Tango en La Noche and La Mujer Sin Cara (The Woman without a Face). His play The Monkey King was a finalist for the 2004 Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Hunter’s play, Red Elm, was produced to critical acclaim in December 2005 at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, one of three plays nominated for the Best New Play of the Year award by the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE).

Marc Kirschner General Manager TenduTV.  Marc Kirschner is the founder and General Manager of TenduTV, a broadband network delivering dance and dance-related programming to home users on their computers, televisions and mobile devices. Kirschner created the concept of digital licensing for choreography and executed the first such licensing deals in the dance industry.  He oversees TenduTV's content acquisition efforts and distribution partnerships, and works closely with industry leaders to ensure the protection of dance in the digital age. TenduTV currently reaches over 30 million television sets in American homes.    Prior to TenduTV, Kirschner ran his own digital media strategy consultancy, advising content owners such as the United States Tennis Association and producers of programming for leading networks such as Discovery, Discovery HD Theater and National Geographic on strategies to leverage new distribution opportunities and revenue models.  He was also the publisher of The Short List, a local content and guide book company that is now part of Time Out. Kirschner holds a MBA from Columbia Business School and lives in New York with his wife, Susanna.

Ginnie Lupi – Executive Director The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes. Ginnie Lupi, MFA, University at Albany; BS, Skidmore College; BA & MA, College of Saint Rose.  Ms Lupi joined The ARTS in March 2006. A working visual artist, she has a long professional history in not-for-profit organization management, grant writing and fundraising, statewide trade association leadership, and public policy analysis.

Jesse Nager The Broadway Boys will lead you through their inception, development, and current marketing techniques. They will discuss everything from mailing lists to Facebook, benefits to Youtube, and personal to computer promotion. They will also provide some profiles of their composer/performer friends who have successfully managed to create great names for themselves utilizing their own savvy techniques. This session will be a fun journey through how you can turn your idea or group into a product that people want.

Hilary Oak- Executive Director St. Lawrence County Arts Council.  Hilary Oak began her professional training and work in the arts as a theatre student at the High School of Performing Arts in NYC, and received a BFA in Theatre Design & Technology from SUNY Purchase. She has worked as a theatre technician for several theatre companies, including the Santa Fe Opera, and The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, MN. Ms. Oak has also been a costume designer and costume shop supervisor for The Protean Theatre Company, SUNY Potsdam, The Crane School of Music, The NY Renaissance Festival, and St. Lawrence University. Her work with the St. Lawrence County Arts Council began with reviving the organization is 2002 - serving first as board president until being hired as the Executive Director in 2005. Ms. Oak continues to work as a freelance artist - creating costumes, mosaics, and beadweaving. She lives in a solar-powered, straw bale home that she designed and built in Parishville, NY.

Gary Reinbolt - Gary grew up in Buffalo, NY, the City-of-No-Illusions, and headed off to SUNY Fredonia as Music major. After becoming disillusioned with that course of study, he spent the next 30 years creating illusions for public broadcasting in various parts of the country as an engineer, producer/director, development officer and administrator. Gary’s experience with nonprofits include sitting on numerous grants review panels, a stint as Executive Director for The History Center of Tompkins County, CEO for WSKG Public Broadcasting, and has sat on boards for WSKG in Binghamton, the Binghamton Philharmonic, which included membership on their search committee for a new music director, The Imaginarium, an after school arts center for children with ADD, Music’s Recreation, an arts organization focusing on delivering music education to underserved youth audiences, and the Kitchen Theatre Company. He now hopes to use his experience to help other nonprofit organizations evaluate their organizational capacity with no illusions. He also is resurrecting his life as an independent filmmaker, and is looking for interesting projects.

Nancy Rutter Vice President KeyBank.  Nancy Rutter has spent her career championing partnerships between the worlds of business and art. Born in New York City, Nancy graduated from the High School of Music and Art and New York University where she studied traditional drawing and painting and received a solid grounding in art history. Fascinated with the tonal interplay of color and form, Nancy takes her inspiration from nature, specifically Columbia County in New York State - a spot of varying beauty and vistas. The years spent living in Ireland and France were important in moving her toward more abstract forms and brilliant color. In 1995 Nancy joined KeyBank where she is a Vice President and has pioneered partnerships between the bank and other businesses - large and small - and arts organizations. She is on the board of the Columbia County Council on the Arts, The Copake Theatre Company and the Berkshire Taconic Foundation Arts and Humanities Board for the Taconic Hills School District.

Michael C Savino – President of Headline Communications, Inc. a LI/NY-based marketing and PR firm servicing the cultural and non-profit sectors. Current clients include the NY Hall of Science, the Queens Botanical Garden, Flushing Town Hall, the Heckscher Museum of Art and the LI Children's Museum. Mr. Savino possesses 25 years of marketing, public relations and journalism experience, including 20 years in the public sector. He has worked for the NY Hall of Science, NY Aquarium, Manhattan Community College and the US Department of Education. An adjunct journalism professor at Dowling College, Mr. Savino has an undergraduate degree from the University of Dayton and a masters degree from the New York Institute of Technology.

Gary Schiro Executive-Director-Hudson Opera House. Gary Schiro is a writer, director, performer, teacher, and arts administrator.  Since joining the Hudson Opera House in 1998 as their first Executive Director he has produced more than 4000 diverse cultural events including concerts, theatre and dance performances, readings and lectures, exhibitions, and arts workshops for all ages.  Before joining the Opera House, Gary worked for 14 years at the New York State Council on the Arts, most recently as the Director of the Individual Artists Program.   As a writer and performer, Gary’s work has been seen at venues all over New York City, ranging from Dixon Place and Artists’ Space downtown to the Theatre Row Theatre on 42nd Street. His essays have been published in numerous Hudson Valley publications. He has taught at Dutchess Community College in the Performing, Visual Arts & Communication Department and also taught private writing and performance workshops for 8 years in New York City, and has served as a Guest Lecturer at NYU in the Dramatic Writing Program and at the Museum of Modern Art.  He is currently on the adjunct faculty at Bank Street College in New York City.  Gary is the recipient of Fellowships from the Art Matter’s Foundation, the DeWitt Wallace/Readers Digest Foundation and residency Fellowships from the Millay Colony for the Arts in Columbia County and the MacDowell Colony for the Arts in New Hampshire.  He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Vermont and a BA in Theatre from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Kay Stamer  - Executive Director of the GREENE COUNTY COUNCIL ON THE ARTS since 1982. She was a founding member of the Arts Council, formed in 1975, and served on its Board of Directors through 1980. With an emphasis on partnerships and collaborations, she has helped develop several innovative programs designed for community revitalization such as Catskill’s Façade Restoration and Streetscape programs and the county’s historic Catskill Point project. In addition to her duties as ED, she is the program coordinator for the Arts Council’s Youth ArtsReach after school workshops and Arts-in-Education partnerships with schools in Greene and Columbia County. She manages the cultural side of the Riverside Market at the historic Catskill Point and the County Initiative Program, which regrants county funds to major Greene County cultural organizations. She is also currently serving as Capital Region Arts Coordinator for NYS Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts Cultural Blueprints initiative.   She is a Rotarian, an active member in the community serving on various planning committees and recipient of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce Business Woman of the Year award in 2004. She is a passionate advocate for the arts.

Martha Strodel Rural Arts Director NYS ARTS. Martha Strodel has over 35 years experience in not-for-profit arts administration, working as an executive director, program director, funding reviewer, consultant to other nonprofit staffs and boards, and researcher/writer on resources and issues related to building strong community arts organizations.  Since 1993, she has been director of the NYS ARTS Rural Arts Program, which directly serves cultural organizations based in rural counties of New York State with technical assistance, information, services, and networking.    Martha presently serves on the board of the Warren County Historical Society, and is one of the authors of the new history of Warren County. She has served on the advisory board for the development of the Charles R. Wood theater in Glens Falls, and for many years served on the board of the Lake George Arts Project.

Arin Sullivan  Prior to joining the New York State CDP, Arin Sullivan was the Managing Director at Hedgerow Theatre, Theater Manager for Drexel University’s Mandell Theater, and producer for Geva Comedy Improv at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY. Sullivan is also an adjunct faculty member with Drexel’s Theatre Program.

Ronald Thiele  - Executive Director of the Stanley Center for the Arts.  A position he had held for the past 12 years. Ron is a veteran of over 40 years in both nonprofit arts management and performing arts presentation having spent the last 12 years in upstate NY.  Most recently, Ron led a $23 mm capital campaign and construction project to renovate and restore the Stanley Theatre including the use of Federal Historic and Ne Market Tax Credit investment.

Caroline Thompson Executive Director -Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks.  Caroline Thompson, Executive Director  Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks  PO Box 187, 6459 Main Street, Heritage House  Westport, NY 12993    Caroline was a founding member of the Arts Council after moving to the Adirondacks in 1980. In 1986 she became the Executive Director and has maneuvered the organization in growth during well funded times and survival during the lean times. The Adirondack region is very special as it has an abundance of artists and cultural organizations, as many have sought the natural beauty for inspiration and spiritual renewal. Originally from Westchester County, Caroline attended SUNY Cortland for Dance and Gymnastics and quickly transferred to a Fine Arts Major with a textile concentration. After actively working for community cooperative groups, the Arts Council seemed to combine all interests and then some. With a long standing dream of having a small farm, Caroline still raises sheep, goats, llamas, chickens, and geese. For the last ten years, as a NYS Licensed Outdoor Guide she leads Llama Treks in the region.

Kristin Thomson Education Director - Future of Music Coalition.  A community organizer, social policy researcher, entrepreneur and musician, from 1989 to 1992.  Kristin was an action organizer for the National Organization for Women. She left NOW to co-run Simple Machines, an independent record label, which released over seventy records and CDs in eight years. She also played guitar in the band Tsunami, which released four albums from 1991-1997 and toured extensively. In 2001, Kristin graduated with a Masters in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware. As FMC’s Education Director, Kristin is responsible for project management and research, and has overseen event programming, including recent Future of Music Policy Summits. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband Bryan Dilworth, a concert promoter, and their son, where she also plays guitar in the lady-powered band, Ken.

Dejha Ti- Web.illish.us Founder and technology director.  Philadelphia-based multimedia designer, Dejha Ti, leverages versatility for creative problem solving. She utilizes various technologies and skills–design, programming, branding, webcasting, video/audio production—to output high standard interactive experiences. Her philosophy: execute concept-driven content via the platform that best connects with the audience. Every project is unique and demands the flexibility of cross industry collaboration. Her approach blends creative processes with entrepreneurial operations.    As CEO of realizePhiladelphia and co-founder of web.illish.us, Dejha Ti has collaborated on projects involving Future of Music Coalition; National Geographic; Okayplayer; PhillyCarShare; interactive media studio, Educated Guess Work; Cee Knowledge of the Grammy-winning Digable Planets; and international musicians and DJs, including Jef Lee Johnson, Larry Gold and Rich Medina. She is consistently invited to speak at universities and consult organisations based on her experience in the creative industry.

Will Maitland Weiss   Executive Director of the Arts and Business Council of New York (ABC/NY) in 2005.  Before joining ABC/NY, Mr. Weiss served as vice president of development and communications for New York City Center, producer of the award-winning Encores! series of American musicals and NYC performance home to Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor, Manhattan Theatre Club, and others.  Prior to that, he spent ten years as deputy director of development for the New York City Opera, where he oversaw a staff of 14 and annually raised more than $11 million, and five years as marketing director, then development director, then managing director of the Off-Broadway CSC Repertory.  After receiving his MFA in stage direction from Brandeis University, he spent several years as stage manager, then production manager, then managing director of a LORT theater and multi-arts presenting facility in New England.  He also served as vice president of development and communications for a NYC-based healthcare organization, including management of a successful capital campaign.  He has served on grants panels for the Westchester Arts Council (2006, 2008) and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (2009); lectured on arts administration at Brooklyn College/City University of New York, Brown University, New York University, and Williams College; and is a board member of the Center for Creative Resources, a nonprofit firm providing development, marketing, and management services to small and midsized arts organizations and individual artists’ projects.

Judith K Weiner-  Executive Director of the NYS ARTS since 1994. Under her stewardship, the NYS ARTS has dramatically increased capacity to provide professional training for arts leaders, technical assistance for arts organizations, and advocacy leadership to increase public funding and advance public policy in the arts in NYS. Ms. Weiner spearheaded innovative and trend setting web based training programs, including the E-Institute for Leadership for arts administrators in partnership with Cornell University; an advocacy training program for the next generation of arts leaders in partnership with Columbia University; a series of webinars and blogs to help artists support their entrepreneurial efforts; a series of webinars and blogs and social media sites to train arts leaders; and an online communication network of 21,000 individuals that use NYS ARTS online advocacy center for local, state and federal communications. Dynamic networking opportunities exist in the annual Arts Summit, the Rurals Program, and the Regional Captain Network. Ms. Weiner is also the Executive Director of ArtsAction for NY, a lobbying organization she founded in 1998. She assumed these positions after serving as Executive Director at the East End Arts Council in Riverhead for eleven years. Ms. Weiner is a Past Chair and Council member of the national State Arts Action Network, the NYS State Captain for federal advocacy through Americans for the Arts, was honored with the prestigious national Alene Valkanas Arts Advocacy Award, has served on funding panels in New York and Massachusetts and participated in the Yale University Leadership Institute.