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Sara Hartmann is an educator and arts entrepreneurship change agent.  As faculty at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, she founded the Creative Economy Business Incubator, a scale-agnostic program designed to support the unique needs of art, design, and cultural ventures.  Sara also produces MassArt’s Creative Economy Workshop Series in partnership with the City of Boston. This popular series offers free business skills training and professional development workshops for artists and designers. Since 2019, these two programs have served more than 2000 artists and creative entrepreneurs.

Sara has taught business and design at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Simmons University, and Lasell College. Prior to academia, she worked both as a costume designer for theater and opera, and as a digital marketer for apparel and consumer product start-ups.  Her experience moving between the cultural and innovation economies has inspired her work addressing the resource gaps faced by would-be founders in creative industries.

Stephanie Matthews is an award-winning photographer, creative producer, and the visionary Executive Director of A Tribe for Jazz. With over 20 years of expertise in creativity and visual storytelling, Stephanie has brought transformative vision and innovative programming to the nonprofit sector, setting new standards for arts education and community engagement. Under her leadership, A Tribe for Jazz has emerged as a global beacon, fostering inclusion, building community, and celebrating jazz’s vibrant legacy while empowering its future through strategic partnerships and reimagined learning. Guided by her deep faith and dedication, Stephanie's artistic journey is a powerful example for creatives navigating leadership and inspiring others to lead with passion and purpose.

Seth Alexander is a professional drummer/percussionist, dance accompanist, composer, educator, and bandleader that resides in Columbus, Ģ����Ƶ. He is currently a lecturer, staff member, composer in residence, and accompanist in the Department of Dance at The Ģ����Ƶ State University. He also teaches music lessons and ensembles in the Central Ģ����Ƶ area on a variety of instruments while freelancing all over Ģ����Ƶ. Seth is most known for his work on drum set with Columbus bands, many acclaimed local jazz musicians, and is the bandleader and founder of the Largemouth Brass Band. In 2012, he attended Ģ����Ƶ University in Athens, Ģ����Ƶ to study percussion and jazz with Professor Roger Braun- there he completed a Bachelor of Music degree in 2016 and a Master of Music degree in 2018.

Megan Bee is an award-winning singer-songwriter with a background in environmental education. Her most recent album Cottonwood has been called "as real as it gets" and was listed in the best of 2022 by Americana UK and No Depression Magazine. She bases in the rolling hills of Athens, Ģ����Ƶ and draws influence from the collision of Appalachian folk and modern songwriting. Between tours she works with a variety of children’s summer camps, environmental education programs, library programs, and artist in residency positions bringing her love of music and the region to children of all ages.

Marseille Markham Collins is the creator of Junk Party. She saves tech cords and cables and other junk from the landfill to create fun jewelry and accessories. She learned how to be resourceful by traveling the world and working in New York City. She now resides in Cleveland where her work has been featured in cleveland.com, Cleveland Magazine and Cleveland Channel5 News.

You can find her online: 

Megan served as the Executive Director of Art Possible Ģ����Ƶ, and has worked for the Massillon Museum as Education and Outreach Manager where she co-established an accessibility committee, created audio descriptive and sensory tours, and developed a sensory room. Before Massillon Museum, Megan worked with Dublin Arts Council, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and Global Gallery, a Fair Trade non-profit, in Columbus, Ģ����Ƶ. In her free time, Megan loves traveling all over Ģ����Ƶ with her husband, Josh, and son, Wesley, to experience the diverse cultural institutions and events Ģ����Ƶ offers.

Adrian Fung is an award-winning cellist, educator, and arts executive. Named one of Musical America’s 30 Innovators of the Year, he is the Executive and Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Music in the Morning Concert Society and cellist of the JUNO-nominated Afiara Quartet. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed over 600 concerts worldwide, including at Carnegie Hall, Austria’s Esterházy Palace, and the Kennedy Center. A winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition and multiple international awards, Adrian has been praised for his “virtuosic” and “brilliant” playing (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Currently the head of the consulting firm Creative Edge Group, he has held senior roles at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and The Royal Conservatory and was associate dean at the University of Oklahoma, where he conceived of and launched both the International Arts Incubator and the arts management and entrepreneurship program. Adrian holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School in Organizational Change and Leadership, defending his dissertation January 2025.

Kirby is the owner and founder of PlainSong Music Services, LLC, a private music therapy practice in Anderson, Indiana serving central Indiana. She is a Board-Certified Music Therapist specializing in mental health approaches. Kirby holds degrees in music education with an active teaching license from Anderson University, a music therapy equivalency from St. Mary-of-the-Woods, and a MA in Music Therapy from St. Mary-of-the-Woods. As a past neurologic music therapist and current level 1 GIM certified therapist, Kirby aims to create therapeutic spaces for ALL people.

Kirby realized the need for music therapy in her community and became an accidental entrepreneur in 2016. Kirby has grown her music therapy company from a solo private practice to a diverse and celebrated clinic with a team of greater than 15 and a weekly clientele of over a thousand individuals. Kirby has received numerous awards for leadership including the St. Mary of the Woods Graduate Alumni Leadership Award and Madison County's Chamber of Commerce's 20 under 40 in 2024. PlainSong is currently nominated for Madison County's best place to work and best woman owned business with final decisions in February of 2025.

Kirby’s greatest passions lie in leadership and helping others - whether they are clients or employees- realize their potential. Kirby is drawn to education and advocacy of the fields of entrepreneurship and music therapy, and she presents across the country about professionalism, working in private practice, and impacting the lives of others through a “thinking outside of the box” approach.

Quinn Alexandria Hunter is an Interdisciplinary artist that is interested in the complexities of material resistance and the erasure of history from spaces and how the contemporary uses of space impacts the way we, as a culture, see the past. Her work negotiates between the self and the world. Hunter’s practice is contending with the false narratives of a romanticized past and interrupting them by laying a truth next to them. She was born and raised in Charlotte, NC received her MFA from Ģ����Ƶ University in 2020. She is currently an Assistant Professor at The University of Michigan in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.

Tony F. Sias is the President +CEO of Karamu House, Inc., America’s oldest Black producing theatre founded in 1915.  Under Sias, since 2015 Karamu has raised over $12 million for restoration and increased attendance.  As a creative Sias has produced, directed and performed in over 200 productions.  His work has been highlighted nationally in The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, on NBC’s Today Show with Al Roker, and more. He is a Fellow of the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program through Harvard Business School.  Sias serves as the National Board Chair for the League of Historic American Theatres. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in dramatic art from Jackson State University and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from The Ģ����Ƶ University.

Dorie is a culture connector who brings 20+ years of arts and events management expertise to her work - producing mindful, meaningful, and culturally relevant experiences. Over the years, Dorie has managed artist relations for Pittsburgh, PA cultural arts institutions; magazine and television marketing accounts in New York City; and planned friend- and fund-raising receptions, dinners and galas from the development office at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As the founder and president of Taylor Made Consulting, Dorie works alongside arts, education and nonprofit leaders to develop signature initiatives that strengthen communities.

Currently, Dorie collaborates on strengthening community ecosystems. She is entering her 10th year as producer of Remake Learning Days, a playful hands-on learning festival for youth pre-K- 12th grade, parents/caregivers, and educators activating the many places and spaces families learn worldwide. Additionally, Dorie leads communications for the Regional Capacity Building Initiative whose mission is to create a stable, connected, and accessible network of capacity building resources across the nonprofit sector.

Dorie is committed to learning, resting, and rejuvenating. She has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ģ����Ƶ University, a Master of Arts Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University, and 200+ hours of Yoga Teacher Training with Yoga Roots on Location. At any given moment, you can find Dorie enjoying arts and culture and excursions with her family, friends, or solo.

Makenna Tuttle is currently an Independent Film Producer and Production Coordinator– While at Ģ����Ƶ University, she was a part of the first ever Bachelors of Fine Arts program in the School of Film. During her time, she produced and worked on a variety of film productions with her peers. Now living many miles away from home in Los Angeles, California, she continues to use her filmmaking skills in various capacities– and is even experimenting in the music industry!

She has had multiple showings of her produced films screen at name-worthy festivals including Berlin International, Buffalo International, and many others. Makenna hopes to continue paving the way for better representation in the creative spaces for Disabled people, and other marginalized groups.

When she isn’t working, you can find Makenna in the crowd of a concert, at the movies, or trying new restaurants.

As an Ģ����Ƶ University Alumni, she is honored and eager to give back to the place she called home for so many years. OU Oh Yeah!