Florida Alliance for Arts Education
Florida Alliance for Arts Education
Partners
Teachers' Resources
Recognizing Best Practices
Programs
Become a
Friend
Blog

 

Facebook
Visit us on Facebook

  Arts Integration Symposia Series FAAE Newsletter
2010 Leadership Summit Thoughts from Leaders

ABOUT US: BOARD & STAFF MEMBERS

Board Members


Jennifer Coolidge

Jennifer Coolidge, President

Executive Director, Museum of Florida Art
Deland, FL

 

Jennifer Coolidge has over 23 years of experience as an arts administrator. Coolidge has served as the Executive Director for the Museum of Florida Art since 2001; Executive Director for Florida Alliance for Art Education, FAAE (1995-2001); Education Coordinator for the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, FL and served in education positions for the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston Salem-Forsyth County Arts Council, Sawtooth Center for Visual Art in Winston Salem, NC and others in North Carolina. She has also served as a consultant, presenter and grant panelist for such organizations as The Center for Human Rights and Civil Liberties at The University of Southern Mississippi; Arts Extension Service, University of Massachusetts; ICARE, Initiative for Cultural Arts and Education in Cleveland, Ohio; United Arts of Central Florida, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and Rochester Contemporary Art Center in Rochester, NY and the Arts Council of Asheville, NC. Coolidge graduated with a B.A. in Fine Art from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC and completed a fellowship with the Denali Initiative on Social Enterprise in 2000 through The Kauffman Center on Entrepreneurial Leadership. Coolidge has received such awards as an Ambassador of the Arts Award from Florida First Lady, Columba Bush, in 2005; Distinguished Service Award from the Florida Music Educators Association in 2002, and the ACE of Hearts Award from FAAE in 2001. Coolidge serves as Past President of the Volusia County Cultural Alliance, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Florida House in Washington, DC.


Sibille Pritchard

Sibille Pritchard, Past-President

Senior Vice President, Brooksville Development Corporation
Oviedo, FL

 

Sibille Hart Pritchard is Senior Vice President of the Brooksville Development Corporation. She is Past President of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc., the Zora Neale Hurston Festival, and the Board of Directors of the Orlando Ballet.  As President of Global Connections of Central Florida at the University of Central Florida as well as Chair of the Florida/Southeast U.S. - Japan Association, Sibille provides an international perspective.  Sibille also serves as a Commissioner for the Seminole County Housing Authority, and is a board member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida State University’s Medical School Community Board, and the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in Orlando. She is former Chair of the Florida Arts Council, a past board member of the Florida Executive Women organization, and the Governor's Council of Libraries.

Tom Pearson

Tom Pearson, Ed.D., President-Elect

K-12 Arts Education Administrator, Palm Beach County Schools
West Palm Beach, FL

 

Dr. Tom Pearson is the Arts Education Administrator for the School District of Palm Beach County, and a thirty-two-year veteran in the field of education. For twenty of those years, he taught band at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, and conducted two community bands. Dr. Pearson is a Past President of the Mississippi Bandmasters Association, where he taught band for 12 years before moving to Florida. Since moving to Florida, he has served as District Chairman for FBA District 14 and Chairman of the FBA Ethics Committee for two terms.

He has served as the Vice President for Governmental Relations on the Florida Alliance for Arts Education/Arts for a Complete Education Board of Directors and the Governmental and Community Relations Chair for the Florida Music Educators’ Association. He is past president of the Florida Music Supervisors Association and a past board member on the Florida School Music Association. Dr. Pearson also serves on the education boards of the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and the Norton Museum of Art. He is currently serving as the president of the Palm Beach County Administrative Staff Association.

Dr. Pearson was the Magnet/Choice Program Specialist and Acting Director for the School District of Palm Beach County. Dr. Pearson is a frequent conference presenter for student recruitment/assignment, and partnership and funding at the international level. He has been an adjunct professor for Palm Beach Community College and currently an adjunct professor in the Interdisciplinary Arts graduate program at Nova Southeastern University.  Dr. Pearson has adjudicated for the Florida Bandmasters Association, Bands of America, Heritage Festivals, and Drum Corps International throughout the United States.  Dr. Pearson was the recipient of the 2009 FAAE Administration and Leadership Award for the State of Florida.


Jayne Ellsperman

Jayne Ellsperman, Past President

Florida Association of School Administrators

Jayne Ellspermann is the Principal of West Port High School in Ocala, Florida.   West Port High School is the home for Marion County Center for the Arts magnet program in visual and performing arts.   West Port High School was recently identified as a FAAE Arts Achieve Model School. She represents the Florida Association of School Administrators on the FAAE board.  Jayne is also on the Florida Association for Secondary School Administrators Board of Directors. She has served as President of the Ocala Civic Theatre Board of Directors and President of the Marion Performing Ballet Board of Directors. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Georgia and a M.Ed. in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Florida.

Cindy Balistreri

Cindy Balistreri, Vice President for Education

Fine Arts Specialist, Sarasota County School Board
Sarasota, FL

Lucinda G. Balistreri has worked as an arts educator in the Sarasota County school district for 34 years. She graduated from the Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and from the University of South Florida with a master’s degree in Education Administration/Supervision. She taught elementary music, middle school chorus, pre-school music, and general classroom for Grades 4 and 5. She has been selected Elementary Teacher of the Year (1992) Sarasota County and Florida Music Educator of the Year (1994) the Florida Music Educators’ Association. She has served on writing committees at the state level for the Sunshine State Standards, Course Descriptions, and Grade Level Expectations. She has served as president of the Florida Elementary Music Educators Association, the Florida Music Supervision Association, and is the past president of the Florida Music Educators’ Association. Her current position in Sarasota County is as the Fine Arts Program Specialist in the Curriculum Department of the school district.


Sherron Long

Sherron Long, Vice President of Advocacy and Awareness

Florida Cultural Alliance
West Palm Beach, FL

 

Sherron is president and founder of Creating Executive Options Inc., a management and planning consulting business. She manages three statewide service organizations: the Florida Professional Theatres Association, which she created in 1981; the Florida Cultural Alliance, which she co-founded in 1983; and the Florida Association of Local Arts Agencies. Prior to Creating Executive Options in 1985, she developed the grants program for the Palm Beach County Cultural Council’s Tourist Development Cultural Activities Program and co-hosted and co-produced a weekly television show about the arts. She worked at the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and Florida Arts Council from 1978 to 1983 as an arts administrator, where she created and managed the State Touring Program; initiated the first statewide Florida Dance Association summer dance festival and the first statewide conferences for local arts agencies and sponsors and presenters. Sherron has been an on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts' Dance Program and has served as president of the State Arts Advocacy League of America, the former national organization for state arts advocacy organizations. Sherron has received many honors including the Florida ArtsPAC Cultural Advocacy Award; the Florida Department of State Arts Recognition Award; Arts & Business Council of Miami Arts Advocate of the Year Award, the Art Serve Individual Leadership Encore Award. Sherron taught theatre, speech, dance, and humanities at the high school and university levels and has directed and choreographed a number of productions in educational and professional settings. She has a B.A. in Speech and Drama from Valdosta State University and an M.F.A. in Directing from Florida State University's School of Theatre.

Scott Evans

Scott Evans, Co-chair of Coalitions

Executive Director, Orange County Arts Education Center
Orlando, FL

 

 

 

Scott Evans is the Director of the Orange County Arts Education Center in Orlando Florida. The Arts Education Center is working to ensure equal access for all to high-quality arts education experiences. Scott also serves on the advisory board for A Gift for Music, the Florida Festival Singers and the Florida Alliance for Arts Education. Scott received his Masters Degree from the University of Central Florida and is a recipient of the National Board Teachers Certificate. His teaching experiences included; elementary, middle and high school and he has served as a guest clinician and conductor at honor choruses throughout the state of Florida. Scott is thrilled to be leading the Orange County Arts Education Center towards building connectivity, collaboration and support among Orange County’s Leaders, citizens, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and businesses to make high-quality arts education accessible and a source of pride to all.

 

 


Bob Radock

Bob Radock, Chairman of Awards

Walt Disney World Resorts
Lake Buena Vista, FL

 

Bob Radock has been passionate about the arts for more than forty years. Receiving his BM, MM at the University of Michigan, Bob has worked with and served as an advocate for arts and music education initiatives in Florida and through the country. Bob has served in a leadership capacity with Walt Disney Entertainment for thirty years producing shows, special events, festivals, concert series, press events and casting and hiring performers, international shows and celebrities.

Bob has been a Past President of FAAE and served on the Board since 2003. He is active in the community, serving local and national organizations including Board of Trustees-Interlochen Center for the Arts, Grammy Board of Governors, Florida Youth Symphony, Florida PTA, United Arts of Central Florida, WMFE and Stetson University. His professional memberships include FMEA, FBA, MENC, ABA, ACDA and The Recording Academy. Radock has been honored receiving The Disney Dream Spinner Award of Excellence, Distinguished Service Award and installation into the MENC Walk of Fame.

 


Bruce Rodgers

Bruce Rodgers, Chair of Nominating

Executive Director, Hermitage Artist Retreat
Manasota Key, FL

Hermitage Artist Retreat

Bruce Rodgers began his theatrical career in 1977 at the GeVa Theatre in Rochester, NY. He has also affiliated with the Tony-award winning McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, as resident playwright, and the Asolo Theatre Company in Sarasota, FL.  As a playwright, his drama Lost Electra won the prestigious Lois and Richard Rosenthal New Play Prize in Cincinnati, and a Dramalogue Award in Los Angeles.  It has been produced at numerous regional theatres throughout the United States.  In 1992, he was commissioned to write the very successful Centerburg Tales for the Asolo Theatre.  His play, The Gravity of Honey, has also seen numerous American productions, including at the Asolo Theatre in 1995.  It opened in Dublin with the Dublin International Theatre Festival in October 1996 and most recently at the Chester Theatre Company in Chester, Mass. Mr. Rodgers is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Seaside Institute "Escape to Create" Fellow. He was named a Distinguished Artist by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and has won a Playwriting Fellowship from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. In 1998 the Sarasota County Arts Council awarded him a special "Renaissance Leadership Award".

Katherine Ramsberger

Katherine Ramsberger

President, Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center
Orlando, FL

 

Kathy Ramsberger is the President of the Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center (DPAC), an independent non-profit 501(C)3 organization dedicated to develop, build, and operate a destination that elevates the arts, provides the best arts education, generates urban renewal and most importantly, is programmed to be fiscally responsible in construction and operations. Kathy is a former film commissioner for the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission. As a volunteer, Kathy is an executive committee member of the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. Kathy is a graduate of Leadership Orlando Class 33 and served as Chair of Leadership Orlando Class 39. The Orlando Business Journal (OBJ) selected Kathy as one of its “Women Who Mean Business in Metro Orlando” in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2007. She was also named to the OBJ’s “Forty Under Forty list.”

She currently resides in Orlando and has two children.

Dr. Linda Lovins

Dr. Linda Lovins, Ex officio

Performing and Fine Arts Program Specialist, Florida Department of Education
Tallahassee , FL

 

Dr. Linda Lovins is the Arts Education Specialist for the Florida Department of Education. She holds degrees in K-12 Music Education from the Crane School of Music at Potsdam State University, Potsdam, New York; and earned her doctorate in Choral Music Education from The Florida State University. A veteran K-20 music educator, Dr. Lovins held various leadership positions in New York State prior to moving to Tallahassee in 1998. As Program Director for the Florida Alliance for Arts Education, Dr. Lovins led advocacy efforts and development of curricular materials and programs. Now at the Department of Education, she works with state and national arts education associations and agencies; provides direction for major initiatives and programs; provides professional development across Florida; and works extensively with Standards, curricula, and model programs in Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Art. Dr. Lovins currently serves as the Vice President of the State Education Agency Arts Education Directors. She is also Director of Music at Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee. Dr. Lovins is very passionate about children, their potential, and their implicit right to a high-quality arts program as an integral part of a world-class education.


Mary Palmer

Mary Palmer, Treasurer

Founder, ACE & FAAE
Orlando, FL

 

Dr. Mary Palmeris President of Mary Palmer & Associates, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in the arts and education. Drawing on her four decades in public education and community leadership, Mary works with schools throughout the country to assist them in developing and implementing arts integration programs to maximize student success and enliven schools.
Mary was named Professor Emerita by the University of Central Florida in 2007. While at UCF, she was Professor and Coordinator of Graduate Studies in Music Education at the University of Central Florida, Orlando as well as Dean of the College of Education. Palmer is senior author of Pre-Kindergarten through grade 8 music textbook series published by Silver Burdett Ginn/Scott Foresman. She is the Founderr of Florida's Arts for a Complete Education/ Florida Alliance for Arts Education organization and has been instrumental in developing programs and policies affecting arts education in Florida. She sits on numerous Boards including Florida Theatrical Association, Florida Music Educators Association,A Gift for Teaching, and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Her intergenerational program for babies from birth to twenty-four months, Connect with Music, has gained national attention. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the Arts Recognition Award from the Florida Department of State.


Laura Stone

Laura Lewis Blischke, Ex officio

Program Manager for Arts in Education
Florida Department of State/Div. of Cultural Affairs
Tallahassee , FL

 

Laura joined the staff in the summer of 2006. Passionate about the arts, she enjoyed a ten-year career with the Walt Disney Company. Ms. Blischke worked as a professional dancer who performed stage shows at the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center, and later as a Staging Specialist teaching on-property shows at the Magic Kingdom. She assisted on many Disney special events, and choreographed for seasonal parades. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance with an emphasis on teaching from Virginia Intermont College. She has also choreographed for USFSA figure skaters, with former students competing at the local, regional and national level.
At the Division, she oversees the Underserved Cultural Community Development and Arts in Education initiatives as well as all REDI (Rural Economic Development Initiative) issues.
Laura lives in Tallahassee with her husband Karl and two beautiful daughters Olivia and Kate. In her spare time she enjoys photography, reading, working in her yard, and going to the beach. She also writes poetry and several of her pieces have been published through online reviews.

Kay Allen

Kay Allen, Ph.D.,  Principal Investigator, ACE Grant

Professor, University of Central Florida, College of Education
Orlando, FL

 

 

 

Coming soon.

 


Lawrie Platt Hall

Lawrie Platt Hall, Member at Large, FAAE

Platt Hall & Associates

 

 

 

Coming soon.

 


Martha Gutierrez- Steinkamp

Martha Gutierrez- Steinkamp, Member at Large, FAAE

Director, National Council of Hispanic Women

 

 

 

Ms. Gutiérrez-Steinkamp is a former Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and later the Board of Experts Commission for the Preservation of the White House by Presidential appointment. She serves on the U. S. Senate Task Force for Hispanic Affairs, is  liaison member of the Civil Society of the Organization of American States (OAS), and Director of the National Council of Hispanic Women.   Presently a Consultant for Schoolhouse Children’s Museum, Museum of Florida History, Archdiocese of Miami, and DOE Washington DC.

Ms. Steinkamp is a graduate of Havana Conservatory of Music, studied ballet with Michael Fokine at Carnegie Hall; attended Villanova University School of International Law, continuing advanced studies in Cultural Management, Museum Studies and Cultural Conservation at the University of Victoria and is certified to teach K-12 Humanities and Professional Education in Florida.

 


Nancy Roucher
Nancy Roucher, Member at Large, FAAE

 

 

 

Coming soon.

 


Deanna Costa

Deanna Costa, Member at Large, FAAE

Director of Education, Adrienne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts  

 

 

 

Coming soon.

 


Jennifer Jones

Jennifer Jones, Member at Large, FAAE

Executive Director, Bay Arts Alliance

 

 

 

Jennifer N. Jones has been with Bay Arts Alliance since 2000 and has been the Executive Director since 2002. After graduating Florida State University School of Music, she held positions in accounting and marketing which eventually led her to a marketing position with Bay Arts Alliance, Bay County Florida’s Local Arts Agency. Since then, she has acquired the responsibilities of programming and marketing for the organization’s performance series, arts in education activities, promoting the efforts of the county’s artists and arts organization and advocating for both the Arts as an industry and in Florida schools. She also serves on the board of Bay Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Panama City, FL. She is married to Bill and they have one daughter, Maggie, who just began fifth grade band at Bay Haven Charter Academy.

 


Shigeko
                                    Honda

Shigeko Honda, Member at Large, FAAE

Director, Japan Center at the University of West Florida

 

 

 

Ms. Honda is director of the Japan Center at the University of West Florida Japan House, the Jikei-American Center and the Florida-Japan Linkage Institute. She has organized numerous exhibitions, performing arts, lectures, symposiums and Japanese cultural events, and has lectured on Japan for various organizations. Ms. Honda has managed the exchange of thousands of students between the U.S. and Japan and initiated the involvement of hundreds of local host families who support the exchange programs.

Ms. Shigeko Honda was educated in both America and Japan. She received an Associate Degree in English Literature from the Komazawa Junior College in Tokyo, Japan and earned both her Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree from the University of West Florida (UWF) in Pensacola in Interdisciplinary Humanities with a concentration in Art History, Religion and Philosophy.

 


STAFF MEMBERS

Susan Burke

Susan Burke, Executive Director
Sarasota, FL

 

Susan Burke brings a wide range of experience to her role of Executive Director at the Florida Alliance for Arts Education.  She was Director of Education at the Sarasota County Arts Council from 2002 - 2005 where she coordinated the Artists in Schools program which brought professional artists into Sarasota Public Schools classrooms to teach reading, math, science, and social studies curriculum. Since 2002, she has served on the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts, an Advisory Committee to the District Superintendent and on the Arts Education Task Force, a community coalition that supports arts education in Sarasota County. Susan played a pivotal role last year in developing and advancing a strategy to integrate Career, Technical Education and Arts courses in high school Small Learning Communities in the Sarasota Schools so that graduating seniors have been taught to the professional standards required in a number of careers in the arts.  Since 1996, she has administered Encore! Ensemble Theatre Workshop, a summer program that brings together teens from around the world to study and create theatre.

In addition to her work in arts education, Burke, who has an MBA in Integrative Management from Michigan State University and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Toledo, has extensive experience in the private sector in project management, information management, new media and marketing, and nuclear power plant licensing.


Rebekah Pearson

Rebekah Pearson
Program Assistant

 

Rebekah Pearson is a South Florida native who moved to Orlando to continue her college education. IN 2008, she received her Associate of Arts degree at Valencia Community College. At V.C.C., Rebekah was on the Dean’s list and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society. She is currently working on her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education at the University of Central Florida. Rebekah values arts education and is excited about her work with FAAE.

Dr. Al Holcomb

Dr. Al Holcomb
Mentor Coordinator
Arts Education for Highly Effective Teacher Development Pilot Program

 

Al Holcomb is a frequent presenter and author on the topics of mentoring, professional development, music assessment, middle level choral music education and aural skill development. Dr. Holcomb has helped to design and implement large-scale professional development and assessment projects in Connecticut and Florida and has co-chaired the Florida Music Assessment project since 2001. He is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Central Florida where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education, coordinates undergraduate music education, advises, supervises interns, and conducts the Women’s Chorus’. He has taught all levels of general and choral music in Texas and Connecticut. Dr. Holcomb is past president of Florida College Music Educators’ Association and is Collegiate Advisor for FCMENC.