Amber ACE Cleveland (Executive Director of For the Love Project and Minneapolis Musical Theatre, owner of ACEntertainment MGMT, and teaching artist)
For fifteen years, through her company ACEntertainment MGMT, Amber ACE Cleveland has created and cultivated a number of shows and currently represents St. Paul Slim, Lady Midnight and New Black City. ACE created and is the Executive Director of the non-profit, For the Love Project. ACE is also the Executive Director of Minneapolis Musical Theatre. ACE teaches after-school programs promoting social justice through a Hip Hop lens. ACE has been conferred with a Bachelor of Individualized Studies and Masters of Liberal Studies from the University of Minnesota, and is currently finalizing her Doctorate of Education at Hamline University.
Alyssa Melby (St. Olaf College Assistant Director of Academic Civic Engagement, former Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Director of Education and Community Engagement).
Alyssa Herzog Melby is currently the Assistant Director for Academic Civic Engagement at St. Olaf. She previously worked in arts management and arts education for 12 years, most recently as Executive Director of the Northfield Arts Guild. Back in Pittsburgh, PA, she worked as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and held several teaching artist positions with local theater companies. While at PBT, she facilitated several new access and equity initiatives, including a scholarship program to PBT School for low-income youth and the country’s first-ever Sensory-Friendly performance of The Nutcracker. She holds an MA in Theater Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in English and Theater from the University of MN, Morris.
Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha, Director/Teaching Artist
Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota/German-American) is a first year PhD student originally from South Dakota. Her research focus is indigenous performance and storytelling. Previously, Sara studied at Minnesota State Mankato and received her MFA in acting, though she works primarily as a director – directing locally with Minneapolis Musical Theatre, New Native Theatre, and Flannel Mafia to name a few. She also works each summer as the Associate Artistic Director of the Northern Fort Playhouse. Passionate about teaching, Sara has taught for Northern State University, University of Minnesota Morris, and locally at Stages Theatre Company where she specializes in working with students with ASD and sensory-processing needs. She loves all things vinyl records, orange cats, and her husband Brian. She/her/hers
Marcus Young, Program Director, Art for Social Change
Marcus Young 楊墨 (Carleton ’91) is a behavioral artist making participatory work at the intersection of art, spirit, and social movement. His work challenges paradigms of who is an artist, how to live mindfully, and what is social action. He is founder of Don’t You Feel It Too?—an ongoing street dance practice of healing and liberation. From 2006 to 2015, he was City Artist in St. Paul, where he redefined the role of the artist as daily collaborator in government. He is currently lead faculty and program director for Art for Social Change at HECUA; stage director for Ananya Dance Theatre; and artist in residence for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. He is a recipient of awards from the McKnight, Bush, and Jerome Foundations.
Laura Sancken ’09, Board Engagement Officer of Boston Symphony Orchestra
Laura Sancken (‘09) is an arts professional specializing in organizational strategy, governance, next generation leadership development, and stakeholder engagement. Presently, Laura is a Board Engagement Officer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the organization where she began her career with roles in event and volunteer management. Prior to rejoining the BSO, Laura served as the Director of Alumni Relations at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she built a framework for a global alumni network. Laura holds a Masters in Arts Administration from Drexel University, as well as a B.A. in Music with concentrations in Management Studies and Women’s Studies from St. Olaf College. She is a proud former member of the St. Olaf Band.
Christian Novack ’03, Membership Manager, American Craft Council
Christian manages all aspects of the American Craft Council’s membership programming and benefits. His background includes donor cultivation and solicitation, membership management, public branding, and artist grants management, much of which was honed while working at Northern Clay Center. A former ceramic artist, he is dedicated to sustaining the ceramic arts and the overall field of craft.
Sheila Smith ’85, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
Sheila M. Smith is the Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) which strengthens our cultural community by achieving arts friendly policy at the Minnesota Legislature and in Congress. Now also Chair of the Creative Minnesota Project, she produces important research about the arts and cultural community for education, policy making, and advocacy.
A well known leader in the non-profit sector, Smith has been a member of the Executive Committee and Public Policy Cabinet of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. She led the arts community into the successful 2008 statewide “Legacy” ballot campaign which created 25 years of dedicated funding for the arts & environment through a Minnesota state constitutional amendment. She also served on the Board of the 2012 Minnesota United campaign, protecting the rights of all Minnesotans to marry, and served as Staff in the Minnesota Senate.
As a national expert in arts advocacy, Smith has been a featured speaker at conferences and events around the country including Grantmakers in the Arts, Americans for the Arts and the Rural Arts Summit and has won several national awards for her work, including the Alene Valkanas Award from Americans for the Arts and the Syndy R. Yates Award from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. She is the former Chair of the State Arts Action League, part of Americans for the Arts.
With over 25 years of experience about the intersection of art and politics, she teaches at the University of Minnesota and has a Masters in Arts Administration from St. Mary’s University and a B.A. in Shakespeare from St. Olaf College.
An avid kayaker, she is also a vernacular architect, carver and painter.
Tim Peterson ’87, Executive Director, Northfield Arts Guild
Tim Peterson has served as the Executive Director of the Northfield Arts Guild since 2017 where he oversees operations, fundraising, and annual arts programming. Peterson has worked nationally as a curator for 30 years, most recently as Chief Curator for the SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah), where he curated the exhibitions Nari Ward: So-Called, Jack Leigh: Full Circle: Low Country Photographs, 1972-2004, and co-curated, Linear Abstraction examining works in multiple media composed of straight lines. Peterson also served as the Founding Director and Curator of Franklin Art Works, a former Minneapolis alternative space (1998-2014), where he developed Franklin’s internationally acclaimed exhibition program, premiering major solo exhibitions by fast-rising and mid-career artists including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kehinde Wiley, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Rob Fischer, Ghada Amer and Uta Barth, among many others.