Innovation in the Arts: The Future of Arts Administration

Join us and celebrate our 25 years - July 28, 29, and 30.

Friday night will be dinner, laughter, and fun.  Saturday, we will discuss The Future of the Arts, and Sunday morning we will bury a time capsule to be examined by the students and alumni at the 50^th Anniversary of the MAAA.  For questions, contact Ramona Baker @ ramona.baker@goucher.edu

THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS 

July 29, 2023         9:30 AM to 4:00 PM        Merrick Lecture Hall        Goucher campus  

 
You are invited to the Goucher campus on Saturday, July 29, to participate in discussions regarding the future of the arts.  

Our speakers will lead interactive participation in four areas that will have an enormous impact on the future of the arts -- technology, philanthropy, equity/inclusion, and environmental changes.  

There will be breaks for meeting speakers and participants, coffee and snacks, challenging ideas, and reviewing the challenges of change.  

Everyone is welcome to attend. Attending our special day of speakers is free, and the event is open to everyone.  Please join us and bring your ideas and questions.   

Registering is required if you want to have lunch on campus with us Saturday.  

You may also want to register to join us for our opening dinner on Friday, July 28 or participate in our burial of a Time Capsule on Sunday morning, July 30. 

The Future of the Arts is presented in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the MA in Arts Administration (MAAA) program at Goucher.   

Please contact Ramona Baker (ramona.baker@goucher.edu) with any questions.  

PRESENTERS

J Reese: WTF is "Ad Tech": Why arts marketers should care, and how Chat GPT can help   

Austin Sora: Making Choices for the Arts and the Environment 

Chrissy Deal: Heed the unicorn: Taking cues from the community while charting a new course in arts philanthropy 

Michelle Polgar and Margie Reese: Operationalizing Equity 

Speaker biographies are included below. 

HOUSING 

The dorm accommodations are single rooms and are where the current MAAA students stay on campus during residency. 

Pagliaro Selz Hall 
First-Year Village, Goucher College 
1021 Dulaney Valley Rd Towson, MD 
$32 per night 

To book a room in the dorm, please email Lillian Johnson at lillian.johnson@goucher.edu. 

Other options in the area include additional hotels and AirBnbs or other short-term rentals. 

HISTORY 

Dr. Jean Wilhelm designed and founded our M.A. in Arts Administration program at Goucher College in 1998, 25 years ago. At that time, there were only a handful of graduate programs in arts administration - and those few were all campus-based. Jean wanted to be more inclusive, especially of mid-career people who couldn't very easily give up their jobs and move to be in graduate school. Early classes were held by conference call. 

If you are an alumni of our program and are not currently receiving our monthly newsletter and would like to, please either write to Ramona Baker or to our alumni email. 

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

J Reese (he/him) is a digital media professional currently based in San Francisco with 16 years of experience in media planning/buying and ad technology. In his current role at Amazon, he supports media buying teams by working with software engineers to define specifications for proprietary software solutions to manage marketing data and automation. He also leads strategic initiatives to govern media buying and taxonomy practices across all Amazon brands to ensure consistency of data and brand safety compliance. Prior to that, J worked on various marketing teams at Expedia Group, including ad-tech strategy and a variety of campaign executions across programmatic video and email marketing.

J has worked on a range of brands and digital marketing projects at agency networks and consulted on in-house projects at L’Oreal Paris and XO Group (Theknot.com). He has also worked on media negotiation, social media strategy, branding, or email marketing for the following brands: Nike, Morton Salt, KLM US, Netherlands Board of Tourism, Google, Western Union, UPS, Les Schwab Tires, State Farm, Circuit City,
FujiFilm USA, and Halo Pet Foods. 

J has been a member of Actors’ Equity since 2006 and has performed around the country on regional stages and on tour. Favorite roles include: NYC: KNB The Musical at NYC Fringe ’08; Seattle: Working, the Musical (Freddy) with Showtunes at Benaroya Hall; Passing Strange (Franklin/DC) at ACT; Watt?!? (Ensemble/DC), Take Me America (Ensemble) at Village Theatre; Regional: Once on This Island, …Spelling Bee at Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre (ID); La Cage Aux Folles (Ensemble/Swing), 42nd Street (Ensemble/Swing), Carousel (Ensemble) at Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY; Man of La Mancha (Pedro) at New Line Theatre (St. Louis, MO). J has a BA in Psychology and Acting from Washington University in St. Louis.


Austin Sora (she/her) is the Program Manager at the Broadway Green Alliance (BGA). She co-authored the
BGA’s Greener Reopening Toolkit and has presented on sustainable practices at Lincoln Center, FIT, TCG, and Playbill’s Curtain Up! festival in Times Square. 

In the nonprofit sector, Austin has served as the Program Manager at The Clive & Valerie Barnes Foundation as well as the Development Associate for Arts Ignite (formerly ASTEP). As a performer, Austin has toured North America with The Phantom of the Opera, assisted Emmy Award-winning choreographer Marguerite Derricks, and has participated in choreographic labs for The Public Theater, Disney, and RWS Entertainment Group. Austin is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, a frequent volunteer with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and a proud Canadian.




Chrissy Deal (she/her) serves as Director of Leadership and Arts & Social Change Grantmaking at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation in Denver, Colorado where she leads the continued development of the Livingston Fellowship in support of its nonprofit leaders. She also guides the foundation’s grantmaking strategies for investing in and celebrating the artistic and cultural contributions of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+, disability and other historically marginalized communities. 

Previously, Chrissy served as Director of Social Responsibility & Inclusion at the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) where she managed a range of equity-centered learning experiences and programs intended to build a more inclusive arts and culture sector, including the Emerging Leaders of Color program serving the 13-state western region. 


With over 25 years of nonprofit and philanthropic experience, Chrissy is a former trustee of the Denver Foundation, a founding member of the LatinasGive! giving circle and an advisor for the Community ACTS Fund and Diversity in the Arts Internship—community-based initiatives intended to amplify the voices of traditionally under-resourced communities in the Denver area.

Chrissy holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Regis University. She is proud of her deep Colorado roots and resides in North Denver with her husband and two sons.


Michelle Polgar (she/her), a producer, manager, director and educator, joined Connecticut Repertory Theatre as Managing Director in 2022 after more than 15 years as the Managing Director of Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. She has recently been named the incoming Interim Director of the University of Connecticut Arts Leadership and Cultural Management MFA program and serves as a member of the UConn Department of Dramatic Arts Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

Michelle has served as the Artistic Director of the State Theatre, the Managing Director at the Public Domain Theatre and Executive Director of Austin Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts. She received a B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Production of the world premiere of Stephen Tomlinson’s American Fiesta, and the Austin Critics’ Table recognized her production of Cyrano de Bergerac with their Award for Outstanding Direction.

In 2015, Michelle was appointed by Mayor Steve Adler to the Austin Arts Commission, where she served as Vice Chair and later Chair. She is a 2015 Leadership Austin graduate. Actors’ Equity Association honored Michelle with the Lucy B. Jordan Humanitarian Award in 2018. This spring she joined the Glastonbury Housing Authority Commission.

Michelle holds a BA in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in Theatre History and Criticism from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a wife, mother and passionate advocate for the role of arts and culture in community and economic development.


Margie Johnson Reese (she/her) is an arts advocate and arts management professional. She received a BA from Washington State University and an MFA in Theater from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She is an advisor to the International Council of African Museums based in Nairobi, Kenya and a Fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria. She continues to serve as an advisor to the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Her work in the local arts agency arena also includes a six-year tenure as Director of the Office of Cultural Affairs for the City of Dallas and General Manager for the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. She held that position under three mayoral administrations managing grant making, arts education, festival production, cultural facilities, and public art staff teams.

Margie’s expertise as a grant maker was tapped by the Ford Foundation to advance cultural projects in West Africa. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, and serving 14 West African countries, her work centered on cultural policy development and conservation of West Africa’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage. She successfully brokered a relationship between the British Museum and Nigeria’s National Commission on Museums and Monuments to provide mutually beneficial learning exchanges.

Margie continues to contribute to the field of Arts Administration as a consultant to national, regional and local arts agencies, helping them develop inclusive arts policies that respond to contemporary civic goals. She is a Consultant in Residence for Mid America Arts Alliance and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.