Kimberleigh Aarn

Ms. Aarn is a theater artist, teacher, facilitator and professional development designer. Currently she is the Senior Planning Manager, Arts for All. She is also a teaching artist and theater mentor with PS Arts. Previously she was the Senior Arts Educator with The Galef Institute/Different Ways of Knowing; Drama Specialist, Crossroad Arts & Science; Drama Specialist, New Roads School, and a teaching artist with Inner City Arts. With a history of facilitating instruction in theater, movement and visual arts, she has also supported the development of arts integrated lessons and theater curriculums with a focus in literacy. Her professional acting background consists of Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, film & television with nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come & Gone. Kimberleigh Aarn was nominated for a 2005 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for The Merchant of Venice, Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare.

Jim Cantor

Dr. Cantor is a Professor in the College of Education, California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he teaches courses and supervises fieldwork in the Division of Teacher Education. He is currently the Teacher Education Department Co-Chair. His focus is on helping beginning teachers incorporate the arts as they teach the required core curriculum. Dr. Cantor is currently the President of the California Council on Teacher Education, www.ccte.org, the state affiliate of the national professional organization of teacher educators. He has 20 years of experiences as a progressive, multi-age, K-8 grade classroom teacher, and 5 years as a principal in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. He has consulted with numerous arts organizations including: The Galef Institute, Inner-City Arts, P.S. ARTS, and Rock The Classroom. Dr. Cantor earned his Ph.D. at UCLA in 1997, with a dissertation on developing school-university partnerships to support beginning teachers become social justice educators. Jim has been a performing musician in popular bands since the mid-1960’s. He considers himself as the minstrel of education, as he continues his public performances by performing and recording his own songs about the current context in education.

Dr. Bruce Colell

Dr. Colell is presently retired from an active teaching career inclusive of 41 years directing national and international award winning vocal and instrumental groups. His teaching career includes the University of Arizona, St. Johns College, Cerritos College and Camarillo High School. His student Jazz ensembles traveled the world as performance ambassadors of California. Dr. Colell has had and continues to have an extensive and varied career in the music industry. He was a musical director for KOPO T.V. and conducted the North West Valley Symphony in Phoenix. Colell was featured soloist with the Santa Barbara Symphonic Band and guest conductor for honor bands in Arizona and California. He toured extensively as piano soloist with the University of Arizona Band. Published works include both vocal and instrumental with Hal Leonard and Triptych publishers, as well as, original recordings on Two Dot Record label. In 1993 his church choir was selected to meet and sing for Pope John Paul in Rome. His choice of music for that performance is now the required literature for visiting choirs to perform in Rome. He is currently conductor of the Ventura County Concert Band and the keyboard player in four Southern California big bands as well as leader of a jazz quartet. He holds BA and MM degrees in composition from the University of Arizona. His Doctorate is from the University of Santa Barbara.

Kristi Snyder-Colell

Kristi Snyder-Colell, fourth generation Californian and life long resident of the Somis/Camarillo area has been an active member of the Visual and Performing arts community her entire life. She received her BA of Arts from Loyola Marymount University and her MA through Pius XII, School of Arts Villa Schifanoia in Firenze Italia. She did post graduate work in Printmaking at Santa Reparata Institute of Art in Firenze Italia. Kristi joined the California Lutheran Art Teaching Staff in 2006 following successful forty year tenure as a Visual and Performing Arts Teacher and Department Chair for the Conejo Valley Unified School District. While teaching for the Conejo Valley Unified School District, she served on the first State Committee for writing the Visual and Performing Arts Framework , and has received many Local and State teaching awards. While Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair at Newbury Park High School she was a major force in the construction of a theatre and establishing a successful Visual Arts program as well as the Visual and Performing Arts International Baccalaureate course. Her sculpture and watercolors have been exhibited in galleries both nationally and abroad. She has written libretto for two original musicals, performed in and directed over 90 theatrical productions. Snyder-Colell is currently employed by the Global International Baccalaureate Program as an examiner.

David Connors

Dr. Connors is a Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at California State University, Los Angeles. At Cal State LA he teaches courses in the master's degree program in music education as well as general music methods courses, supervises student teachers, and directs the Orff Schulwerk Certification Program. He holds MM and DME degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He is a program author for Making Music, 2002 and Making Music, 2005 published by Silver Burdett, Pearson Education/Scott Foresman. He is also an author of Making Music with Movement and Dance. He has been a soloist with the Los Angeles Bach Festival where he has sung the tenor solos in J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor and Magnificat and has sung the role of the Evangelist in the Christmas Oratorio and the St. Matthew Passion.

Leilani Lattin Duke

Ms. Duke developed a long range plan for arts education for Los Angeles Unified School District in 1999, which was unanimously adopted by the LAUSD School Board and is being successfully implemented today. Between 1981 and 1998, she directed the Getty Education Institute for the Arts of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Prior to joining the Getty, she served as executive director of the California Confederation of the Arts and spent seven years at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., developing programs in arts education and the performing arts. Lani Duke has served as a member of the California Arts Standards Committee and the National Music Educators Advisory Committee. She holds an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

Virginia Gembica

Mrs. Gembica has experience as a classroom teacher, a special education teacher, elementary school principal, District Director for State and Federal Categorical Programs and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. She has also served on Arts in Education panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. From 1990-2000, Ginni Gembica was the Director of the Southern California Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts, a program of the J.Paul Getty Museum Education division, which provides teacher training in comprehensive classroom/school/district visual arts programs.

Lois Hunter

Mrs. Hunter is Chair of the Theatre Department at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. She held the position of Director for the UCLA California Arts Project for five years and was a member of the State's Curriculum Committee that revised the Visual and Performing Arts Framework in 1996. She served as a member of the State Superintendent of Education's task force and is currently a member of the California Arts Assessment Network. As a member of the Arts Standards Committee, she worked on the new arts standards that were state board approved in the spring of 2001. Lois Hunter was also a 1992 BRAVO Award winner as an arts specialist.

Beth Michelson

Ms. Michelson was the Executive Director of The Wonder of Reading from 2001-2008 after serving on the board of directors for six years. During her tenure, the organization renovated 125 public elementary school libraries throughout Los Angeles County, worked with each school to provide books and ongoing literacy programs, and reached young students and their families in seven school districts. She oversaw all activities of the nonprofit organization, including the selection of school partners. Prior to joining The Wonder of Reading, Ms. Michelson spent more than fifteen years in commercial real estate development, consulting, and association management in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. She has extensive experience as a board member and advisor for a variety of not-for-profit organizations and focuses on the arts and education. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Beverly Hills Literacy Society and was formerly a director of the Venice Art Walk. She is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University with a B.A. in art and architectural history and received her MBA from Columbia University. She is a new board member of the Music Center.

Bobby Rodriguez

A native of East Los Angeles, Dr. Rodriguez is a Grammy nominated and award winning trumpeter/educator, with over 40 years experience. He is an author of "ABC's of Latin Jazz." Dr. Rodriguez's achievements include three platinum and two gold records. He is the winner of the Los Angeles Times Salsa/Tropical Artist of the Year (2001), the Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz from Drew University (2000), and KLON's Best New Latin Jazz Artist (1999). Bobby holds a Doctorate (DMA) from UCLA and currently is the Latin Jazz Director at UCLA, UC Irvine and Pasadena City College as well as Musical Director of Jazz Adventure.

Dr. Amy Shimshon-Santo

Amy Shimshon-Santo (Ph.D.) is an artist and educator who believes that creativity is pivotal to personal and community development. Shimshon-Santo enjoyed teaching dance in K-12 Schools as a dance educator with the Music Center Education Division, before becoming a mentor to emerging teaching artists. She recently edited an ethnographic study, Art = Education: Connecting Communities in Los Angeles, that documents the teaching and learning process she guided with novice arts educators and community partners in urban schools. She directed the ArtsBridge Program at UCLA Arts, and received national recognition for her leadership in arts education and service learning by being honored on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll (2007). Shimshon-Santo has performed and choreographed for venues internationally from the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to school cafetoriums in rural Alaska, and performed and taught abroad in Singapore, Senegal, and Brazil. Her writing has been published in the Journal for Learning Through the Arts, the Teaching Artist Journal, UCLA Today, and she contributed to a regional analysis of art and popular education in a forthcoming book VIVA!: Art, Education and Politics in the Americas. She has 15 years of non-profit arts managerial experience as the founding Administrative Director for the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center and the Ballet Folclorico do Brasil. Shimshon-Santo served as a CORO Arts Leadership Fellow, a Dana Foundation Arts Education Fellow, and on committees for the Compton Education Foundation, the Western Arts Alliance, the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, and the California Arts Council (CAC). She has also been a grant review panelist for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Irvine Foundation, and the CAC.

Desiree DeBond Vargas

Mrs. De Bond Vargas has been a LAUSD teacher, District Specialist, Administrative Coordinator, and a Principal in her 29-year career as an educator. As principal of Rockdale Elementary, Mrs. De Bond Vargas has led teachers and staff in building Rockdale's arts programs, infusing the arts into all areas of the curriculum. Rockdale won the 2006 BRAVO Award. Their "ArtsWheel" program which ensures that students receive year-round instruction in all areas of the arts, taught by classroom teachers, was highlighted in the Music Center's Club 100 video, "A+ For the Arts."

Geraldine Walkup

Ms. Geraldine Walkup is the Visual and Performing Arts Administrator at the Los Angeles County Office of Education and serves as the regional Art Lead for the Curriculum and Instructional Steering Committee, as well as a regional representative on the California County Superintendents Educational Association Arts Initiative Sub- Committee. One of her duties is to provide ongoing support and professional development to administrators, arts coordinators, and teachers through workshops, newsletters, and meetings to strengthen arts education in Los Angeles County. Ms. Walkup has designed district- and state- wide assessment measures as a member of the California Arts Assessment Network and the California Subject Examinations for Teachers. Prior to this, she was an art educator for thirty years and the Visual Arts Curriculum Leader for Long Beach Unified School District. Her degrees include a B.A. in Fine Art, M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction, and an Administrative Credential from California State University, Long Beach.

Elise Woodson

Ms. Woodson is an educator with 16 years of experience in the field. She currently works for The California African American Museum as Program Manager of Education and Education Curator. Prior to her position at CAAM, Woodson worked as a literacy coach for UCLA, partnering with Los Angeles Unified School District where she provided guidance and professional development to teachers and staff. She has served as the Coordinator of English Language Arts for the Southfield Public Schools in Michigan, designed and facilitated numerous programs including, Congresswoman Maxine Waters' High School Internship Program and Love Thyself for the LA Bridges Program.

Bennett Wright

Ms. Bennett Wright recently retired from San Marino High School, a Bravo winning school last year, after completing 33 years as a drama teacher, technical director and co-chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department. Outside of the high school, she has taught lighting and design at Cal Arts and Cal State Los Angeles. Ms. Wright has worked extensively as an actor and designer in summer stock and regional theaters around the country. In 1985, during a leave of absence, she worked in New York at the Lincoln Repertory, the Circle Repertory, and the Actor's Studio. She developed the California statewide stage technology curriculum for the Regional Occupational Program. Bennett was recognized in 1989 with the Honorary Service Award from the PTA for her work with students. This year, she received the Norberg Award for teaching excellence. She is currently creating a drama program at New Village Charter School located in downtown Los Angeles.

Marilyn Wulliger

Mrs. Wulliger has an extensive background as an educator. A teacher for more than 20 years in the Beverly Hills Unified School District, she has presented at conferences nationally and has been honored by numerous awards and grants, including the Music Center's 1993 BRAVO Award, an Outstanding Teacher Award by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, an Independent Study in the Humanities grant, and a Fulbright-Hay Fellowship to Ghana, West Africa. She was a member of the Advisory Panel for the California High School Exit Examination and worked closely with TETAC (Transforming Education through the Arts Consortium), a five year Getty-Annenberg grant for arts reform awarded to 36 schools in the United States. She received her BA from University of California, Los Angeles, and an MA in English from Middlebury College.