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Arts Education Council Bios

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Arnold Aprill
Executive Director
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
Chicago, IL

Arnold Aprill is the executive director of the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). Doug Herbert, former director of arts education at the National Endowment for the Arts and current special assistant to the Secretary for Arts Education at the U.S. Department of Education, stated that “CAPE was one of the first—if not the first—organizations in the country that put cultural resources system-wide to affect deep change, not just a quick fix in schools.” CAPE links Chicago public schools into a network devoted to sustainable school improvement through the arts. CAPE’s methodology is documented in numerous publications, including Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning, described by Harvard Educational Review as “required reading”; Putting the Arts in the Picture, an important new publication that connects innovative arts education practice to forward-thinking educational policy; and Champions of Change, a watershed research study on the impact of the arts on learning. CAPE, under Arnold Aprill’s direction, has received three U.S. Department of Education grants (two Model Development and Dissemination grants and one Professional Development grant) in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. He is a recipient of the prestigious Leadership for a Changing World Award from the Ford Foundation and presents nationally and internationally on school improvement through the arts.

Thomas Cahill
President and Chief Executive Officer
Studio in a School
New York City, NY

Thomas Cahill, president of Studio in a School Association, has worked at the organization for more than 25 years. Studio in a School is an organization dedicated to visual arts education spanning New York City’s five boroughs and providing art programs developed by experienced professional artists in more than 130 public schools and publicly funded child-care and community centers. Beginning in 2004, he has also served as co-chair of the committee that developed the Visual Arts Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, a new arts curriculum adopted by the New York City Public Schools. Cahill received his B.F.A. in painting from the School of Visual Arts and an M.A. from the Department of Arts and Humanities at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education. He has taught and developed programs at The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Riverdale Country School, New York University, the School of Visual Arts and Pratt Institute. Currently, Cahill is involved in professional development to support the implementation of the Blueprint in the New York City Schools.

Donna Collins
Executive Director
Ohio Alliance for Arts Education
Ohio Citizens for the Arts
Columbus, OH

Donna Collins serves as executive director for both the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (OAAE) and Ohio Citizens for the Arts (OCA). As a leader in the field of arts education and arts advocacy, Collins has had the opportunity to work with the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN)—most recently, as a member of the Network Leadership Committee and the Advocacy Committee. Collins co-authored the KCAAEN Leadership Kit and worked extensively on the network’s recent restructuring. Collins serves as an Americans for the Arts State Captain and is a State Arts Advocacy Network member. In 2004, she served on the arts education preconference planning committee with Americans for the Arts and most recently authored “Keeping Arts Education in Focus” for the fall 2006 issue of Arts Link.

At the state level, Collins represents OCA as co-chair of the Annual Arts Day and Governor’s Awards for the Arts in Ohio. This annual event brings hundreds of Ohioans to the capital to actively advocate for the arts and arts education. Under Collins’s direction, OAAE has secured more than $1,000,000 in state, federal, and foundation grants to support arts education in the areas of assessment, gifted identification, professional development, and mentoring. Collins is most proud of her work with Ohio’s professional arts education organizations: Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), Ohio Art Education Association (OAEA), OhioDance, and the Ohio Educational Theatre Association. She serves on the boards of OMEA and OAEA, including on committees for strategic planning, advocacy, and professional development. Collins also serves on the VSA arts of Ohio board, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s Education Committee, and BalletMet’s Advocacy Committee.

Prior to working with OAAE and OCA, Collins served as the marketing director for the Ohio PTA, where she had the opportunity to work at local, state, and national levels in the areas of membership, arts education, board governance, and professional development.

David Flatley
Executive Director
Center for Community Arts Partnerships
Chicago, IL

David Flatley, executive director of the Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) at Columbia College Chicago, has more than a decade of experience in developing and implementing educational and intercultural initiatives designed to improve teacher practice and student achievement and effect whole-school change. His work supports both national and international groups—most recently the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Educational Authority as they worked to replicate the arts integration model developed by Flatley and his team through the Chicago Teacher’s Center. He has an M.A. in arts administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.S. in business administration from the University of Illinois-Champaign. He received his practitioner’s certification in intercultural communications through the Intercultural Communications Institute in Portland, OR. Flatley serves as the Council's Vice Chair.

Laurie (Schopp) Lock
Director of Programs and Policy
VH1 Save the Music Foundation
New York, NY

Laurie Schopp is the director of programs and policy for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, where she is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the award-winning national initiative committed to restoring music education in America’s public schools and to raising public awareness about the benefits of music education. Schopp initiated and managed the launch of campaigns to completely restore music education in such cities as Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. She has presented at numerous state and national educators conferences and currently provides consultation to communities throughout the United States as they face challenges that jeopardize arts education.

Laura Reeder
Founding Executive Director
Partners for Arts Education
Syracuse, NY

Laura Reeder is founding executive director of Partners for Arts Education in New York. She is the Newsbreak Editor for the Teaching Artist Journal, a visual teaching artist, pre-K–12 educator, and adjunct professor of Cultural Foundations of Education and Arts Integration for social-educational settings at SUNY Oswego and Onondaga Community College. She has been a consultant/collaborator with the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York State Alliance of Arts Organizations, Lincoln Center Association of Institutes for Aesthetic Education, and hundreds of schools and cultural organizations. She is currently an advisor and “firestarter” to the Governor’s “Brain Drain” initiative.

 

Steven Tennen
Executive Director
ArtsConnection
New York, NY

Steven Tennen has been executive director of ArtsConnection, one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive arts-in-education organizations, since November 1985. Under his leadership, ArtsConnection has grown from a service provider to a full educational partner with more than 120 New York City public schools annually. During the past six years, ArtsConnection received three U.S. Department of Education (ED) Model Development and Dissemination grants; hosted the national symposium Beyond Arts Integration to share the research results of its 2001 Model Development and Dissemination grant; and has been the subject of the Dana Press publication Partnering Arts Education: A Working Model from ArtsConnection.

From 1968 to 1972, Tennen was a classroom teacher at PS 287, a Brooklyn elementary school. From 1973 to1983, he was a program director at Henry Street Settlement’s Arts Center, where he conceptualized and managed its arts-in-education, family theater, and ethnic heritage projects and was co-producer of The New Federal Theatre. He served as executive director of The Jamaica Arts Center from 1983 to1985.

Tennen holds an M.A. in theater from Brooklyn College. He has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Center for Arts Education, NY State Artists in Schools Program, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Fund for NYC Public Schools, among many others. He has served on the boards of Arts and Business Council and the Jamaica Arts Center. He was a member of the advisory committee for Programs for Children and Youth at the Kennedy Center and the Chancellor's Advisory Council on Arts Education. He is a member of the steering committee for the New York City Arts Coalition. In 1996 and 1999, Tennen was a guest speaker at conferences on arts education in Hong Kong and Taipei, and in 1996 he was co-recipient of Arts and Business Council, Inc’s first annual Encore Award for Excellence in Arts Management.

Lynn Tuttle
Director of Arts Education
Arizona Department of Education
Phoenix, AZ

Lynn Tuttle serves as director of arts education for the Arizona Department of Education, a position she has held since 2003. During her tenure, she has facilitated the adoption of revised state arts standards and led a 3-year, $5 million Arts Education Integration Initiative. She serves on the boards of the Arizona Music Educators Association, the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education, and the State Education Agencies' Directors of Arts Education national association. Lynn holds a bachelor of music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, as well as bachelor and master of arts degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.B.A. from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Miriam C. Flaherty Willis
Senior Director, Education
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
Vienna, VA

Miriam Flaherty Willis has been involved in arts-in-education program development and management since 1973 and has directed the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts Education Program since 1990. A native of Washington, DC, and former high school theater arts and English teacher in Baltimore County, MD, Flaherty Willis holds an M.A. in educational theater from New York University. Other professional experience includes associate director for national programs for VSA arts and director of the annual fund at The American University.

Ayeshah Wiltshire
Director of Community Arts and Education
Westchester Arts Council
White Plains, NY

Ayeshah Wiltshire graduated from Hampton University with a degree in entrepreneurship. After a year-long fellowship to develop and coordinate a micro-enterprise program for the International Foundation of Education and Self-Help in Johannesburg, South Africa, she began an internet-based art cooperative. She has traveled extensively throughout Africa, training artisans in financial management and marketing. The result has been an online "catalog" of indigenous crafts from African artisans. This is where she finally found her niche, combining business savvy and artist management to create viable sources of income for freelance artists. Upon returning to the United States, Wiltshire joined the staff of the Westchester Arts Council, and currently serves as the manager of community arts and education. While she wears many hats at the Arts Council, her main responsibilities include the management of the Arts Partners program, which provides artist residencies to schools, senior centers, mental health facilities, and social service agencies throughout Westchester County.

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