Current NEAP Board of Directors as of June 2025 |
Jenny has worked supporting the arts for over two decades throughout New England. She has produced festivals in Burlington, VT, run the First Night Burlington non-profit and held director positions at several other prominent Western Berkshire and Southern Vermont arts organizations including the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the HiLo Music Venue, Retreat Farm and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She currently runs Programming for Student Engagement at Bennington College. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD
MICHAEL SAKAMOTO (MA), CO-PRESIDENT Michael (MFA, PhD, UCLA) is a curator, scholar, educator and artist active in dance, theater, music and media. He currently serves as director of performing arts and director of the Asian and Asian American Arts and Cultures program at UMass Fine Arts Center in Amherst, MA. Michael is former faculty at University of Iowa, CalArts, Goddard College and Bangkok University. His creative works have been presented in 16 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. Michael's book monograph, "An Empty Room: Imagining Butoh and the Social Body in Crisis" (Wesleyan University Press, 2022) was shortlisted for the Dance Studies Association de la Torre Bueno Prize. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD |
JENNY CROWELL (VT), CO-PRESIDENT
Vicky is in her 15th year as the Director of Education & Community Engagement for The Colonial Performing Arts Center in Keene NH. Before working at The Colonial she was Program Director of Administration for Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and teacher of drama and music for the Berkshire Maestros in Berkshire, UK. She holds degrees in Music and Theatre from Indiana University, Salem University with post grad work from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Vicky curates international and educational performances for The Colonial Theatre as well as community engagement events in partnership with local colleges, artists and educators.The Metropolitan Opera in Schools program provides annual training and curriculum for Vicky to bring outreach into schools. After traveling to over 26 countries, her vision at The Colonial includes bringing integrated arts education into the Monadnock Region in partnership with local educators and artists who have a shared vision. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD |
VICKY PITTMAN (NH), TREASURER
Katie is a lifelong devotee to the performing arts. She has danced, played the oboe, and participated in plays and choir throughout her life. Her passion is dance, and she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Dance focusing on Education and Arts Administration. Katie is currently the Manager of Engagement Initiatives at the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University. She oversees artist logistics, Arts for All education programs, community initiatives, calendar management, and camps. Additionally, she is a commissioner on the Fairfield Arts Commission whose goal is to stimulate, foster, facilitate and encourage the development and appreciation of artistic and cultural activities within the Town of Fairfield. Her biggest goal is ensuring as many people can participate and experience the performing arts regardless of income level, that she is striving to achieve at the Quick Center for the Arts, her time on the Fairfield Arts Commission, and beyond. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD |
KATIE LANG (CT), SECRETARY
Melissa has been with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas since 2003, and serves as the Managing Director. As the Festival takes over the theaters, open spaces, and courtyards in an around New Haven, Melissa manages the transfer of artistic and programmatic ideas to live performances. Melissa is also founding member of Prospect Musicals in New York City, a company dedicated to re-interpreting classic plays and musicals to collaboratively create new works. Melissa holds an AB in History from Princeton University and an MFA in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama where she received The Morris J. Kaplan Award. Prior to joining the Festival, she worked at the Guthrie Theatre in Minnesota, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Yale Repertory Theatre and Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD
Victoria is an artist originally from Michigan who moved to Vermont in late 2021. They have been involved in performing arts since their youth — ranging from dance, choir, band, theater and DJing. No matter where they are located, Johnson always strives to be a part of the community in some capacity through performing arts. They work as the Music Program Manager at BarnArts in Barnard, Vermont, where they arrange a summer music series, music residencies, and school programs for rural schools. When not working, they enjoy attempting to teach themself instruments, crochet arts, and connecting with the land through gardening and communing with plants. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD
Shannon is the Director of the Stockbridge Theatre in Derry, NH. She brings over 25 years of experience in the arts with extensive management experience in both professional and academic settings. Shannon's passion is to entertain and engage audiences, to inspire and enlighten the next generation of arts enthusiasts, and to champion the arts as vital to the soul of every community Shannon has served in leadership positions at the Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College, Arts Brookfield in NYC, the Gerald W Lynch Theater at John Jay College, and most recently the Grunin Center for the Arts in Toms River, NJ. During her tenure at the Redfern Arts Center Shannon was on the board at APNNE, and Monadnock’s Alive Board from 2013 to 2019. Shannon holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BS from Northwestern University. She has guest lectured at Theatre for a New Audience, Actors Theater of Louisville, Connecticut College, Queens College, College of Staten Island, and Georgia Southern University. She has also served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maine Arts Commission. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD |
VICTORIA JOHNSON (VT), MEMBER-AT-LARGE
SHANNON MAYERS (NH), MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Lucas grew up in New Hampshire and holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Keene State College (KSC Class of ’21). He currently works at Lebanon Opera House (LOH), a thriving year-round presenting arts organization in Lebanon, NH. Having joined the LOH team shortly after graduating, Lucas has loved learning and engaging with the community he grew up in. Lucas’s passion lies in diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging work. Upon entering LOH, Lucas helped launch LOH’s annual Pride Celebration, which tripled in size in one year and currently brings over 30 organizations, artisans, and vendors across the region together, providing resources to a vital segment of his community. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD |
LUCAS MENDELSOHN (NH), MEMBER AT LARGE
Liz Schildkret is the Director of School and Family Programs at Portland Ovations, nonprofit cultural organization based in Southern Maine. Prior to joining the staff at Ovations, she served as the Assistant Manager for Theater Education at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As a theater educator, Liz specializes in drama-based instruction and has worked with students and teachers in theater, music, language arts, social studies, science, and math, as well as English Language Learners. She holds an MFA in Drama and Theater for Youth and Communities from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Theater for Youth from Arizona State University. *ELECTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD  CHLOE POWELL (VT), MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIRChloe Powell grew up in central Vermont and is the executive director of Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph Vermont, a multidisciplinary arts organization. She has worked in the music industry for a decade from a variety of angles, programming both independently and with BarnArts, and representing artists as an agent with ALIA Prod. She is passionate about building collaborations across the region and connecting her rural community with the arts from around the world. *APPOINTED VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD |
ELIZABETH SCHILDKRET (ME), MEMBER AT LARGE
FIONA COFFEY (MA), IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Fiona is an arts leader, curator, creative producer and community builder with a strong track record of compassionate leadership, thriving artist relationships, strategic visioning, fundraising and a deep understanding of the national performing arts landscape. She currently serves as Director of the Office for the Arts at Harvard. Previous to joining OAH, Fiona was the Associate Director for Programming and Performing Arts at the Center for the Arts, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Wesleyan University. There, she curated and produced a visiting guest artist series, presented touring shows, and designed and produced development residencies to support new work by visiting artists. Fiona served as co-President of NEAP from 2023-2025. She has served on the American advisory board for Ireland’s Abbey Theatre, helping with fundraising and strategic planning for U.S. touring. She previously worked at the William Morris and Harry Walker Agencies in New York City, representing artists, politicians and celebrities, and is a member of the Creative and Independent Producer Alliance. Fiona works with artists, students, faculty and staff across disciplines to help shape and develop new creative work and integrate the arts across campus in innovative ways. She works closely with artists to improve equity practices, including living wages, disability justice, decolonizing contracts and greater access for BIPOC artists. Her first book Political Acts: Women in Northern Irish Theatre, 1921-2012 was published by Syracuse University Press (2016). Fiona holds a doctoral degree from Tufts University, a master’s of philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin, and a bachelor’s from Stanford University.
* NON-VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD
KEITH MARKS (VT), IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Keith Marks is the Executive Director of The Colonial Theater and Showroom in Keene, New Hampshire, and immediate past co-president of New England Arts Presenters (NEAP). Previously, he served as Executive Director of Next Stage Arts and Avant. With an MS in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, Marks brings a decade of international experience living across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East to his cultural work. He has released albums on his own record label, co-produced and hosted a weekly radio show on an NPR affiliate, and launched numerous community-building projects that bridge arts and civic engagement, including his current service on the mayor's advisory council for regional economic development.
* NON-VOTING MEMBER OF THE BOARD