Creative Support for Individuals-Round 1

Ingrid Dai is the advancement associate at Propel Nonprofits, an intermediary organization and CDFI providing capacity building services and access to capital to support nonprofits in achieving their missions. She has previously held roles with nonprofit organizations including the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, in the areas of event planning, education, and development. Dai graduated from Carleton College with a BA in economics and music, specializing in violin performance. She currently serves as a volunteer board member for the Summer Singers.; Alison Hibschle has taught music for the last five years to students from diverse populations and socioeconomic backgrounds. Her leadership roles have included comanager of the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival and president and vice president of the Elmhurst College Women?s Chorus. Hibschle graduated with a bachelor?s degree in music education from Elmhurst College and a master?s degree in vocal performance from DePaul University.; Zoe Koenig is a development assistant at the nonprofit literary publisher Coffee House Press and a Twin Cities based dance artist. She currently is a member of the companies Analog Dance Works and Alternative Motion Project and has worked with choreographers Sarah Abdel Jalil, Erika Martin, and others. She was a Generating Room Artist in the fall of 2019 at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts and has taught contemporary dance workshops through the Cowles Center and Zenon Dance School. She graduated with a bachelor of arts in literary studies and creative writing from Beloit College.; Cynthia McEwen Haynes directed at regional theaters across the country while serving as managing director of Northern Sign Theatre, creating work in Sign Language, artistic director of Chautauqua on the River, and the Lyric Theatre. Long responsible for development, she?s served on many grant panels at COMPAS, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and the Arts Board and was named to the Minneapolis Arts Commission, ultimately serving as its chair. Her past decade has been filled with grant and screenwriting, and consulting while serving consecutively as the editor of two local lifestyles magazines. She holds a BFA and MFA in theater and an MBA in nonprofit management.; Kari Schloner: Schloner is the director of Northrop at the University of Minnesota. She joined the Northrop team as the general manager in April 2016 and moved into the director position in June 2018. She came to Northrop from Hennepin Theatre Trust, where she enjoyed programming and producing in the downtown theaters. Prior to her time at Hennepin Theatre Trust, she worked as the entertainment representative at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and as the stage manager at Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA). She also spent time as the tour manager for the State Ballet of Georgia's 2008 United States tour and was the stage manager for the Cedar Rapids Opera Theater for seven of their seasons. She earned her BFA in technical theater from North Dakota State University (Fargo, ND) in 2000 and did her graduate studies in stage management at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA).; Melanie Schmidt is currently the youth development program coordinator with Mankato Area Public Schools' (MAPS) Community Education and Recreation Department. She has been working for MAPS since 1996. She coordinates primarily enrichment opportunities for youth in grades K-12. She has long promoted and coordinated visual and performance arts through her work with MAPS. In addition to working with community education and recreation, she has supported regional arts as a board member with Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, managed Minnesota Poetry Out Loud regional and state contests, and arts specific grants for MAPS, as well as other local nonprofit groups. Finally, she is often spotted at Minnesota Service Cooperative Conferences leading conference sessions on topics such as readers theater.; Christopher Scholl is the managing director of Ashland Productions, an award winning community theater dedicated to empowering young people through theater. Scholl previously served as managing director of Jungle Theater and spent more than a decade as a professional fundraiser with Chicago?s Goodman Theater, DePaul University, and the University of Minnesota, as well as working professionally as a scenic designer. He graduated from the Carlson School of Management with an MBA in strategic management, the North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston-Salem, NC) with an MFA in scene design, and Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) with a BA in theater.; Lydia Smith-Lenardson is a Pacific Islander with expertise in visual, cultural, and performing arts including dance, poetry, music, and writing. Her work focuses on holistic health, design, and travel, and she is inspired by environmental and philanthropic causes across the globe. Smith-Lenardson works as an editing and writing consultant, and has helped authors get their manuscripts published by traditional and independent publishers. She has a bachelor of fine arts in theater and dance from University of Hawaii (Manoa, HI) and has performed and choreographed dances for its Young Choreographer and Spring Concerts.; Brandon VanWaeyenberghe is the executive director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra (DSSO), where he oversees all administrative, fundraising, and fiscal aspects of the organization. Prior to joining the DSSO, he served as the director of finance at the Charlotte Symphony and nearly ten years at the Houston Symphony in four different roles in fundraising and business intelligence. He is a graduate of the League of American Orchestras Orchestra Management Fellowship program, a nationally recognized program in arts leadership. VanWaeyenberghe holds a BS in music management from the University of Evansville (Evansville, IN) in addition to a MA in arts administration and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati. His research regarding the supply and demand of orchestra musicians has been published and quoted in several publications.