Meet The Bloggers

Sara Billmann is the marketing and communications director for the University Musical Society (UMS), a position she has held for 13 years. She has spoken about peer-to-peer marketing, audience development, and research at the Arts Presenters, International Society for Performing Arts, National Arts Marketing Project, Arts Midwest, and Western Arts Alliance conferences.  She served as co-chair of the Major University Presenters Values and Impact Study, a two-year, $400,000 initiative that explored the intrinsic impacts of attending live performances and the underlying values and motivations driving arts attendance and donation.  Sara received an MBA from Stanford University with additional certification in nonprofit management and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English from the University of Michigan.

Susan Badger Booth is a graduate of Boston University and Columbia University. Since earning her MFA in Arts Management, she has served on the faculty of Bowling Green University and managed the Toledo Cultural Arts Center where she led the successful campaign to restore the historic Valentine Theatre. She has also served as business manager of the Masterworks Chorale and development director of Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. Since coming to Eastern Michigan University in 2006 Professor Booth has taken leadership in curriculum development and has provided leadership for the development for a comprehensive community cultural plan with the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance.

Rob Boardman is Music Director of the University of Michigan, Life Sciences Orchestra (LSO), and founder of the Ann Arbor Repertory Orchestra. During the summer of 2009, he served as Marin Alsop’s Assistant Conductor at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, in Santa Cruz, CA. Robert also serves as Assistant Conductor for Howard Shore’s “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” with CAMI Music for which he  has assisted in over 30 performances, including a tour of Germany. In this position, he has worked with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, among others. Robert has conducted 10 World Premieres and over 30 orchestras nationwide, including the Houston Symphony, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra.  Having attained the Doctor of Musical Arts (ABD) in Orchestral Conducting from the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he studied with Kenneth Kiesler, Robert has a passion for contemporary classical music and seeks to reinvigorate today’s audiences by finding new ways in which the orchestra can become a vital social force.

Kelly Dylla’s focus on arts education and community and audience engagement drives her work as a violist, teaching artist, and arts professional. Between 2000 and 2005, Kelly was a teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute, New York Philharmonic, and Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center. She was also the viola professor at Hofstra University and director of an elementary-level violin program in downtown Brooklyn. A graduate of The Juilliard School with a Master of Music in viola performance, Kelly holds a Bachelor of Music from Rice University and a MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Kelly has worked on consulting projects for the Sphinx Organization, Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, and WolfBrown. In January of 2010, Kelly joined the Pacific Symphony’s Artistic and Operations team as Director of Audience Engagement.

Nathan Platte recently completed his Ph.D. in historical musicology at the University of Michigan, studying with Mark Clague. His research interests include film music, Russian orchestral music, and music of the twentieth-century, generally. He is an active bass trombonist who performs with the UM Life Sciences Orchestra.

In the fall of 2006, Ken Selden was appointed Conductor and Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra and New Music Ensemble at Portland State University. His first two seasons with the PSU Symphony merited First Prizes in Adventurous Programming from ASCAP and the League of American Orchestras. He has appeared as guest conductor of the Oregon Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic and the Newport Symphony. During the previous five years, Ken led a series of performances as Assistant Conductor of two innovative ensembles — the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Eos Orchestra.

Nathan Zeisler is principal bassoon of the Ann Arbor Symphony; he is also an Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Bowling Green State University and serves as the Executive Director of Arts Enterprise Central—the national non-profit coordinating the efforts of Arts Enterprise student chapters across the country.

Serving as host and moderator for the Orchestra Summit Blog, Drew McManus is one of the most well known and well respected arts consultants working today. In addition to his consulting work, Mr. McManus has authored Adaptistration, a blog on the business of orchestras, since 2003 and in 2007, he founded InsideTheArts.com, a cultural blogging exchange. He is regularly quoted as an orchestra business expert in traditional media outlets such as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and The Guardian Unlimited. Mr. McManus has been a guest on national radio programs such as NPR’s All Things Considered and WNYC’s Soundcheck. Mr. McManus will be serving on the Thinking Outside the Box: Organizational Structures and Strategies session on Wednesday, January 27th at 11:40 a.m.