Myran Parker-Brass ( @gospeldiva47)

Myran is a native of Chicago, Illinois, is a professional musician, music educator, and administrator, with over thirty years experience providing access to quality arts education for schools and communities.  In 2011, Myran joined the Boston Public Schools (BPS) as Executive Director for the Arts providing strategic vision, planning and building capacity to deepen arts education with a focus on access, equity and quality for all K-12 students. The BPS Arts Expansion is now a model for building and deepening arts education in an urban district.

Before joining BPS, Myran was the Director of Education for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During her twenty year tenure she developed model programs to support arts education for all Massachusetts communities.  Myran also served as the Chair of Experiential Education at Longy School of Music at Bard College, developing the graduate program that provides teaching artist training for Longy students.  

Myran serves on the Arts Education Council for Americans For The Arts, Board of Overseers for the Museum of Fine Arts, Board of Overseers for Landmarks Orchestra and the Board of Trustees for the National Guild for Community Arts Education.  Myran also serves on the steering and implementation committee for Boston’s cultural plan, Boston Creates.

In 2015 Myran was given the Outstanding Arts Educator Award by Massachusetts College of Art and Design and in 2016, was selected as a member of Education Week’s class of “Leaders to Learn From”.  Myran continues work as a professional musician and has appeared as soloist with the Landmark Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra which the Boston Globe praised as..”just plain wonderful”. Her jazz performances earned her the “Outstanding Jazz Vocalist” award at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival.  Myran is co-founder of the New England Spiritual Ensemble dedicated to the preservation and performance of the Negro Spirituals. 

Jeff joined the arts education team at Americans for the Arts in 2013. He works to empower local, state and federal advocates to advance policies supportive of arts education through communications, field education, and strategic partnerships.

Before arriving in D.C., Jeff worked for several nonprofit and commercial organizations in the US and abroad focused primarily in production and programming, audience development, research and policy. Notably, he was a chief advisor on the implementation of the first national Arts in Education Charter under the directions of the Ministers of Arts and Education in the Republic of Ireland. Jeff frequently speaks at a number of nonprofit organizations and universities.

Jeff hails from Portland, Maine and holds a Master of Arts degree in Arts Management and Cultural Policy from University College Dublin and a Bachelor of Science degree in Entertainment Business from Oklahoma City University. 

Emily Bozentka ( @EdVestors )

Emily is the Project Coordinator for Arts Expansion and Communications at EdVestors. In this role she works as a member of the arts team at EdVestors to coordinate work related to the Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion, a multi-year public private partnership to expand access to arts education in Boston Public Schools. Additionally, she works on strategic communications for the organization in managing social media accounts for both EdVestors and BPSiCreate, facilitating the EdVestors blog, and creating and disseminating a bimonthly newsletter.

Prior to joining EdVestors she worked for five years in out-of-school time programming and arts education administration. She holds an Ed.M. in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in English and Music from UC Berkeley, is a trained singer and amateur photographer, and firmly believes that the arts support young people in reaching their fullest potential.

Tony Jones ( @ynotjones )

Tony is an actor, director and theater-arts educator originally from Baltimore, Maryland. After attending the Baltimore School for the Arts as a theater major, Tony completed his B.A. in Theatre and French at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL.

Upon graduation from college, Tony moved to Charleston, South Carolina where he was an Actor-in-Residence at the Charleston Stage Company. In addition to acting, Tony also taught theater to elementary to high school students, infusing theater arts into standard school curricula through Project Artistic, a grant-funded arts education program, in and around Charleston.

As his passion in theater education grew stronger, Tony was asked to stay on at the Charleston Stage Company for a second year in the role of Directing Fellow, where he was able to direct, co-direct, and assistant direct all shows in the 25th Anniversary season, while also spearheading many of the theater outreach education programs.

After leaving Charleston, Tony moved back to Baltimore to work with SuperKids, a summer arts camp in-residence at the Baltimore School for the Arts where he lead the theater program.

Tony joined Enchanted Circle Theater as a Teaching Artist in their after-school program in the winter of 2011 and is active in Enchanted Circle's From Page to Stage, Living History, Parent & Family Literacy, and after-school programs.