2025 Panelists

Sara Hartmann is an educator and arts entrepreneurship change agent.  As faculty at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, she founded the Creative Economy Business Incubator, a scale-agnostic program designed to support the unique needs of art, design, and cultural ventures.  Sara also produces MassArt’s Creative Economy Workshop Series in partnership with the City of Boston. This popular series offers free business skills training and professional development workshops for artists and designers. Since 2019, these two programs have served more than 2000 artists and creative entrepreneurs.

Sara has taught business and design at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Simmons University, and Lasell College. Prior to academia, she worked both as a costume designer for theater and opera, and as a digital marketer for apparel and consumer product start-ups.  Her experience moving between the cultural and innovation economies has inspired her work addressing the resource gaps faced by would-be founders in creative industries.

Stephanie Matthews is an award-winning photographer, creative producer, and the visionary Executive Director of A Tribe for Jazz. With over 20 years of expertise in creativity and visual storytelling, Stephanie has brought transformative vision and innovative programming to the nonprofit sector, setting new standards for arts education and community engagement. Under her leadership, A Tribe for Jazz has emerged as a global beacon, fostering inclusion, building community, and celebrating jazz’s vibrant legacy while empowering its future through strategic partnerships and reimagined learning. Guided by her deep faith and dedication, Stephanie's artistic journey is a powerful example for creatives navigating leadership and inspiring others to lead with passion and purpose.

Toneta Akers-Toler is a founding member and artistic director of West Virginia Dance Company (WVDC); the only professional touring dance company in West Virginia. Toneta’s awards include the 2024 Governor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2005 WV Governor’s Arts Awards for “Excellence in the Arts” & 2011 for “Arts Education”, WV Women of the Year in the arts in 1999 and the National Association of Regional Ballet Award for Choreography in 1984. In 2019 Toneta was nominated for the Mid-Atlantic Foundation’s Alan Cooper Award and in 2021 Toneta was nominated for the prestigious NEA individual artist fellowship. Toneta has taught on WVDC tours extensively in WV as well as 14 other states and Brazil. She has served many positions at Theatre West Virginia such as dancer, actress, choreographer, and master teacher for Theatre WV since 1973. Toneta has served as teacher at the WV Governor’s Honors Academy since 2014. A magical time of dance for her was serving students at the Pineville Dance Theatre for 45 years. Toneta holds a dance degree from the Conservatory of Dance Point Park College, has three certifications from American Dance Festival held at Duke University, and has a certification from the Dance Kinetic Institute in New York City.  

Seth Alexander is a professional drummer/percussionist, dance accompanist, composer, educator, and bandleader that resides in Columbus, Ohio. He is currently a lecturer, staff member, composer in residence, and accompanist in the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University. He also teaches music lessons and ensembles in the Central Ohio area on a variety of instruments while freelancing all over Ohio. Seth is most known for his work on drum set with Columbus bands, many acclaimed local jazz musicians, and is the bandleader and founder of the Largemouth Brass Band. In 2012, he attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio to study percussion and jazz with Professor Roger Braun- there he completed a Bachelor of Music degree in 2016 and a Master of Music degree in 2018.

Megan Bee is an award-winning singer-songwriter with a background in environmental education. Her most recent album Cottonwood has been called "as real as it gets" and was listed in the best of 2022 by Americana UK and No Depression Magazine. She bases in the rolling hills of Athens, Ohio and draws influence from the collision of Appalachian folk and modern songwriting. Between tours she works with a variety of children’s summer camps, environmental education programs, library programs, and artist in residency positions bringing her love of music and the region to children of all ages.

Marseille Markham Collins is the creator of Junk Party. She saves tech cords and cables and other junk from the landfill to create fun jewelry and accessories. She learned how to be resourceful by traveling the world and working in New York City. She now resides in Cleveland where her work has been featured in cleveland.com, Cleveland Magazine and Cleveland Channel5 News.

You can find her online: www.instagram.com/junk_party

Jennifer Sandoval Eccher holds an MFA in Dance through Hollins University in association with The American Dance Festival (Duke University), The Frankfurt Conservatory of Performing Arts (Germany) and The Forsythe Company (Germany), and a BFA in Dance Performance from Kent State University. She has been an educator, choreographer and performer for over 20 years. Her project based company, Marquez Dance Project was founded in 2006 where she developed works that delved into human complexities through a creative lens. Since then her choreography has been presented throughout the midwest area as well as internationally. Venues and festivals include: International American Dance Choreographers Showcase, Dance Chicago, Ohio Dance Festival, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, Big River Dance Festival, Kent Dance Ensemble, Cleveland Dance Festival and Cleveland Public Theatre. Eccher has performed for Chicago-based companies Tyego Dance Project, Perceptual Motion Inc., SMARTdance and TJ & Company Dance Theatre and Cleveland-based companies Ajayi Dance, MorrisonDance, Travesty Dance Group and conceptual artists Story Rhinehart Cadiz and Robin VanLear. She has been on faculty at Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community College where she assisted with developing an Associate Arts Degree in dance. She has been on the arts curriculum panel for the Ohio Department of Education where she assisted with revising the dance curriculum for high school level and the gifted program for the State of Ohio. Jennifer has taught a variety of classes from beginning to advance within her career. Some of these courses include improvisation, ballet, modern, contemporary, and jazz. Other courses include dance appreciation, dance production and dance composition, where she draws from the underlying themes of culture, race, gender and environment. She has received fellowships with the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Bard College for education. Currently, she is Chair of the Arts Department and Assistant Professor of Dance at Bard Early College - Cleveland where she continues to emphasize the importance of arts integration within schools.

Megan served as the Executive Director of Art Possible Ohio, and has worked for the Massillon Museum as Education and Outreach Manager where she co-established an accessibility committee, created audio descriptive and sensory tours, and developed a sensory room. Before Massillon Museum, Megan worked with Dublin Arts Council, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and Global Gallery, a Fair Trade non-profit, in Columbus, Ohio. In her free time, Megan loves traveling all over Ohio with her husband, Josh, and son, Wesley, to experience the diverse cultural institutions and events Ohio offers.

Adrian Fung is an award-winning cellist, educator, and arts executive. Named one of Musical America’s 30 Innovators of the Year, he is the Executive and Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Music in the Morning Concert Society and cellist of the JUNO-nominated Afiara Quartet. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed over 600 concerts worldwide, including at Carnegie Hall, Austria’s Esterházy Palace, and the Kennedy Center. A winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition and multiple international awards, Adrian has been praised for his “virtuosic” and “brilliant” playing (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Currently the head of the consulting firm Creative Edge Group, he has held senior roles at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and The Royal Conservatory and was associate dean at the University of Oklahoma, where he conceived of and launched both the International Arts Incubator and the arts management and entrepreneurship program. Adrian holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School in Organizational Change and Leadership, defending his dissertation January 2025.

Kirby is the owner and founder of PlainSong Music Services, LLC, a private music therapy practice in Anderson, Indiana serving central Indiana. She is a Board-Certified Music Therapist specializing in mental health approaches. Kirby holds degrees in music education with an active teaching license from Anderson University, a music therapy equivalency from St. Mary-of-the-Woods, and a MA in Music Therapy from St. Mary-of-the-Woods. As a past neurologic music therapist and current level 1 GIM certified therapist, Kirby aims to create therapeutic spaces for ALL people.

Kirby realized the need for music therapy in her community and became an accidental entrepreneur in 2016. Kirby has grown her music therapy company from a solo private practice to a diverse and celebrated clinic with a team of greater than 15 and a weekly clientele of over a thousand individuals. Kirby has received numerous awards for leadership including the St. Mary of the Woods Graduate Alumni Leadership Award and Madison County's Chamber of Commerce's 20 under 40 in 2024. PlainSong is currently nominated for Madison County's best place to work and best woman owned business with final decisions in February of 2025.

Kirby’s greatest passions lie in leadership and helping others - whether they are clients or employees- realize their potential. Kirby is drawn to education and advocacy of the fields of entrepreneurship and music therapy, and she presents across the country about professionalism, working in private practice, and impacting the lives of others through a “thinking outside of the box” approach.

Quinn Alexandria Hunter is an Interdisciplinary artist that is interested in the complexities of material resistance and the erasure of history from spaces and how the contemporary uses of space impacts the way we, as a culture, see the past. Her work negotiates between the self and the world. Hunter’s practice is contending with the false narratives of a romanticized past and interrupting them by laying a truth next to them. She was born and raised in Charlotte, NC received her MFA from Ohio University in 2020. She is currently an Assistant Professor at The University of Michigan in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.

Lindsey is a filmmaker and animator whose work has screened nationally and internationally including the Slamdance Film Festival, the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art, the Athens International Film and Video Festival, and Cleveland International Film Festival. Her film, Pottero, won Best Animation at Provincetown International Film Festival and the Anchorage International Film Festival. Her films have also screened at various conferences and symposiums around the U.S. See more here: www.lindseymariemartin.com.

Lucy Vurusic Riner is the Executive Director of RE|dancegroup, a dance theatre  company dedicated to the presentation of work that examines the many facets of human relationships. Lucy established RE|dance group in 2009 with her creative partner, Michael Estanich. Their creative process embodies rich emotional content and dramatic imagery through the layering of music, text and sculpture.  Lucy is a Chicago based artist and teacher who received her BS in Dance Education from Illinois State University and her M. Ed in Curriculum and Instructionfrom National Louis University.  Lucy has been a member of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, RTG Dance and Matthew Hollis’ “The Power of Cheer.” Lucy has performed with community casts for both White Oak Dance Project and David Dorfman Dance. She has been teaching in the Illinois public school system for 29 years. RE|dance group produces an annual season in Chicago each year and has shared their dance theatre works throughout the states as well as Canada and South Korea. This year, Lucy and RE|dance group became members of Artspace USA as they embark on a long-term plan to open an affordable workspace for artists in the creative workforce.

Tony F. Sias is the President +CEO of Karamu House, Inc., America’s oldest Black producing theatre founded in 1915.  Under Sias, since 2015 Karamu has raised over $12 million for restoration and increased attendance.  As a creative Sias has produced, directed and performed in over 200 productions.  His work has been highlighted nationally in The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, on NBC’s Today Show with Al Roker, and more. He is a Fellow of the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program through Harvard Business School.  Sias serves as the National Board Chair for the League of Historic American Theatres. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in dramatic art from Jackson State University and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from The Ohio University.

Dorie is a culture connector who brings 20+ years of arts and events management expertise to her work - producing mindful, meaningful, and culturally relevant experiences. Over the years, Dorie has managed artist relations for Pittsburgh, PA cultural arts institutions; magazine and television marketing accounts in New York City; and planned friend- and fund-raising receptions, dinners and galas from the development office at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As the founder and president of Taylor Made Consulting, Dorie works alongside arts, education and nonprofit leaders to develop signature initiatives that strengthen communities.

Currently, Dorie collaborates on strengthening community ecosystems. She is entering her 10th year as producer of Remake Learning Days, a playful hands-on learning festival for youth pre-K- 12th grade, parents/caregivers, and educators activating the many places and spaces families learn worldwide. Additionally, Dorie leads communications for the Regional Capacity Building Initiative whose mission is to create a stable, connected, and accessible network of capacity building resources across the nonprofit sector.

Dorie is committed to learning, resting, and rejuvenating. She has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ohio University, a Master of Arts Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University, and 200+ hours of Yoga Teacher Training with Yoga Roots on Location. At any given moment, you can find Dorie enjoying arts and culture and excursions with her family, friends, or solo.

Makenna Tuttle is currently an Independent Film Producer and Production Coordinator– While at Ohio University, she was a part of the first ever Bachelors of Fine Arts program in the School of Film. During her time, she produced and worked on a variety of film productions with her peers. Now living many miles away from home in Los Angeles, California, she continues to use her filmmaking skills in various capacities– and is even experimenting in the music industry!

She has had multiple showings of her produced films screen at name-worthy festivals including Berlin International, Buffalo International, and many others. Makenna hopes to continue paving the way for better representation in the creative spaces for Disabled people, and other marginalized groups.

When she isn’t working, you can find Makenna in the crowd of a concert, at the movies, or trying new restaurants.

As an Ohio University Alumni, she is honored and eager to give back to the place she called home for so many years. OU Oh Yeah!