Hope Greene is the Executive Director of Western Avenue Community for the Arts in Lowell, MA where she maintains a five-building renovated textile mill complex as safe, permanently affordable space for almost 400 artists to make and display their work. Western Avenue Studios & Lofts is a key property in the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston’s Creative Land Trust. The struggle for reliable artist space has been a theme through Hope’s career and over the years she has worked to establish spaces and advocate for artists. She co-founded Second Saturdays Art Crawl in Dixon, IL, founded and directed the Artist in Residence Program at Christ Church Cathedral in Eau Claire, WI, and has been a contributing writer for the arts and culture magazine Volume One. Hope also works to support artists and cultural grounding as a member of the Executive Committee for Mosaic Lowell, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Copley Society of Art in Boston.

Tami Haaland is the Dean of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Montana State University Billings, where she was a professor of creative writing for many years. Her most recent poetry collection, If I Had Said Beauty, was published in 2025. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies and has been featured on Writers' Almanac, American Life in Poetry, and The Slowdown.

Krys Holmes is executive director of the Montana Arts Council, and has been an arts instigator in Montana for many years. She was executive director of The Myrna Loy, one of Montana's most innovative arts centers, has advised and consulted with numerous arts nonprofits, was an early founder of the Montana Center for the Book, is a published writer and poet, was a jazz/philosophy singer in her wicked youth, and is author of the statewide history book, Montana: Stories of the Land.

Peter Jasso is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinema-Television with a degree in Film Production. He has worked in a variety of capacities in the entertainment industry, including sound design and development for various production companies. He has produced and directed several short films and is a recipient of the KC Film Fest Karen McCarthy Outstanding Service Award. Peter has served as Director of the Kansas Film Commission, Director of the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, and Director of Operations at the Creative Arkansas Community Hub & Exchange (CACHE).

As Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville, Jill McMillan Palm provides entrepreneurial education and capacity-building resources to nearly 10,000 individual artists, arts nonprofit leaders, creative businesses and arts enthusiasts annually. Prior to landing in Nashville in 207, her professional experience spanned positions in fundraising, marketing, sales, advocacy, and more at nonprofit arts organizations and for-profit creative businesses in her hometown of Valparaiso, IN, as well as Los Angeles, CA; Phoenix, AZ; and Boston, MA. Jill is a graduate of Pepperdine University with a degree in Integrated Marketing Communication, and completed an intensive Masters-level arts administration workshop at Valparaiso University. She is recognized as a thought leader and advocate for the arts sector, having served on Americans for the Arts’ Private Sector Council from 2018-2022 (as Co-Chair from 2021-2022) and as a member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Music Industry Advisory Group since 2018. Her accolades include being elected to the Nashville Emerging Leaders class of 2019, and being named as a finalist for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Leaders Award in the Arts, Entertainment, and Music Business category in 2021 and winner in 2022. She was also a founding board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Nashville (MOCAN), on which she served from 2022-2024, and recently graduated from the Leadership Middle Tennessee Class of 2025.

Jade Osborne (she/her/we/us): Jade Osborne is an arts administrator and an innovative creative person who is passionate about the arts and community. Jade is an multidisciplinary artist and experiential curator. She explores the space in between the self, the other, and the living art that is created when we are together. Jade has performed and presented on stages in fourteen countries interlacing social practice/community outreach with each of her appearances. She is an award winner and grantee of ArtsKC, KC & Chicago Fringe Festivals, Afest, Missouri Arts Council, COMBAT among others. She served as Artist Advisor for the New Airport in Kansas City and is currently serving as Performing Arts Director for Art in the Loop Public Arts Project, the Program Director for the Summer in the City Public Arts Project and as Program Officer for the Artist Services Division at Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Jessica O’Hearn is a passionate and accomplished community arts leader with over 15 years of experience advancing creative expression and cultural engagement. She currently serves as Director of Mosaic Lowell, the City of Lowell’s arts, culture, and creative economy initiative, where she leads efforts to foster inclusive access to the arts and support local creatives. Before joining Mosaic Lowell, Jessica served as Executive Director of the Brookline Arts Center and as Artistic Director and Curator at the Juliet Art Museum in Charleston, West Virginia. Across all her roles, she has been a champion for equitable arts access, youth and community programming, and sustainable pathways for artists and cultural workers. Jessica lives in Lowell with her husband and two children, and is deeply committed to building vibrant, creative communities through collaboration and advocacy.

Heather Pontonio serves as the Senior Program Director at the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, leading the national strategy and administration of its Art Program. Her work is dedicated to advancing professional practices for contemporary art curators and artists nationwide. Notably, she played a pivotal role in launching Artists Thrive, a national initiative designed to evaluate and improve conditions for artists across the country. Ms. Pontonio earned a Master's in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor's in Arts Administration from SUNY Fredonia. Her career began in New York City with positions at the Little Orchestra Society, Irish Repertory Theatre, and Cherry Lane Theatre, and later included serving as Associate Vice President of Grants at the Arts & Science Council (Charlotte-Mecklenburg). A 2015 P.L.A.C.E.S. fellow with The Funders’ Network, she also co-chaired the Grantmakers in the Arts’ Support for Individual Artists Committee (2015-2017) and currently serves on the boards of VIA Collaborative Arts and the Research Advisory Board for the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP).

Michael Royce is the CEO of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), a U.S. based national nonprofit serving artists, cultural workers and arts organizations. During the pandemic, Royce oversaw the fundraising and distribution of $21 million in emergency funding. Royce has launched many new services since taking over the organization, including a national immigrants artists program, an incubator for executive arts leaders of color, statewide consulting services for leaders supporting underserved communities, national grants to address climate change, local grants to artists with disabilities, and national grants to Latinx artists. Previously, Royce had been appointed by Governor Pataki as the Deputy Director of the New York State Council on the Arts, followed by an appointment as the President of Moynihan Station Development Corporation. Royce also served as an on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts for fifteen years. Recent Recognition includes being named a notable nonprofit leader in NYC by CRAIN’S New York Business (2025, 2023, 2021), a Nonprofit Power Player in by AMNY Metro and Politics NY (2024,2022), one of the top 50 influential arts leaders by the Observer (2020), and awarded the inaugural Alan Cooper Leadership in the Arts Award by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (2018).

Diane R. Scott (she/her) is an arts administrator, educator, and writer specializing in the development of resources and programming to support artists in the management of enduring artistic practices. The Director of Artist Services at the Regional Arts Organization Mid-America Arts Alliance, Scott is the founding director and principal designer of the Artist INC professional development program. Now in its 17th year, Artist INC programs have been completed by more than 3,500 artists. Diane is also a noted professor winning numerous teaching awards. Combining her experiences in both non-profit artist services and higher education, Diane operates as a liaison between collegiate arts entrepreneurship education and artist professional development in the field. She specializes in creative entrepreneurship and has worked with thousands of artists of all disciplines in traditional classrooms and professional development settings to improve their strategic planning, marketing, project planning, financial, fundraising, leadership, and communication skills. Scott’s book Artist Entrepreneurship for Life: Making Art Work for You was released by Routledge in 2025.

Kyla Strid (she/her) is a potter, teaching artist, and arts administrator in Lawrence, Kansas. Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, she earned her BFA in ceramics from the University of Alaska Anchorage and her MFA from Ohio University. Her work has been shaped by residencies around the world and by consulting on an archaeological dig of a Minoan pottery workshop in Crete. Drawing from ancient Minoan forms and botanical patterns inspired by her own backyard, she creates functional pots that invite daily use while carrying a sense of timeless beauty that is rooted in the here and now. When not in her studio, you can find her supporting fellow artists while serving as a Program Officer in Artist Services at Mid-America Arts Alliance. www.kylastrid.com @kylastrid

Anika Tené (she/her) is a cultural strategist, arts leader, and community builder working at the intersection of belonging, freedom, and care. As Director of Grants, Awards, and Programs at Creative West, she supports artists, culture bearers, and organizations through responsive funding, artist-centered approaches, and programs that honor lived realities. Her work reflects a belief that arts and culture are essential to democracy, wellness, and belonging. She has co-designed national initiatives such as ArtsHERE and Cultural Sustainability, advancing equity in arts funding and infrastructure. Regionally, she designs artist funds that center place, identity, and access, building networks of trust and opportunity rooted in community brilliance and need. A skilled strategist and convener, she brings care and clarity to cross-sector collaborations that amplify cultural expression and voice. Author of The Oceans We Hold, a lyrical novella on memory, healing, and Black womanhood, Anika leads with integrity, imagination, and warmth.

Luis Valderas received a BFA in Art Education from the University of Texas-Pan American in 1995. In 2005, Valderas co-founded and produced Project: MASA I, II,III, IV, V and 5.5—a national group exhibit series that continues to feature Latinx artists and focuses on Chican@ identities. He co-founded The A3 Press and Bishop & Valderas, LLC. a large-scale printmaking community engagement collaborative and production house. Valderas is a mentor and board member of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). He has exhibited at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia(MOA), the Medellin Museum of Art, Colombia, the Queens Museum, NYC and the UCR-Arts Block, Riverside, CA. His work is featured in books such as Altermundos-Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film and Popular Culture-2017, Mundos Alternos-Art, Science Fiction in the Americas-2017, Chicano Art for Our Millennium-2004, and Triumph in Our Communities: Four Decades of Mexican American Art-2005. His work is in the permanent collections of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Arizona State University, the Art Museum of South Texas, and the San Antonio Museum of Art.