Communities thrive when their people are proud. Pride of place comes through cherishing what makes a location unique. A strong identity of culture, commerce, creativity, ecology, and wellbeing all play a role in establishing quality of life: making the place you happen to be into the place you are proud to be.

Helping places prosper.

Upper Peninsula Arts & Culture Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit economic development affiliate group that fosters and promotes creativity through building connections among artists, performers, audiences, and arts & culture organizations. It drives vitality through research, direct funding, advocacy, and education to create a thriving future for the region.

Roles
Founder, Board Secretary (2018-2020), Board Treasurer (2020-2024), Administrative Director, Webmaster

Supporting Partners
Arts Midwest, Michigan Arts & Culture Council, Central Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Regional Commission, ArtPlace America

Straits Pride is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides advocacy, support, and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac region. Straits Pride hosts events and programs in Mackinac Island, Saint Ignace, Mackinaw City, and Cheboygan, including the annual Mackinac Island Pride Festival. Founded in 2019, the organization has raised over $50k since inception, and attracted thousands of visitors to the region.

Supporting Partners
City of Mackinac Island, many local business sponsors, Pride Big Rapids

Roles
Founder, Board Treasurer, Social Media Admin, Webmaster, Events Committee Chair

Mackinac Island Community Theatre is an all-volunteer local theatre company producing several full-scale plays and musicals annually. Currently under the management of Mackinac Arts Council, the theatre leveraged its outstanding record for success to raise over $100k in capital improvement for its home at the Center for the Arts on Mackinac Island. Mackinac Island’s unique seasonal population gradient means that less than 500 people live on the island during the theatre’s regular season, thus during a typical show, more than 10% of the town is directly involved in each production.

Roles
Co-founder, Music Director (2017-2023), Producer

Supporting Partners
Mackinac Arts Council, City of Mackinac Island Recreation Department, Michigan Arts & Culture Council, Mackinac Island Community Foundation, The Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation, Mission Point Resort

Upper Peninsula Poet Laureate Foundation is a 501(c)(3) that promotes poetry and the spoken word through public readings, workshops, virtual events and digital platforms. The foundation celebrates the Upper Peninsula and its cultural heritage  through poems in online or print publications and champions past and present U.P. poets.

Roles
Founding Board Member, Selection Committe

Supporting Partners
Michigan Arts & Culture Council

Black Lives Matter Mackinac Island was a grassroots movement raising awareness about social justice and racial inequality on Mackinac Island in 2020 in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. The movement attracted significant attention including widespread coverage in local media, a mention in the New York Times, and an open letter signed by dozens of community members published in the local newspaper.

Supporting Partners
City of Mackinac Island,* Mackinac State Historic Parks*

*These partners did not directly endorse BLM, but cooperated with the project by approving permit requests for public demonstrations.

Roles
Co-founder/organizer, Content Author, Social Media Admin

Crossing the Straits was a multi-year (2018-2021) collaboration with Upper Peninsula artists whose work was also featured in ArtPrize Grand Rapids. Artists agreed to have their work routed to Mackinac Island for one month prior to ArtPrize, and then displayed their work at a central location at ArtPrize. The project was widely reported on by statewide media, and generated significant visibility for Upper Peninsula artists.

Roles
Co-director, Exhibit Designer

Supporting Partners
Bonifas Art Center, ArtPrize Grand Rapids, Mackinac Arts Council, Mackinac State Historic Parks, and local businesses

Voicing Poetry paired Lansing area local composers with Lansing area poets to create new multimedia artwork, songs, spoken word performances, and other collaborative projects involving music and poetry. The project culminated in two annual concerts of all new music, several published recordings, and continued collaborations between authors and musicians.

Roles
Founder, Composer

Supporting Partners
The Poetry Center at Michigan State University, Michigan State University College of Music

Creating Community & Change Through Music (aka Midwest Hunger Is) was an initiative to involve local authors, composers, and community choirs in creative writing, composition of new music, and performance of new music on the theme of hunger in the Midwest. The project culminated in the publication of a book, an album, and a concert with twelve Lansing area community choirs performing new music by ten commissioned Michigan composers.

Supporting Partners
The Writing Center at Michigan State University, Michigan Arts & Culture Council, Wharton Center for Performing Arts

Roles
Co-coordinator, Editor, Composer

Polygon was a collaborative multimedia work produced in conjunction with another exhibit called Postscript: Writing After Conceptual Art that explored the artistic possibilities of language. Polygon’s modernist tone investigated the relationship between language, music and visual expression by appropriating texts from ancient and modern mathematicians, theologians, and an origami master.

Roles
Creative Director, Composer

Supporting Partners
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University College of Music

Consuming Arts is a women-led music ensemble focused on synergetic relationships between music and food. Launched in 2015, the project hosts concerts in collaboration with culinary creatives to curate bespoke sensory experiences for audiences centered around new music and experimental gastronomy.

Supporting Partners
Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, Red Haven Okemos

Roles
Creative Co-founder, Media Spokesperson, Composer