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The Peer Advisory Service offers Full and Education Affiliate members the opportunity to consult with respected leaders in the field on a complimentary basis. Peer Advisors are long-term leaders who volunteer to share their experience with other practitioners through 30-minute phone consultations. Topics addressed range from program development to fundraising and marketing to human resources, technology, facilities, and more. Consultations beyond the first 30 minutes are at the discretion of the Advisor.
How a Peer Advisor can help you:
A Peer Advisor can answer questions, point you to resources, and share wisdom gleaned from years of experience in the field. He/she can help you:
Among the many issues a Peer Advisor can help you address are:
How does the service work?
What can you expect from an Peer Advisor?
Who is eligible for this service?
What does this service cost?
Peer Advisor Biographies
Complimentary 30-minute consultations are available to Full and Education Affiliate Members. To schedule a consultation:
It may take up to three business days under normal conditions to schedule your consultation.
What can you expect from a Peer Advisor?
Peer Advisors are highly regarded community arts education leaders who have volunteered to share their time and expertise with you. While there is no guarantee of a specific result, your Advisor can help you determine the best course of action when you are confronted with a new challenge or opportunity.
Who is eligible for this service?
The program is open to Full Members and Education Affiliate Members. For information on membership, click here.
Initial 30-minute Peer Advisory consultations are free for Full Members and Education Affiliates. Any additional services agreed upon by you and your Peer Advisor (such as a longer-term consultation) should be made directly between you and your Advisor. It may be appropriate for you to compensate your Advisor for these additional services. This should be negotiated directly with your Advisor.
Duffie A. Adelson is president of Merit School of Music, a community music school nationally renowned for the caliber of instruction and level of financial support it provides to more than 6,000 students annually. Ms. Adelson joined Merit’s faculty in 1982, was appointed associate director in 1986, became executive director in 1993, and was named president of the School in 2007. Under Ms. Adelson’s leadership, Merit completed a $19.6 million capital campaign, increased its endowment to $11 million, and moved into a state-of-the-art facility with a concert hall, music library, recording studio and fifty classrooms. Merit now provides more than $2 million annually to ensure that motivated students can participate regardless of financial need. Ms. Adelson earned a bachelor of music from Lawrence University and a master of music from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She received a doctor of music education Honoris Causa from VanderCook College in 2007. She is also a Trustee of the National Guild.
Camille Giraud Akejuhas been the director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum since December, 2005. Prior to assuming this role she was the president and chief executive officer of the Harlem School of the Arts (NYC). She has held leadership roles at a variety of not-for-profit, community-based cultural organizations for over 20 years and was the curator and collections manager at the New York Transit Museum for five years. Ms. Akeju served as a program auditor and funding reviewer for the Multicultural Arts Initiative in Pittsburgh, the New York and New Jersey State Councils on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Initiative and the Institute of Museum Services. She also served on the boards of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and the Mount Vernon Family YMCA. Ms. Akeju earned a BFA, in secondary art education and printmaking and a MA degree in art history from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She completed post graduate studies in not-for-profit management at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.
Jesse Bermudez is Founder and Executive/ Artistic Director of the Asociacion de Musicos Latino Americanos (AMLA), a non-profit multicultural organization that promotes the development and dissemination of Latin music, with an emphasis on educating and empowering youth and community. Since 1982, AMLA has become a presence via television and radio performances, concerts, festivals, school and museum workshops, band bookings and large client productions. AMLA opened Philadelphia's first Latin Music School, and has fostered dozens of cooperative projects with local, regional and national arts and culture organizations. Mr. Bermudez believes in "using Latin music to involve the community and address its social and economic concerns, and to bring various racial and ethnic cormmunities together." His diverse background in the arts includes having served as Master of Ceremonies for hundreds of events around the city and region. Mr. Bermudez has received awards from many local and national organizations including the National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights, WFVI-TC7 Channel Six's "Puerto Rican Panorama," the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Latin Beat Magazine, Philly Salsa Award, Honoree of the Feria del Barrio, the Liberty Bell from the Navy Defense department and most recently, the Champion of the Children award given by the Institute for Arts and Education.
Bob Capanna came to Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School in 1976 as director of the School's Kardon-Northeast Branch; in 1982, he was named executive director. Since that time, Settlement has grown to six locations serving over 9,000 students on-site and 6,000 students off-site with programs of instruction and activity in music, dance and the visual arts. Mr. Capanna is an active and widely respected composer whose works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Concerto Soloists, Penn Contemporary Players, Orchestra
Jo Ellen DeVilbiss has been associated with The Conservatory of Central Illinois in Champaign since its inception and founding in 1986. Currently she serves as the school's Executive Director and member of the piano faculty. As Director, she oversees the teaching of approximately 800 students by 25 faculty members. The Conservatory, under DeVilbiss’ management, sponsors the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra, solo/ensemble competitions and over 75 public performances and outreach programs each year. With degrees from Drake University and the University of Illinois as well as an Arts Management Certificate from the AMICI Institute, Ms. DeVilbiss has served as a designated mentor and site visitor for the National Guild and currently serves on the Board of Trustees. Ms. DeVilbiss is the Community Contact Chair for the Champaign County Cultural Consortium, a networking agency for arts providers. An active clinician and adjudicator, she served in that capacity for organizations such as the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy, National Federation of Music Clubs, Music Teachers National Association, and various state and local organizations. She also has served on the music faculties of Lawrence University, University of Wisconsin-FoxValley, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Parkland College, and Indiana University at IUPUI in Indianapolis.
Cathy Fletcher holds a master’s degree in piano performance and has won several regional and national prizes in competitions. While performing and serving on a college piano faculty, her life’s direction took a turn into arts administration. She formerly served as director of community schools of the arts in Memphis, Tennessee where she had much success in building arts programs for children of all ages. In fall 2004, Ms. Fletcher was asked by Arizona State University to build a community school of the arts from the ground up. The ASU Herberger College of the Arts is one of the strongest colleges of the arts in the country, with each of its academic units ranked in the top ten in national publications. Herberger College At Large & for Kids opened its doors in the Fall of 2005 to wide acclaim and currently serves over 2,000 students taught mostly by College of the Arts graduate students from the School of Music, School of Theatre & Film, School of Art and Department of Dance.
Thora Jacobson, COO of the international festival of the printed image, Philagrafika—slated for 2010 in Philadelphia—and a National Guild Trustee, was on staff of Philadelphia’s Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial for 33 years, and its CEO for 23 years. She has served as a community arts organizer, a management consultant, curator, exhibition and competition juror, and peer panelist for government grant-makers and foundations.
David Lapin has been executive director of Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB) since 1983. In that capacity, he has served on the boards of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, the Boston Center for the Arts, the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and numerous city task forces on arts education. He is a past president of the National Guild, a former member of the Walnut Hill School’s Board of Visitors and the school quality review team for Boston Arts Academy, the city’s high school for the arts. A member of the Harvard Musical Association (HMA), Lapin holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, and has taught at Yale and Cornell.He has also recently served on adjudicating panels for HMA, Berklee College of Music and Longy School of Music.
Veronica Williams Njoku has served as director of the Fulton County Arts Council (FCAC) since July 2000. Over the course of her career, Ms. Njoku has overseen the investment of $60 million in public funding for the arts in Fulton County. For the past twenty years, she has been a key player in developing and implementing Fulton County arts initiatives of international significance, such as the National Black Arts Festival and Hammonds House Museum. She has also contributed to setting benchmarks and establishing prototypes for policies and procedures in the governmental granting process. Among other noteworthy accomplishments is the expansion of arts programming to underserved communities in both the north and south extremities of Fulton County through management of four County-owned neighborhood arts centers and a fifth facility operated through a public/private partnership. Ms. Njoku led the planning process for the 1995 Public Art Master Plan and since then has overseen prolific programming bringing art to libraries, parks, senior centers, fire stations, and other public sites throughout Fulton County. She currently serves on the boards of the National Guild, Americans for the Arts, Arts Supporting Agencies Partnership (ASAP), the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund and Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau Cultural Tourism Board.
Stephen Shapiro is the Executive Director of San Francisco’s Community Music Center, a non-profit organization that has made musical study accessible to city residents since 1921. Since Shapiro took the helm in 1978, the school has expanded extensively with an additional branch, collaborative programs with 18 public schools, Latin and jazz curricula and development into a center for education and performance that reflects the rich diversity of San Francisco. In 2003, he received the Gerbode Fellowship for outstanding non-profit leadership. Shapiro has worked as a consultant with five nascent Guild schools in the western United States through the Wallace Foundation funded, Guild-sponsored "Adopt a School" program. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Zellerbach Family Foundation, served on the Board of Directors for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts from 1981 to 1990 and was Vice President of the Guild from 1983 to 1986. Shapiro has played piano professionally for many years and is also an amateur flautist. He holds an MA and PhD in History from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a BA from Oberlin College.
