Danielle Davis began her educational career in 2003 as an elementary school teacher. Ms. Davis has served over 20 years with Baltimore City Public Schools and proudly serves as an Elementary Middle School Principal. During her career, she has also served as an Instructional Leadership Team Member, Mentor and Equity Advisory Committee Member for the district.
Ms. Davis graduated from Hofstra University in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Computer Information Systems. She also holds a Master of Science in Educational Studies from Johns Hopkins University.
Steven “Trellis” Forrester is a multi-disciplinary artist whose skills include: acting, dancing, stage management and singing. He’s worked within his community of Baltimore with different organizations, a couple being Dance & Bmore and Arts 4 Learning Maryland as a teaching artist and mentor. Art is his passion and he dedicates his time and energy to perfecting his craft.
“Everyone is born to excel, somehow and somewhere. Everybody is exceptional and
extraordinary at being who they are, don’t lose it trying to be someone else.”
A former middle and high school science teacher turned nationally-credentialed teaching artist, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellow, and award-winning playwright, Drew Anderson has merged his passions for entertainment and education into such arts integration initiatives as Spoof School and C.R.U.N.K. Academy, bringing his unique spin on hip hop, comedy, parody, drama and poetry to stages virtual and physical, local and international.
Stacie Sanders Evans serves as the President and CEO of Arts for Learning Maryland. She has devoted her career to young people and creating opportunities for them to find their voice, understand their power, and use their voice and power to realize what is possible for them and for the world.
Her strength and passion are creating strong teams and leading a results-based management approach centered in equity. Her focus for over the past 20 years has been building Arts for Learning Maryland (formerly Young Audiences of Maryland) into a driving force for arts education that is transforming the lives of Maryland youth by connecting educators, professional artists and communities. In that time, she built the organization from a small, four-person operation into a staff of more than 60 people, with a ten-fold increase in budget and a network of more than 200 artists that directly serves nearly 180,000 children every year.
The opportunity to create, understand, and express who she was as an individual was the foundation for her growth as a young person, from attending a performing-arts high school to studying dance in Ghana in college. She is passionate about creating similar opportunities for children, particularly for students who are not being well-served by the traditional education system.
Ayanna N. Hudson joined Americans for the Arts (AFTA) as Chief Programs Officer in 2025, where she now plays a pivotal role in leading and advancing programmatic initiatives to effectively serve AFTA’s membership and the broader arts community and champion the arts and their essential role in society. With three decades of visionary leadership, strategic direction, and relationship building, Ayanna has dedicated her career to expanding arts access for all, fostering inclusive participation in local communities across the country, particularly those with limited opportunities to experience the arts, and strengthening the arts ecosystem.
During her 13-year tenure at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Ayanna held several impactful roles, including Chief Strategy, Programs, and Engagement Officer. She oversaw three national grantmaking programs for non-profit organizations and Local Arts Agencies, ensuring alignment with the agency’s priorities and delivering measurable results. Under her leadership, the budget for the Challenge America funding opportunity increased by 20%, extending the reach of the arts into rural and other underserved communities.
Ayanna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Spelman College and a Masters of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Jonathan Rotman is the Government Relations Manager at Lobbyit, and has been with the firm since August 2025. He has a background in research and policy analytics, from working with legislative offices and political campaigns to government contractors and academic research centers. He brings a strategic and research-oriented approach to the team and is deeply committed to working with clients to provide a transparent and action-oriented approach to federal advocacy. Prior to joining the Lobbyit team, Jonathan worked with several clients in the defense community conducting policy research on funding avenues, international development, and intersections with the higher education community.
Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, where he obtained a Masters degree in International Relations. While at UMD, he worked in the higher education space supporting student-led organizations across the university community. He now works with clients focusing on education, transportation, small business development, and more. When he’s not on Capitol Hill, Jonathan can be found hiking, trying new recipes, or reading any book he can get his hands on.
Elizabeth Winkelhoff is the Data and Evaluation Manager at the DC Collaborative. Originally from New York, she grew up going to museums and theater performances and has been passionate about equitable access in arts education ever since. Elizabeth graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2018 with a degree in Archaeology, participating in multiple research studies with a focus in bioarchaeological analysis. Previously, she has worked at Port Discovery Children’s Museum, the Maryland Science Center, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and taught abroad. She advocates for arts and humanities education and strives to apply her skills in data synthesis to support community building and education outreach. Outside of Elizabeth’s work at the DC Collaborative, she is a bookbinding and textiles teaching artist.
Katie Driskill joined Arts for Learning Virginia in 2023 and, in her new role, leads the Engagement, Education, and Program Team, guiding high quality arts integrated experiences for schools and communities across the region. She is passionate about how the arts build confidence, curiosity, and connection in children, and she values fostering strong relationships with educators and teaching artists. Before joining the organization, Katie worked with children and teens at Norfolk Public Library and served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). She earned an associate degree from Tidewater Community College and a B.S. in psychology from Old Dominion University. Katie also serves on the PreK Action Team for United Way of South Hampton Roads’ United for Children initiative. A resident of Virginia Beach, Katie has a fondness for fiber arts and enjoys finding small ways to keep creativity woven into everyday life with her young son.
Alex Colucci, Ph.D., is a geographer and educator whose work focuses broadly on political geographies and issues of justice. He joined Anne Arundel Community College in 2025, teaching human and physical geography courses with an emphasis on political ecology. In past appointments with the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University, his educational practice centered students integrating strategies of visual representation with post-structural and historical-materialist social theory. His work has be published in Progress in Human Geography, Progress in Environmental Geography, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Environment and Planning E: Nature & Space, and Social & Cultural Geography.
Bradley Austin, Ph.D., is a geographer with scholarly interests in environmental perception, cultural climatology, and contemporary social theory. His teaching interests emphasize creative practice as a mode of inquiry and method for developing personal connections to land, air, water, and more. Recent scholarship on weather and society can be found in the Routledge Handbook of Place.
Matt Klepfer (they/them) is a research associate at Metis Associates. Their 7 years of applied research and evaluation experience includes work in arts education, mental health, and STEM equity initiatives. Matt is passionate about the power of communities, data, and design to empower change and make the world a better place. Matt is a graduate student at the CUNY School for Labor and Urban Studies and is based in Brooklyn, NY.
Esther Runck has her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and her master’s degree in Educational Leadership. She has worked in both the parochial and public-school systems teaching and mentoring educators and students from K – 12th grade and has a huge passion to re-ignite purpose and joy in teachers and to peak curiosity in students to develop a love for life-long learning. Esther is also a free-lance artist who believes integrating the arts organically promotes social/emotional interaction and rigorous critical thinking skills connecting students to be positive and vital contributors to their communities.