2023 AAAE Board Elections
We are pleased to announce the eligible Nominees, and current Board members standing for re-election, in the 2023 AAAE Board elections!
Youngaah Koh (Institutional Member)
Bio & Position Statement: Youngaah Koh is an Assistant Professor of Arts Management and Arts Entrepreneurship at Miami University. She currently teaches undergraduate courses, Cultural Equity in the Arts; Policy & Advocacy in the Arts; and Introduction to Arts Management. Her research encompasses arts policy and advocacy; undergraduate arts management education; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the arts; social impact of the arts; and arts in ethnic communities. Some of her current research topics include arts advocacy as experiential learning for undergraduate students; the shifting expectations and needs of undergraduate arts management students; and exploring a university-community partnership for arts advocacy.
Youngaah earned her doctorate in Arts Administration, Education, and Policy from the Ohio State University and her master’s degree in Arts Administration from Columbia University during which she was a Fulbright Fellow. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Ewha Womans University in South Korea.
Prior to her career in higher education, she worked with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization), where she engaged in the design and implementation of international cultural policy. She coordinated multiple international cooperation projects with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to help safeguard, revitalize their traditional arts and culture. Youngaah began her professional career as an arts journalist for The Korea Herald, a national English-language newspaper in Korea.
My biggest motivation to serve on the AAAE Board of Directors is to take a leadership role to work with its board and members to further advance the organization’s mission of supporting arts administration students, faculty, and programs with a focus on equity and inclusion. Through my tenure as a board member, I would like to contribute to the organization in the areas of curriculum development, and policy and advocacy with my academic knowledge and practical skill sets. I am passionate about educating students the importance of and key issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion surrounding the arts industry from programming to personnel, funding and compensation, and community engagement. Another area that I have extensive experience in is working with students as well as the broader community to advocate for the arts on the state and national levels. Arts advocacy is an essential skill and capacity that all current and prospective arts administrators should have, especially having witnessed how the arts sector has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Most importantly, I would like to help facilitate more opportunities for members, whether they be students, faculty, or practitioners, to network with one another and to participate in robust conversations around different issues both in-person and online.
Dr. Rosemary Polegato (Individual Member)
Bio & Position Statement: Teacher/Learner. Researcher. Arts advocate. Rosemary Polegato has more than 15 years of experience with course and curriculum design related to study and practice in the arts and culture sector. She incorporates the arts and sustainability goals into learning contexts for conventional business courses. She is a member of the committee which established and continues to develop an interdisciplinary Certificate in Arts Administration. A 3M National Teaching Fellow, she presents and publishes within her discipline and across numerous domains of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Her Board service includes Atlantic Ballet Atlantique Canada and a large heritage trust.
Dr. Polegato earned her MBA and PhD at the Ivey Business School, Western University, preceded by an MSc (Consumer Studies), University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree with a Major in Textiles & Design. Her interests in teaching, research, and service are characterized by community-based approaches, interdisciplinarity, intersectionality, and emergent ideas and practices.
More than ever the world needs creative thinkers and makers. I believe that AAAE is oriented to respond to the needs of scholars and practicing artists in our turbulent climate. Opportunities to influence more inclusive, diverse, and global perspectives have been recognized. I would be honoured to be a Board member for this organization which fosters collaboration, excellence, community, and support for its members through conferences, workshops, and special events. In fact, AAAE aligns with my approach to teaching, research, and service: community-based, interdisciplinary, intersectional, and supportive of emergent ideas and practices. My service to the Board will bring more than 15 years of teaching experience in Arts and Culture Management and Arts and Culture Marketing; more than 15 years of previous Board experience (ballet, large heritage trust, funder); an interest in public art; and an inclination that is open-minded, dedicated, optimistic, and a lens that is a balance of scholarly and practical perspectives.
Current AAAE Board member up for re-election to a second term:
Aaron Dworkin (Institutional Member)
Bio & Position Statement: Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts and appointed to the Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs, Aaron P. Dworkin served as dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), which is ranked among the top performing arts schools in the nation. He is currently a tenured full professor of arts leadership and entrepreneurship at SMTD as well as serving as a Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. In addition, Aaron is a successful social entrepreneur having founded The Sphinx Organization, the leading arts organization with the mission of transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. He also serves as host of the nationally-broadcast Arts Engines show which reaches an audience of over 2 million in collaboration with Detroit Public Television, Ovation TV, The Violin Channel and American Public Media including Performance Today and YourClassical. As a best-selling writer, Aaron has authored The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives published by Rowman & Littlefield, a science-fiction novel, Ethos: Rise of Malcolm published by MorganJames, as well as his memoir titled Uncommon Rhythm: A Black, White, Jewish, Jehovah’s Witness, Irish Catholic Adoptee’s Journey to Leadership released through Aquarius Press, a poetry collection, They Said I Wasn’t Really Black, and a children’s book The 1st Adventure of Chilli Pepperz. A lifelong musician, Aaron is a prominent spoken-word performing artist represented by Cadenza Artists with a current national tour of his American Rhapsody with a national consortium of orchestras and premiered with the Minnesota Orchestra and Maestro Osmo Vänskä. He has collaborated with a breadth of artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Damien Sneed, Anna Deveare Smith, Damian Woetzel, Lil Buck and others. His visual digital art project, Fractured History, has been exhibited at multiple galleries and museums to rave reviews. Aaron is also an award-winning filmmaker having produced and directed two films including An American Prophecy and Deliberation and in addition to recording and producing two CDs, entitled Ebony Rhythm and Bar-Talk. Bio continued HERE.
I am honored to serve in a board role with the Association of Arts Administration Educators. Through my current role as a Professor of Arts Leadership & Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan, I believe I bring my experience and knowledge of teaching and preparing my students for careers in the arts to bear in support of the organization and our goals. In addition, in my previous administrative role as dean at our School of Music, Theatre & Dance, I designed and founded our EXCEL (Excellence in Career Development, Entrepreneurship and Leadership) lab and department and bring the lessons learned from those experiences to our discussions and strategy development. Finally, I have been a life-long arts administrator and entrepreneur having founded the Sphinx Organization and several other non-profits and bring not only an academic viewpoint to these issues but also a perspective built upon a career of arts administrative practice.
Anne Frost (Individual Member)
Bio & Position Statement:
Anne Frost coordinates/teaches in an Ontario Graduate Certificate program in Arts Administration – Cultural Management at Humber College, Toronto, ON, Canada. Previously, Anne worked in similar capacities at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Sheridan College, and Centennial College, all in the Greater Toronto Area, and prior to that, she was a practitioner.
Anne has served for 4 years on the Board of AAAE, where she contributes via the International Affinity Group, stewarding relationships with arts management educators outside North America, as well as occupying the role of Secretary for the most recent term. Anne has also made contributions to the Board Development Committee, soliciting nominations from arts management educators both from Canada and the US, to promote the inclusion of new and diverse voices around the Board table/Zoom room. The Canadian Association of Arts Administration Educators, a smaller and more informal network than AAAE, is currently co-led by Anne and Sherri Helwig, Professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough. A recent recipient of a Teaching Excellence Award from Humber, Anne holds a Masters degree in Arts Management from the City University (now, City University of London), in the UK.
I began my involvement with the Board of AAAE in 2019, when I was elected to serve the final year of a three-year term held by another International director who had to withdraw. I was then elected for my first three-year term, which expires this year. Prior to my Board involvement, I had assisted with committee work and had participated in almost every annual conference for the past decade or more.
AAAE is a vital hub for knowledge and collegial discussion of sectoral priorities, and as a sole full-time faculty member in my own graduate program at Humber College, I truly appreciate the chance to contribute to the greater world of arts management education with my AAAE peers from the US and around the world. My current involvement is primarily with the International Affinity Group, where I co-steward conference sessions, workshops and conversations with arts management educators in the global South (as well as in Canada, which is distinct from the US), with my valued peers Dr. Dan Green and Dr. Tiffany Bourgeois, as well as seasoned advisors who’ve done this work before. My next goal is to make a meaningful contribution to AAAE’s upcoming strategic planning process, implementing for the benefit of the organization the skills that I practice as a consultant in the cultural sector when not teaching. I am grateful for your consideration as a candidate for a renewed term in the current co-led AAAE Board, a model which I heartily support.
Dr. Dan Green (Institutional Member)
Bio & Position Statement:
Dan Green is the director of the Master of Entertainment Industry Management Program, a joint program between the College of Fine Arts and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. The program prepares students to have an impact on development, marketing, production, distribution, and strategy at all levels across the global entertainment marketplace; specifically in the film, television, video game, and music industry.
Dan has worked in TV production on several programs including “ER,” “The Sopranos,” “Party of Five,” “Time of Your Life,” “Fantasy Island,” “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.,” “She TV” and “The West Wing.” Dan directed the pilot “Munhall” starring George Wendt (“Cheers”) and Tom Atkins (“Law and Order”). Dan directed and produced the film, “Entropy,” which toured the country on the festival circuit. His film, “Listen,” a documentary about inner city teens, was marketed as a teaching tool in classrooms throughout the United States. As a theatre director, Dan has had worked and produced in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. Most recently, Dan wrote and directed the play, “Portico”, at LA City College.
As a writer, Dan’s produced work includes the film, “Listen.” He also wrote and directed several commercials and PSAs. Other writing work includes “Canterbury Air” at Los Angeles City College and Brethren Christian High School, Long Beach, CA.; “Crew Hours” at Los Angeles City College and “An Elf Chorus Line” for In the Spotlight Studio in New Jersey. As a Casting Director, Dan cast “The Kennedy Mystique: Creating Camelot” for National Geographic Channel. He also cast “Nixon in China, 72” for Central Chinese Television (CCTV), Beijing, China.
He received his Ph.D. in higher education and organizational leadership from Azusa Pacific University. His dissertation centered on first-generation student experience at private universities in China using cultural capital as a lens. He received his MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon University and his BA in acting/directing from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He is a graduate of The Second City and the Players Workshop of Second City, both located in Chicago.
Dan is a member of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and The Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) where he is co-chair of the International Affinity Committee. He is the past president of Carnegie Mellon’s West Coast Drama Alumni Clan and the past president of the Carnegie Mellon National Alumni Association Board. He is on the board of the European Network on Cultural Management and Policy (ENCATC) where he sits on the Research Award’s International Jury. He was also honored to give the keynote commencement address at Carnegie Mellon University titled, “An Arbitrary Time.”
I have been involved with AAAE since 2010 and have been honored to serve on the board for the last three years with a dynamic group of educators who have worked hard to address the changing landscape of arts and entertainment in higher ed. I am a member of the Finance Committee and have been supportive of the concentrated effort to provide resources for the organization, including creating a stronger on-line presence, EDI programming, and better support for the AAAE staff. I have enjoyed being on the AAAE Conference planning committee the last three years even as we needed to move our conference on-line. I am also a co-chair of the International Affinity Committee which has become more active over the last three years. I enjoyed reaching out to various international members to record and edit the video conference introductions you may have seen before the conference sessions. I am on the board of the European Network on Cultural Management and Policy (ENCATC), and I am also working as the AAAE representative (along with Dr. Tiffany Bourgeois) for ENCACT. I attended the most recent ENCATC Congress in Brussels where I chaired one panel and presented at another panel. Most recently, I chaired the AAAE International Dialogue about the war in Ukraine and how it is affecting the arts. This event was a co-presentation between AAAE and ENCATC and highlighted the work of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The arts landscape is always changing, and I am proud to be a part of an organization that embraces those changes and looks to the future.