My experience lies in the unique world of performing arts organizations.  I carry a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in such settings and I respect the complexities that live within them.  I desire to apply my experience and passion to support your organization in building a culture that reflects an ongoing commitment to equity and belonging. One of my greatest professional joys is facilitating cross-functional conversation and action, connecting Board Members, Musicians/Artists, and Staff Members in a way that is powerful and yet rare in our field.

Current and Past Clients Include:

In addition to the above organizations, I have led EDIB learning and development workshops for organizations including, but not limited to:

• Aspen Music Festival and School

• Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

• Cleveland Chamber Choir

• Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association (Oregon)

• Grant Park Music Festival

• Hartford Symphony Orchestra

• Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra (California)

• Kansas City Symphony

• Manhattan School of Music

• Minnesota Orchestra

• New England Conservatory

• Omaha Symphony

• Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

• Sacramento Master Singers

My experience also includes:

...serving as Senior Advisor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to the League of American Orchestras from 2017-2020, an organization with a membership of more than 2,000 organizations and individuals across North America 

…designing, facilitating and implementing the League of American Orchestras EDI listening, learning and planning process in 2018; conducting 22 stakeholder interviews with 145 individuals from over 100 orchestras as well as the AFofM and ICSOM; engaging the League’s Board EDI Committee and executive staff; collaborating with League leadership to create a strategic framework representing input from across the listening/learning/planning process

…over fifteen years working on staff in Education and Community Engagement settings at orchestras ranging in budget size from 20 million dollars to 80+ million dollars

As an arts administrator and consultant, Jessica holds special interest in amplifying the power of arts and culture to catalyze positive social change, connect individuals across a wide array of lived experiences, and draw focus to the existing strengths of communities. She supports arts and culture organizations in their exploration, understanding, strategy development and implementation of “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) access, belonging and justice work. Jessica is passionate about building individual and organizational capacity to recognize and utilize power and advantage to reimagine the way arts organizations exist.

 From 2012-2017, Jessica served as Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, providing internal and external leadership for BSO education and community engagement programs. Since January of 2016, she has offered consulting services via Orchestrate Inclusion (orchestrateinclusion.com), serving as an external partner to orchestras and other performing arts organizations as they create and implement strategies toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations. Jessica served for three years as Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor to the League of American Orchestras. Her consulting and workshop clients have included the Aspen Music Festival and School, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Choir, Columbia Gorge Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, Holyoke Civic Symphony, Illinois Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, Manhattan School of Music, National Repertory Orchestra, New England Conservatory, New Jersey Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Orpheus, Pacific Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque, Princeton Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Jessica has served as a speaker/presenter for conferences including the Association of British Orchestras, International Conference of Symphony Orchestra Musicians (ICSOM), League of American Orchestras and Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA).

Prior to arriving in Boston, Jessica was the Senior Director of Community Programs at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Education Coordinator at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Jessica received an MA in Arts Administration and an MBA from Southern Methodist University and completed her undergraduate education at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN where she studied horn performance and political science. She is a graduate of the 2015 LeadBoston Program, an executive leadership program focused on social responsibility administered by the YWCA Boston and has completed the Interaction Institute for Social Change’s Fundamentals of Facilitation for Racial Justice Work training, Racial Equity Institute’s Phase 1 Workshop and AORTA’s Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals training. She is a trained Mediator, having completed forty-hours of mediation training in 2020 in accordance with M.G.L. ch.233 § 23C with MWI in Boston, as well as a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Developmental Inventory.

Fuzzy was a tabby cat originally from Dallas, TX. She attended graduate school with Jessica and was a constant partner to her during her work and life experiences for close to two decades. As such, Fuzzy carried a keen understanding of both her human partner’s needs and DEI issues within the orchestra field. You might have heard Fuzzy during a call or seen her check-in during a Zoom meeting. Her specialties and interests included advising from her exceptional level of emotional intelligence; alpha-catting her little brother, Terrence; Iams chicken flavor soft cat food; and silent facilitation of nonprofit strategic planning work. She is missed every day.