TAA Staff

E. Frank

Bluestein

Executive Director/Theatre Director

E. Frank Bluestein is the 1996-1997 Disney National Performing Arts Teacher of the Year and the 1994 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. USA Today named Bluestein as one of the top forty teachers in the United States in 1998. Up until his retirement, he served as chairman of the Germantown High School Fine Arts Department and as executive producer for the school’s three-million-dollar, Emmy Award winning television studio. Bluestein is a past winner of the American Theatre Association’s John C. Barner Award and has served as an arts advisory panelist for numerous organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission. He spent several years as director of shows at Opryland, USA, and most recently wrote and directed the national touring production of Beale Street Saturday Night starring blues legend Joyce Cobb. In 2013, Bluestein was inducted into the Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame in Minneapolis, and in 2021 he was named by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee as a recipient of the Tennessee Governor’s Arts Award, Tennessee’s highest honor in the arts.

E. Frank Bluestein is the 1996–1997 Disney National Performing Arts Teacher of the Year and the 1994 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. USA Today named Bluestein as one of the top forty teachers in the United States in 1998. Up until his retirement, he served as chairman of the Germantown High School Fine Arts Department and as executive producer for the school’s three-million-dollar, Emmy Award–winning television studio. Bluestein is a past winner of the American Theatre Association’s John C. Barner Award and has served as an arts advisory panelist for numerous organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission. He spent several years as director of shows at Opryland, USA, and most recently wrote and directed the national touring production of Beale Street Saturday Night starring blues legend Joyce Cobb. In 2013, Bluestein was inducted into the Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame in Minneapolis, and in 2021 he was named by Tennessee governor Bill Lee as a recipient of the Tennessee Governor’s Arts Award, Tennessee’s highest honor in the arts.

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Amanda

Galbraith

Arts Leadership and Administration Director

Amanda Galbraith is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. For eighteen years, she served as an art educator with Bartlett City Schools in Tennessee. Galbraith has served on the Tennessee Department of Education’s subject matter expert committee, two standards revision committees, a textbook and instructional materials advisory panel, and numerous curriculum-development teams. She has received the Tennessee Art Education Association’s West Tennessee Art Educator of the Year award two times—in 2011 and 2013. In 2019, Galbraith was named the Tennessee Art Education Association’s Art Educator of the Year. She is a frequent presenter at local, state, and national conferences.

Kami

Lunsford

TAA Director of Educational Programs and Events

As a middle school choral and theatre director in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kami Lunsford helps students to find personal success and belonging. Her ensembles have performed in nine states alongside artists like Chris Blue and Wilco. She was the Tennessee Teacher of the Year in 2021, twice named Knox County Schools Teacher of the Year, and she was inducted into the University of Tennessee’s Educator Hall of Honor. She has been a consultant and panelist for the United States and Tennessee Departments of Education, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Country Music Association. She has served on the TAA Foundation Board as TAA Alumni Association president and hosted the “TAA Talks” podcast. She credits TAA and the exceptional teachers in her rural, West Tennessee upbringing for her passion to change lives through arts education.

Connie

Marley

Music Director

Connie Marley is retired after teaching twenty years at Freedom Middle School in Franklin, Tennessee. During her successful tenure at the school, her choirs consistently won superior ratings at local and state choral festivals. Each year, her students were well represented in honor choirs at the local, regional, and national levels as well. Prior to her time in Franklin, Marley held teaching positions in Georgia, Texas, and the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Marley is also a past president of the Middle Tennessee Vocal Association and has served the organization in several other capacities. Currently, she is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association.

Susan

Ramsay

Production Director

Before her retirement in May of 2008, Susan Ramsay was a music specialist at Franklin Elementary School in the Franklin Special Schools District and was named Teacher of the Year for that system. She has received National Board Certification in music and holds degrees from Peabody College and Middle Tennessee State University. Ramsay is past president of the Middle Tennessee Orff-Schulwerk Association and the Middle Tennessee Elementary Music Educators Association and has served as regional representative on the National Board of Trustees for AOSA. She has presented at Orff and Kodály national conferences and for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). She maintains an active schedule of performances as a storyteller and as a musician, and has been connected with the Tennessee Arts Academy since its inception.

David

Reynolds

Visual Art Director

David Reynolds is a visual art educator currently teaching in the Franklin Special District in Franklin, Tennessee. He earned his degree in art education from Middle Tennessee State University and began his career in the Williamson County School System. He has served as commissioner for the City of Franklin’s Public Arts Commission, marketing and promotion chair for the Tennessee Art Education Association, and visual art facilitator for the Tennessee Arts Academy since 2017. He is a frequent presenter at both the state and national levels. As a freelance graphic designer, Reynolds has created design work for Hallmark, Purity Dairies, and Dixon Ticonderoga Company. He executed a full graphical re-branding of both the Tennessee Art Education Association in 2023 and the Tennessee Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance in 2024. In addition to his service in the visual arts, Reynolds can be found many Sundays as a featured vocalist at the Church at Station Hill.

Jennifer

Vannatta-Hall

MTSU Campus Coordinator

Jennifer Vannatta-Hall is Professor of Music Education at Middle Tennessee State University where she currently serves as the Director of the MTSU Center for Teaching & Mentoring. She holds degrees from the University of Illinois (Ed.D.) and Middle Tennessee State University (B.M., M.A.). She has over 27 years' experience as a professional educator and taught Kindergarten through 8th grade music in both Rutherford County and Franklin Special School Districts.

Vannatta-Hall has presented workshops and conference sessions all over the United States and was a visiting professor of music at Hangzhou Normal University in China in 2019. She frequently conducts and adjudicates choral festivals. She is certified through the master level of the Orff-Schulwerk approach to music education, the Smithsonian Institute's World Music Pedagogy, and Modern Band/Music Will. Her book, Music Teaching Self-Efficacy in Early Childhood Teacher Education, was published in 2013.

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Jesse

Strauss

TAA Foundation Grants Consultant

Jesse Strauss is a grant writer and classical percussionist based in Nashville, TN. As a musician and lifetime music appreciator, he has enjoyed writing for a variety of arts and cultural organizations. Strauss has worked for the Nashville Symphony since 2018 and now serves as their Grants Manager. He is, however, equally experienced at fundraising for social and human services organizations. Strauss has procured federal, state, and private funding in service areas as diverse as mental health, childcare and early education, restorative justice, and healthcare. A sampling of other ongoing clients include Fannie Battle Day Home, Musical Mentors Collaborative, Centennial Park Conservancy, Raphah Institute, and Santa Monica Symphony. Last year, he helped raise over $1.5 million dollars for more than 15 nonprofits. Strauss cofounded Make Music Nashville, a free day of music that brings outdoor concerts and participatory musical activities to neighborhoods around the city each year on the summer solstice. He is also the Assistant Artistic Director for the contemporary classical ensemble chatterbird. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from Belmont University, where he studied under Christopher Norton.

Sybil

Levine

TAA Foundation Grant Writer

Sybil Levine is a Nashville native, a string musician by nature and nurture, and an avid contributor to the nonprofit sector. An Oberlin College graduate, Levine writes grants for nonprofits that have yielded millions in funds for various clients including individual donors, private foundations, and state and federal entities. Levine has contributed to the financial stability of her clients, whose areas of advocacy include the arts, arts education, mental health and wellness, restorative justice, healthcare, homelessness, and more.

Melody

Hart

TAAF Financial and Business Director

Melody Hart earned a bachelor of music degree in bassoon performance from Ball State University in Indiana. After graduation she moved to Nashville and worked for Badger-Bogle, Architects as executive assistant and bookkeeper from 1993 to 1998. She then began working with her husband, photographer Scott Schrecker, as office manager and bookkeeper. Hart also played bassoon for the Belmont University orchestra for several years. In her spare time, Hart plays bassoon in the sanctuary orchestra at Nashville First Baptist Church and enjoys spending time with her kids, Sammy and Scotty, who have frequently helped over the years as TAA Summer Institute staff.

Savannah

Aiello

TAA Performance and Administrative Assistant

Savannah Aiello has worked in education for over a decade, serving Williamson County Schools as a digital learning designer and speech and theatre teacher at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee. Aiello has also performed and worked with local children’s theatre groups in the area, including Bravo Creative Arts Center and Williamson County Star Bright Players. She currently serves as technical director at Independence High School and assists with Thescon, the state high school theatre conference. Aiello was recently elected to serve as secretary on the board of directors of Pull-Tight Players, where she frequently stage manages shows and serves as a social media and Instagram moderator. Aiello graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and lives in Franklin with her husband Sean, who is an attorney and a Williamson County Commissioner.

Madeline

Bridges

Founding TAA Music Director, Project Director & TAA Consultant

Madeline Bridges is professor emerita of music in the School of Music at Belmont University, where she taught music education and music theory. For fifteen years, she served as School of Music associate dean for academic studies. Bridges also served for twenty-nine years as program director of the Nashville Children’s Choir. She holds numerous music degrees including an EdD in music education from the University of Alabama. Bridges taught music and music education in classrooms from kindergarten through the graduate level and is past president of both the Tennessee Music Education Association and the International Board of Directors of Choristers Guild. She is a member of the Tennessee Music Education Association Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Chapter of American Choral Directors Association as well as the Joe W. Giles Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Arts Academy. Bridges currently serves on the Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation Board of Directors.

Joe W.

Giles

TAA Founder & TAA Dean Emeritus

Joe Giles is founder of the Tennessee Arts Academy and former director of the Arts Education Program of the Tennessee Department of Education. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from Austin Peay State University and has done additional study at Peabody College, Middle Tennessee State University, and Fisk University. Giles is past president of the Southern Division of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and of the National Council of State Supervisors of Music. He taught music in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools for twenty-two years, has taken choral groups on concert tours in Europe, and has received gold and silver medals in international music festivals.

Shirley (Yokley)

Hayes

Shirley Hayes feels most fortunate to have been the director of the visual arts component of the Tennessee Arts Academy at its inception. She was among the first three visual art consultants initially hired by the Tennessee Department of Education in 1985 and later became the sole visual art consultant, all under the helm of the state’s fine arts director, Joe Giles. In her role with the state, Hayes conducted visual art workshops for teachers across the state and developed kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum for the visual arts. Beyond her Tennessee Department of Education consultant work, Hayes’s teaching and professional experience includes eleven years as an art specialist in East Tennessee public schools and one year with a Reggio Emilia preschool. Her nineteen years of university teaching include teaching at Kent State University, Middle Tennessee State University, George Mason University, and Buffalo State College. She holds a doctorate in art education from Pennsylvania State University and degrees in art education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and East Tennessee State University. As a university educator, Hayes's professional interests included curriculum planning and instructional approaches in elementary and secondary visual art education for pre-service teachers. Specific interests lay in critical and social theory in art education and semiotic interpretation of artworks. Her publications and presentations can be found at international, national, and regional levels. Hayes retired in 2015 and resides near her dream beach in North Carolina.

Linda Singleton

McAllister

Founding TAA Resource Center Director

Linda Singleton McAllister was a founding member of the Tennessee Arts Academy and organized its first Resource Center. She later served as Music Director when the program expanded to include secondary choral and instrumental tracks. McAllister served as music consultant for seven years with the Tennessee Department of Education and enjoyed working to improve arts education in the state, based on the vision of Joe Giles. She left Tennessee in 1993 and is now a retired music educator and choral director from The Academy for Academics and Arts, a K-8 magnet school in Huntsville, Alabama. Her choirs consistently received superior ratings at festivals. Several of her former students are now successful teachers and others have careers in the arts, including Michael Luwoye, who recently played Hamilton on Broadway. After returning to her hometown of Huntsville, McAllister received the prestigious Virginia Hammill Simms Award for contributions to the arts community. She served several times as president of the Huntsville City Choral Directors and after retirement was inducted into the Association’s Hall of Fame. McAllister also served on the national board of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators, was a founding member and president of the Huntsville Master Chorale, and served as vice president of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

TAA Year-Round Support Staff

Ashley Abbink –TAA Administrative Support Specialist
Nathan Babian - Webmaster
Issac Osipchuk - Auction Coordinator, House Manager, Office Intern
‍Dianne Evans , Patricia Hudson, Marissa Toothman - TAA Ambassadors
Gina Miller - Travel Coordinator
Scott Schrecker - TAA Photographer
Ron Watson - Graphic Designer
August Merz, Susan Ramsay - Editors
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2025 TAA Summer Support Staff

Pollyanna Parker – Communications Coordinator, Assistant Theatre Director
Vicki Donovan - Special Events Coordinator
Charles Sanchez- Equipment Coordinator
Andrea Hittle - Transportation Coordinator
Bill Marley - VIP Driver Coordinator
Mark Garey, Jay McCulley - Transportation Assistants
Delanea Easley - Academy Accompanist
‍Allison Whitmore - Stage Manager
Ella Herrenbruck - App, Inventory, and Office Intern
‍Robert Congdon – Videographer
David Reynolds - Performance Programs and Graphics
Savannah Aiello - Day of Event Programs
Sammy Schrecker - Hospitality
Stephen Coleman, Kami Lunsford - Awards Coordinators
Marissa Toothman - Vendor Fair Coordinator
Dianne Evans, Patricia Hudson – Assistant Vendor Fair Coordinators
Karen Dean - Visitors' Day Coordinator
Karen Coffey - Assistant Travel Coordinator
Bill Hickerson, Patricia Hudson - VARD Coordinators
Virginia Nix, Kim Shamblin - Art Exhibition Coordinators
Melody Hart, Niki Scheinberg, Kaityln Shamley - Proofreaders
David Shamburger - Guest Performer Liason
Kenzie Baker - TAA Assistant Photographer
Susan Hearn - Silent Auction Coordinator, TAA Receptionist and Office Assistant
Lexie Hearn, Scotty Schrecker, Tad Greer, Mackenzie Ey, Roma Lee Veal, Lila Trattner - Office Aides
Hunter Overby, John Underwood - MTSU Tucker Theatre Events
Chris Click - MTSU Hinton Hall Events
Cecilia Whitehall - MTSU Student Union Events
Edward Gilbert, Gemma Nash, George Angelaccio, Kathleen Larsen, Donald Monts - MTSU Food Services
Michelle Safewright, Stephanie Alderson - MTSU Housing and Residence Life
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Special thanks to Eric Snyder for his assistance in coordinating the TAA visual art exhibitions.

Special thanks to Diamond Printing Company and Square One Printing for printed materials throughout the Academy week.

2025 TAA Facilitators

Music

David Chambers
Pamela McCoy
Jerry Monds
Chris Strelecki
Kerry Vaughn

Visual Art

Janet Laws
Virginia Nix
Kim Shamblin
Ken Snyder
Christopher Taylor

Theatre

Nancy Beard
Michelle Howell
Jennifer Keith
Key McKinney
Pollyanna Parker

Arts Leadership and Administration

Laurie Melnik Allen

Trio Track

Paula Medlin

TAA Administration

Karen Dean
Dianne Evans
Patricia Hudson
Marissa Toothman

TAA Staff

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TAA Staff

About Us

TAA 2021

TAA Essentials

TAA Foundation

Teacher Resources