Kennedy Center Arts Management
2006-2007 Fellows
Cynthia Benefield
Cynthia Benefield comes to the Kennedy Center from Atlanta, Georgia. She was the recipient of a stabilization grant from the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund sponsorship for the position of Managing Director at Ballethnic Dance Company, Inc. There she was responsible for board reporting, grant writing, corporate relations, marketing, human resources, employee training, coordination of volunteers and day-to-day operations. In addition, she was part of the strategic planning team along with the board and directors identifying opportunities and threats in operations. Cynthia has mentored and worked very closely with performing arts students from Hong Kong Baptist University, Brenau University and high school interns selected by Hands on Atlanta. (Funded by the Arthur Blank Foundation). Also, Cynthia has served as grant panelist reviewer for the Georgia Council of the Arts and the Atlanta Housing Authority. Cynthia is a graduate of Paine College with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Administration. She also attended Oglethorpe University Executive Master of Business Administration program.
Roanna Chandler
Born and bred in Portsmouth, England, Roanna moved to London in 1999 to join the administration team of the Philharmonia. Roanna has been involved in every aspect of the Orchestra’s work, as Personal Assistant to the Managing Director, Concerts & Tours Administrator and, since 2003, as Concerts Director. In her most recent role, Roanna was a senior member of the management team and responsible for the strategic planning of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s residency programmes across the UK. The role involved developing, creating and maintaining relationships with key partner venues and all major promoters and festivals, linking them with artists and repertoire and financial aspects of all engagements. She was also responsible for all recording, film and broadcasting work of the Orchestra, including the development of the new media strategy. Prior to the Philharmonia, Roanna worked in publishing and graduated from King’s College, Cambridge with a BA Honors in Music. A violinist, Roanna performs regularly with a number of London’s principal amateur ensembles
Martin Cikanek
Martin Cikanek comes to the Kennedy Center from the City University London (UK), where he is currently finishing MA Arts Management Program. Since 1999, he worked as a production manager of the Prague Opera Festival, the largest opera event in the Czech Republic and was responsible for organizing, coordinating and supervising guest performances of all ten permanent opera houses in the Czech Republic coming to perform on the stages of the National Theater Prague and the Prague State Opera. Martin has gained experience in managing classical music, contemporary and early music, jazz, klezmer, modern dance, experimental projects blending electro-acoustic music with opera and modern drama theatre, cultural tourism, multimedia projects, TV production and film production. He has graduated from the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he majored in Music Management. In 2000, he won EU Socrates/Erasmus scholarship and spent two semesters at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (Finland), where he attended lectures in Performing Arts Management. During the first three months of 2006, he worked closely with the IMG Artists London office vocal division vice-president with a major responsibility in organizing an European auditions tour of a rising American tenor, Norman Reinhardt.
Chae Lian Gardner
Chae Lian comes to the Kennedy Center from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she co-founded Gardner & Wife Theatre with her husband. Over the last six years, they have developed Gardner & Wife into Malaysia’s busiest theatre company. As a producer, Chae Lian sources and negotiates with artists and managers worldwide, as well as manages local staffing. Her strength lies in audience development, media relations and marketing, with a strong emphasis in publicity. She also has extensive experience in dealing with multiple government agencies and diplomatic channels with regards to censorship, permits, taxes and immigration matters. Chae Lian is an honors graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in Drama (Acting).
Kimberly Gibson
A native of Washington, D.C., Kimberly comes to the Kennedy Center from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was Development Associate for the Philadelphia Dance Company also known as PHILADANCO. There, she was responsible for researching corporate and foundation prospects, devising and maintaining development database, grant proposal preparation, and generating departmental reports. While serving as Arts Management Intern for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Kimberly worked directly with Dance Program Director in the evaluating and processing of Pennsylvania grant applications. She further consulted local arts organizations in developing strategies and efforts to improve donor research and acquisition. Kimberly later joined The Mann Center for the Performing Arts where she supported the department with individual giving, corporate sponsorships and special fundraising events. She serves as Co-director of Ordered Steps, a community outreach service for dance established by the Nazareth Baptist Church. A skilled dancer who has taught at the high school and university level, Kimberly holds a degree in Dance Education from the University of the Arts.
Shoaib Iqbal
Shoaib Iqbal worked as coordinator of Punjab Lok Rahs, Pakistan (Punjab People’s Theater), as director, workshop trainer, youth performance facilitator and interdisciplinary artist. He has given workshops in theater in general, arts as a process of learning, arts and education and theater as a tool for effective community development. He has represented Punjab Lok Rahs in several international arts exchange projects in India, Canada, Thailand and Malaysia. Shoaib also initiated “Theater in Education” in Pakistan and taught the first drama course to B.Ed class in Ali Institute of Education, Lahore. This course aimed to make teachers use theater/classroom drama as a teaching aid in formal and informal education processes. His particular areas of interest are the issues of the arts, social behaviors and methodologies to change, embedding arts in socially accepted mediums, interdisciplinary curriculum at the primary education level and multiculturalism and identity in global context.
Jana Nelhybel
An avid amateur violinist, Jana has volunteered since 2000 teaching the violin at the Patricia M. Sitar Center for the Arts, an arts after-school program for at-risk youth in Adams Morgan in Washington, DC. Jana has also been an integral force in coordinating fundraising, event planning, and marketing activities at the Sitar Center. Jana is a member of several arts organizations and serves on the Board of Directors of Washington Musica Viva, a chamber music performing organization. Prior to coming to the Kennedy Center, Jana was an International Trade Specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. Jana helped strengthen Afghanistan’s economic development by creating linkages between American and Afghan businesses. She has also served as an Acting Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassies in Kiev, Ukraine and Prague, Czech Republic. Jana has a BA in International Relations from Bucknell University and an MA in International Affairs from American University’s School of International Service.
AnnaCatherine Rutledge
Born in Japan, AnnaCatherine, is a native New Yorker from Queens. For the past five seasons she has served as Production Coordinator for the Lincoln Center Festival, a three week international performing arts summer festival. Festival favorites include: The Angel Project, Le Dernier Caravanserail, Heisei Nakamura-za, and Elvis Costello. Outside of Lincoln Center she has worked as a freelance producer and director and has shaped a variety of shows in such venues as The Kennedy Center (Page to Stage Festival), P.S.122 (NYC), The Boston Arts Center, Theatre Rhinoceros (San Francisco), The Berkshire Theatre Festival, and many others in New York City. Over the past seven years she has collaborated with the satirist Mike Albo to present several world premiere productions. In 1998 she was invited to Austin, Texas and co-founded the Fabulous and Ridiculous Theatre (F.a.R.T.) where she served as Artistic Director for three years. During her time there she directed and produced nine plays to critical and audience acclaim. AnnaCatherine received a B.A. in Theatre & Communications from the City University of New York, Queens College.
Mar Verdura Martos
Born in Barcelona (Spain), Mar studied Economics and Arts at the University Pompeu Fabra. Since 2000 Mar has lived in Mexico City (Mexico) working in Arts Management; first as Programming Coordinator for the “Festival de México en el Centro Histórico” and in 2002 as Executive Director in Music General Direction at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), which is the oldest, largest and most important University in Latin America.
Cassandra Weston
Cassandra has been active in theater and dance for most of her life. As a producer and artist, she co-founded two theater companies: Resistance Theater in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn and Naked Theater at the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana, where she received her BFA in Performance Studies / Theater. In New York, she was most recently the Managing Director of Nina Winthrop and Dancers from 2000-2006. She is currently Co-Curator of the 2006-7 Dance Conversations @ The Flea. (New York) series with Nina Winthrop. Ms. Weston has freelanced in production management, administration, and accounting for clients such as Battleworks Dance Company, the Community Theatre Internationale, Magbana Drum & Dance NYC, Dance Anonymous, DanceBrazil, and the opera Violet Fire, which receives its U.S. premiere at BAMs Next Wave Festival in October 2006. Ms. Weston’s artistic background is in performing, with an emphasis on nontraditional theatrical forms. She is also a tap dancer and teacher.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts