Vita

 Educator

Priority Status Adjunct, Westminster College of the Arts, Rider University,

Princeton, NJ.  2003 - Present

•   Oversee the credit based internships, numerous Arts Administration independent studies and short term volunteer experiences.
• Involve classes in “real time – real work” experiences with a variety of non-profit agencies.
• Augment instruction with field trips and guest lecturers from the field such as trips to the Foundation Center, theatre excursions coupled with talks from administrators and guests representing New Jersey Network’s development office, ArtPride NJ, Star Ledger, Council of NJ Grantmakers.
• Initiated and organize the annual Blatant Self Promotion Brunch that brings arts gorups and students together for networking that leads to jobs and internships. 2009 marked the third year.
• Developing and implementing the Arts Administration Center and major practicum which provides students with a minimum10 hours of experiential learning per week in a professional office setting.  
• Teach Arts Administration Major core - Introduction to Arts Management, Communications and Marketing the Arts, Arts Fundraising, Arts Administration Lab and a variety of arts administration electives including off campus courses such as Global Encounters: London Arts Administration Investigation and New York Networking.

 

Part Time Lecturer,  Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ. 

 

·        Taught: Issues in Arts Management 1 & 2, Arts Marketing and Public Relations, Fundraising, Organizational Management, Independent Studies and Internships.  

·        Doubled enrolment in the undergraduate arts management program in one year.

·        Organized arts management lectures by outside professionals for the entire department.

·        Produced a dance concert recruitment activity for area high schools.

·        Coordinated a student art exhibit in conjunction with a dramatic event.

·        Re-worked the scope of courses and assisted with the development of an arts management minor for the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

·        Researched and developed the Three-Year Recruitment Plan for Rutgers University Newark, Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

·        Coached individual forensics participants in speech and drama events.

 

Instructor (interim line for one year and grant funded for a second.) Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.

 

•   Taught Fundamentals of Speech and worked independently with students on career related presentations.
• Guest lecturer in Arts Management Classes.
• Developed “Summer in the City” a teen summer theatre program.

 

Guest Lecturer, Arts Management Certification Program

New York University, NYC, NY.

 

  Director, Performing Arts Program, Red Bank Regional High School, Little Silver, NJ.

•  First Director and fully responsible for the program from its inception to its status as a model vocational performing arts program that services high school students, elementary students and the community.
• Developed, implemented and monitored the state approved four-year sequential curricula for dance, drama, television and creative writing.  The curricula became a state and national model.
• Designed departmental goals, objectives, and five-year plan.
• Created a promotional plan that garnered state and national recognition of the program.  Generated features, regular press releases, public service announcements, television coverage, generic brochures, direct mail and promotional events.  A professional video overview was funded and produced.
• Initiated successful relationships with Monmouth County Superintendents of Schools to garner support for the Performing Arts Program.
• Supervised the professional staff of teachers, guest artists and parental volunteers.
• Implemented an aggressive recruitment plan that increased enrollment and generated tuition revenue, taking the revenue from zero to approximately 1 million dollars per annum in 5 years.
• Developed the budget and maintained the department's fiscal accountability including generating approximately $1,000,000 a year in tuition revenue.
• Completed year-end reports inclusive of demonstrated achievements, student data, earned and unearned income, evidence of marketing strategies and fiscal analysis. 
• Wrote successful proposals for the funding of special projects that brought major artists into the school.
• Negotiated contracts with guest artists, technical support staff and producing organizations.
• Produced and promoted community arts events such as performances by Princeton Ballet, Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Parker and Pucci from Pilobolus, Colleen Dewhurst and McCarter Theatre.
• Maintained a working relationship with the state's other vocational arts program, arts magnet schools, arts enrichment programs, professional artists, college arts program and non-profit arts agencies.
• ·Coordinated internships, job opportunities and specialized training for the program's students.
• Established the continuing residency of the New Jersey Playwright's Workshop and the New Jersey Youth Orchestra at R.B.R.H.S.
• Provided quarterly staff development workshops that included such topics as: time management, curricular proficiencies, classroom management, arts based learning, and mandated family/health related issues.
•  Conducted staff evaluation, in compliance with NJ state statute, for tenured and non-tenured staff
• Advised extemporaneous speaking and parliamentary procedure teams of RBRHS Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) chapter preparing them for state and national competition.

Director, New Jersey School of the Arts, New Jersey State Department of Education

•   Revised and upgraded the programming, fiscal position and visibility of a state legislated school for talented high school students.
• Established operating procedures for the Board of Trustees and staff.
• Drafted an Options Paper that outlined possible direction for the school and led to the approval of a "Five Year Plan."
• Created a promotional campaign that unified the marketing of multi-site programs and increased statewide visibility.
• Prepared documents that resulted in increased fiscal appropriation and professional staff for FY 1990.
• Initiated development projects including an "Adopt a Student" scholarship campaign, grantsmanship and trustee donations.
• Developed linkages with New Jersey professional arts organizations for workshop sites, artists, career components and other collaboration.
• Initiated the "Summer Festival at Scudder's Farm" which brought artists, students and the public together for classes and performances.
•  Increased dialogue with the State Board of Education, legislature and government officials.
• Reorganized and coordinated the production elements of the "Governor's Awards Arts in Education" ceremony.
• Prepared final budgetary and narrative reports based upon sound evaluative criteria that were approved by the Department of Education. 

 

Workshop Leader and Steering Committee Member, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation "Theatre Program for Teachers and Playwrights." 

       Developed concept for national project that enhanced the skills of teachers of high school theatre, conducted seminars and worked with the N.J. equity theatres.  1989 - 1990

 

Adjunct Instructor, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ. 

  Taught Introduction to Communications both on-site and at satellite locations.

 

Adjunct Instructor, Montclair State College, Montclair NJ.

       Taught Fundamentals of Speech.

 

Adjunct, Somerset County College, (Now, Raritan Valley College) North Branch, NJ. 

     Taught English Composition.

      Produced and taught a Teen Performance Workshop for two summers and creative dramatics classes for children.

 

Tenured Teacher, Hillsborough Township Public Schools, Belle Mead, N.J  

 

·        Taught High School English, Mass Media, Film, Theatre & Speech.

·        Drama Club Advisor and Director, responsible for a student touring children’s theatre, one musical, one drama and one student initiated production per year for five years.

·        Produced annual student film series.

 

National Chairperson, "Theatre In Our Schools Month."  1987-1989.

 ·        Developed concept for American Alliance for Theatre in Education.

·        Led Training Seminar for State and Regional Chairs. Created promotional materials. 

 

Coordinator, Somerset County Teen Arts Program (1979-83), Monmouth County Teen Arts Program (1984-88) and Passaic County Teen Arts Program (1990). 

·        Administered and revitalized those Counties’ components of the NJ Teen Arts Program.

 

Project Coordinator, Performing Arts Component, Somerset County Vocational-Technical High School, 1982. 

 Drafted the original proposals and created the curricula outlines for the first performing arts component in a New Jersey vocational high school. Chaired the Gifted & Talented Committee.

 

 

 

President, The Guerrera Huber Group   1989 - Present

The consulting firm provides services in development, management, arts in education, creative projects, marketing and training.  Clients are as diverse as: New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Newark Museum, Ontario Hydro, Long Island Lighting Company, DOE Facility at Rocky Flats, Entergy, Jersey City Museum, Rutgers University – Newark, New Jersey Theatre Group, Passage Theatre, Two River Theatre Co., Newark Symphony Hall, Asbury Park Board of Education, Hudson County Vocational School, Composers Guild of NJ, Monmouth County Arts Council, American Hungarian Heritage Center, Ironbound Cultural Center, City of Asbury Park, Greater Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce, Nai Ni Chen Dance Co., NJ Center Dance Collective, and NJPAC.

 

Event Planning includes:

• Lee Howard Stevens International Marimba Competition – a weeklong series of competition and performance that attracted participants and audience members from 20 countries.
• 1996-97 Family Series Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ events included Lazer Vaudeville, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Co., Pushcart Players, Landis & Co., & Chestnut Brass Co.
• Produced Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble - Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ.
• Developed a multi- site Story Telling Festival that culminated in a performance at Newark Symphony Hall.
• Soho By the Sea Conference that enticed 350 artists to Asbury Park to learn about housing, funding and exhibition/performance opportunities.
• Oktoberfest in Asbury Park that brought 5,000 visitors to 11 venues.
• Created and administered for three years, April in Asbury – a month long series of activities in Asbury Park that is sponsored by the Greater Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce

 

Planning Documents, researched, developed and written, include:

• NJ State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, Developing an Arts Trust for New Jersey and Services for Individual Artists: An Overview of Potential Collaborations.
• NJ State Department of Education, New Jersey School of the Arts, Long Range Plan,
• Rutgers University Newark, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Three Year Recruitment Plan.
• Asbury Park Board of Education, Three Year Plan to Develop a Pre-Professional Visual and Performing Arts Department and Four Year Sequential Dance and Theatre Curriculum.
• Monmouth County Arts Council, Five-Year Strategic Plan.
• Ironbound Cultural Center, Marketing Plan.
• New Jersey Center Dance Collective, Three-Year Strategic Plan.
• Trinity School of the Arts, Three Year Strategic Plan
• Passage Theatre, Newark Symphony Hall and NJ Center Dance Collective, Arts Education Plans.

 

Arts in Education projects included:

• Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company – Created materials for in-class use, organized teacher training and student activities for the multi year residency in the Elizabeth Public Schools.
• NJPAC - wrote the teacher guides on Chinese Dance. 
• Lively Learning - Designed teaching training materials and co-curricular materials for a unit on the Lenape Indians used by teachers of grades pre-k thru 4^th.
• Newark Symphony Hall - Designed a story telling curriculum and teacher training materials for the fourth grade that could supplement the existing English curriculum. 
• Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts - (Funded by grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.)  Drafted sample curriculum, administrative materials and lesson plans for school and community based arts agency collaborations.

 Development work included:

• Successful proposals for a variety of agencies and clients including Jersey City Museum, Center Dance Collective, Newark Symphony Hall, Monmouth County Arts Council, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to such grant-makers as the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, NJ State Council on the Arts, NJ Council for the Humanities, NJ Natural Gas, NJ Bell & others.  

 Administrative Director, New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts, Somerville, NJ 1978-1983.

•  Originated and developed Somerset County's first multi-faceted community arts agency.
• Wrote proposals that garnered funds and in-kind services amounting to over $200,000.
• Directed and coordinated all budgetary and fiscal matters, including investments, on-going cash management with respect to operating components, budgetary projections, final reports and all preparations and reporting of taxes to the related government agencies.
• Proposed and implemented an outreach program utilizing two C.E.T.A., P.S.E. positions that brought the arts to over 3,000 incarcerated, indigent, aged and handicapped citizens.
• Developed and oversaw a C.E.T.A. Youth Project that provided training and experience in the performing arts to underprivileged youth.
• Supervised a professional staff of 42 instructors, project leaders, volunteer coordinators, board members and community liaisons.
• Created multi-level, multi-disciplinary instructional programs for mainstream arts students, the indigent, elderly, incarcerated and mentally and physically challenged.
• Negotiated contractual agreements with performing artists, facilities, and technical theatre crafts persons (union and non-union).
• Designed and produced the critically acclaimed Classical Concert Series and Beaux Arts Festival.
• Provided workshops, classes and seminars for all populations including successful performing arts programming for the handicapped and the Gallery Exhibit for Handicapped Artists.
• Coordinated the state's first Inter-generational Arts Festival, which brought over 2,000 teenagers and senior citizens together in a cultural exchange.
•   Created the Center Kids as a performance ensemble, community service and cultural enrichment vehicle for teenagers in Somerset County.  
• Developed an all-encompassing Ruth St. Denis dance history project that disseminated materials about the "Mother of Modern Dance." Sub-projects completed include a l5 minute "State of the Arts" segment for New Jersey Network, the Ruth St. Denis Day in Somerville, Dance Heritage, a multi media project funded by the Dodge Foundation, and re-creations of Ruth St. Denis' choreography by the Center Dance Collective.
•   Managed the Center Dance Collective, a professional modern dance company.

 

Presentations

 

“Introduction to Fundraising”	Goddard College, Plainfield VT
“Getting the Word Out – Marketing 101	Goddard College, Plainfield VT
“Getting the Word Out – Marketing 101”	Greater Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce
“Public Relations for the Individual Artist”	Monmouth Festival of the Arts, Tinton Falls, NJ
“Effective Communication for Family Court Volunteers”	Superior Court of NJ, Monmouth County Courts Freehold, NJ
On Your Feet - Speech for Business Owners	NJ Association Women Business Owners
Marketing the Arts on a Shoestring	Monmouth County Arts Council, Red Bank NJ
“Preparation of Block Re-Grants”   “Ruth St. Denis – NJ Native”	Monmouth County Arts Council, Red Bank NJ Kennedy Center, Washington DC
“Strategic Planning”	Monmouth County Arts Council, Red Bank NJ
"Advocacy for the Artist",	Geraldine R. Dodge Theatre Teacher Fellows, New Brunswick, New Jersey
"Language Arts and Readers' Theatre:  the Mutual Compatibility of Words and Actions" &"Staging Literary Metaphors Reader's Theatre Approaches to Pictorial Composition"	Speech Communication Association, Boston, Massachusetts
"Marketing the Arts",	Theatre and Youth, National Conferences      Chicago, Illinois  & Portland, Oregon
"The Right Connections:  A Lesson in Advocacy for Arts in Education”	National Educational Theatre Conference New York University, New York City
"The Artist in The Class Room",	East Coast Theatre Conference, Baltimore
"Back to Basics:  The Role of High School Drama Programs in Preparing Students for Various Careers",	American Theatre Association International Conference, Toronto
"Implementation of a Performing Arts Program within the Vocational School",	East Coast Theatre Conference and American Alliance for Theatre in Education, New York
“Inclusion of Performing Arts in Vocational Education”	Testimony before NJ State Advisory Council on Vocational Education, 1/30/1985
“Fiscal Rational for Arts Education”	Testimony to Literacy in the Arts Task Force, 12/1/1988
“Necessity for DOE recognition of the Performing Arts as a Viable Shop”	Alliance for Arts Education in New Jersey Hearings. 11/9/1984

 

 

Awards and Achievements

 

Eleanor Roosevelt Award	Somerset County Federation of Democratic Woman, 2004
Citation of Commendation	Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 2004
Presidents Commendation	American Alliance for Theatre & Education, 1990
New Jerseyan of the Week	Star Ledger, February 1988
Outstanding Educational Administrator	Governor's Award  NJ Arts in Education, 1988
Woman of Achievement in Monmouth County	Monmouth County Advisory Commission on the Status of Woman, 1988
Outstanding Contributions in the Arts	Alpha Delta Kappa, XI  Chapter, 1982
Outstanding Women in Business and Industry	Somerset County Chamber of Commerce, 1981

 

Education

 

Goddard College                                  MFA program in Creative Writing

Montclair State College                        B.A. Speech/Theatre & English                                                                    M.A. Theatre

                                                                  NJ Teacher's Certification Speech, Drama, English

Monmouth College                               Education Supervision Certification Program

                                             NJ Public School Supervisor's Certification    K-12

Professional Associations

 

Dramatist Guild                                                             Member 1998 - present

American Alliance for Theatre and Education                Board Member 1987 - 1990

American Assoc. Theatre in Secondary Ed.                   Board Member 1986 - 1987

Alliance for Art Education New Jersey  Steering Council 1983-1990

Art Educators of New Jersey                                        Steering Council 1984-1986

Speech Theatre Association of New Jersey                   Secretary 1985-1988

Network of Visual & Performing Arts Schools              Member 1984 - 1990

Principals and Supervisors Association  Member 1983 - 1990

 

Elected and Appointed Positions

 

Greater Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce                Board 1991-1999

Asbury Park Cable Re-franchise Committee                 Chair  1990-1993

Hillsborough Township Board of Education                   Member 1978-1981,  President 1980-1981

Somerset County A V A Commission   Member 1979-1981