Arts Extension Service Staff

Staff:

Maren Brown, M.B.A., – Director has over 25 years of experience in the field of arts management, primarily in museums (art, history and science museums) and higher education. She currently serves as the Director of the Arts Extension Service, where she leads training programs in a variety of arts management topics for state arts agencies around the nation (arts programming, creative economy, marketing, program evaluation, partnership development, artist business skills and other programs), teaches marketing and financial management in AES’ arts administration degree and certificate programs, and conducts all AES research projects  (creative economy, evaluation for state agencies). Brown is co-editor of the 5th edition of Fundamentals of Arts Management, which is utilized as a foundational text by 45% of the arts management degree programs in the nation, and a contributor to the Partners in Creative Economy Planning Workbook.  During her career, Brown has directed an arts council, founded the educational department of a performing and visual arts center, led a multi-disciplinary museum school, initiated a family program series, developed school tours, curated an exhibition series, and founded a regional arts alliance serving three counties in Massachusetts.

Beverly Hill, – Program Manager received her undergraduate degree from Grambling State University, M.M. from the University of Northern Colorado, and Post-graduate studies at the University of Denver. She was a Long time public school teacher and administrator at the Junior High/Middle School levels in Denver, Colorado. Serving on various educational Tasks Forces has afforded her the opportunity to travel and interact with people from all over the world. Some of Her professional activities included Co-author of the "Middle School Integrated Arts Curriculum Guide" and "Denver as an Art Form"; Received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.; President of Phi Delta Kappa Professional Fraternity in Education; liaison and coordinator, the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in Hadley, MA.; and just recently, Co-lead a group of professionals to Moscow & St. Petersburg, Russia. Currently, Beverly is a Professor in the Music & Dance Dept. and Programs Manager, Outreach Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Dee Boyle Clapp M.F.A. Program Coordinator is a sculptor and installation artist and holds bachelor's degrees in art and art history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, an MFA in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and is completing an online Master's in nonprofit management from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She has taught a variety of studio and art history courses at UMass Amherst, museum schools, and at community colleges. Dee co-owned the Artemis Gallery where she curated and hung over 40 exhibitions. She was a founding member and the first director of the Art Bank art school, gallery and performance center in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, where she was responsible for the programming of two galleries, ongoing studio courses, the Children’s Blue Snow Performance Series, the Adult Performance Series, festivals and community events. A self-described animal person, Dee indulged her passion and shocked her friends by leaving the arts and directing a local humane society where she established a successful humane education and outreach program, doubled the organization’s endowment and annual operating budget, and prepared the organization for a $5 million capital campaign.  She returned to the arts to become the program manager with the Fostering the Arts and Culture Partnership working to build the Franklin County Creative Economy by providing business and marketing training, exhibition and web opportunities, and networking for artists, writers, actors, musicians, tech artists and others. After teaching in the program for a year, she joined the staff at the Arts Extension Service full-time in 2008. Dee lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and son on a solar-powered llama farm, where they welcome tour groups and give talks on sustainable energy and green living.