MYArts Board | Madison Leaders Contributing to Youth Arts

Deborah Biddle

President, community representative

Deborah Biddle is the Founder, Chief Diversity Officer, and Consultant for the diversity, equity, and inclusion firm The People Company Consulting Group. She works with organizations that want to leverage the power of change to heighten development and performance for their people. Deborah has influenced individuals and teams to successfully think better, do better, and be better in the ways they engage with people and make decisions to improve their imprint and impact where they live and do business.

Vice President

Vacant position

Pam Woodman

Secretary, CTM representative

Pam is a community arts and theater advocate with a public relations and legal background. As a board member of MYArts, she uses her communications expertise to assist in advancing its growth and mission in the Madison area. She also serves as a board member for Children’s Theater of Madison (CTM) and is a past board member of the Friends of the Henry Vilas Zoo and the Madison Public Library Foundation, among others. Pam is also the Director of Donations for Woodman’s Food Markets. Prior to her focus on nonprofits, she served as the Global PR Director for Baker & McKenzie, a mega law firm headquartered in Chicago.

Jessica Schwefel

Treasurer, community representative

Dr. Jessica Schwefel is a singer, voice teacher, and business owner in the Madison area. She passionately believes that arts exposure has the power to enhance lives, and she strives to make the arts accessible for all. Jessica has previously been on faculty at UW-Whitewater, Madison College, and UW-Oshkosh. In addition to her duties as Treasurer for the MYArts Board of directors, Jessica currently serves as Corresponding Secretary for the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).

Laurie Nason Fellenz

MYC representative

Laurie Nason Fellenz has spent the last 35 years of her career as a youth arts advocate and knows the work will never be finished until every child has access without barriers to a well-rounded education inclusive of the arts. Laurie is the current executive director for Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA), Wisconsin Music Educators Association (WMEA), and Wisconsin Foundation for School Music (WFSM). Additionally, Laurie currently serves as the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Council of State Executives chair and is serving a two-year term on the NAfME Equity Committee (2022-2024). She is also proud to have spent nearly 30 years of her career with the Madison Metropolitan School District as an arts administrator and music educator.

Brandi Funk

CTM representative

Brandi Funk is an enthusiastically supportive parent whose kids have blossomed and thrived at both CTM and MYC. Brandi is serving her 6th year on the CTM board (2 of those years as Board President), has thoroughly enjoyed watching the beautiful MYArts building come to life, and is excited to serve as one of CTM’s board liaisons to the MYArts board until Dec 2024. During the day, Brandi is the Advancement Manager for the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health.

Yorel F. Lashley

Member, community representative

Yorel Lashley is the Director of Programs in the Office of Professional Learning and Community Education at UW–Madison’s School of Education and Director of Student Empowerment for the Center for Arts Education and Social and Emotional Learning. He is a developmental psychologist interested in self-efficacy and social-emotional learning in arts, academic, and integrated environments as well as the Founder/Director of Drum Power. Drum Power uses learning West African Traditional, Afro-Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban percussion to help young people develop and practice social-emotional skills-discipline, community, and leadership. The program has supported more than 4,000 young people from New York City, Denver, and Madison, Wisconsin to date.

Dan Sinclair

MYC representative

Dan is a software developer by trade but a product of Madison’s excellent youth arts programs. A Madison Boychoir alum, he married a fellow chorister from UW-Eau Claire after moving back to Madison. Having served on the Madison Youth Choir board for many years and being a proud parent of two MYC singers, he’s excited to start a new chapter of service to Madison youth arts through this exciting new organization.

Madison’s Youth Arts Center’s Board of Directors is made up of members who benefit from white privilege and members who experience systemic racism and oppression. Together, they make this promise: Madison’s Youth Arts Center (MYArts) stands in solidarity with communities of color and people who suffer racial injustices in our local community and across the country. We share in the anger and grief of historical racial injustices and marginalization. We pledge to do our part to fight for the changes that are so desperately needed. We commit to looking inward and examining our own beliefs and actions. The MYAC Board of Directors promises to invest in diversity as we build the center, and work to abolish the effects of structural racism. We promise to build a thriving hub of discovery and creativity in which youth from all backgrounds experience a true sense of safety, belonging and celebration of identity.

EMAIL OR CALL US

To learn more about becoming a donor, serving on our board or a committee, ask questions, or to inquire about space use, please email us or call us at (608) 416–1945.

Board

Deborah Biddle

President, community representative

Vice President

Pam Woodman

Secretary, CTM representative

Jessica Schwefel

Treasurer, community representative

Laurie Nason Fellenz

MYC representative

Brandi Funk

CTM representative

Yorel F. Lashley

Member, community representative

Dan Sinclair

MYC representative

EMAIL OR CALL US

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