Am Curet is a lifelong resident of the Madison area.  She pursued a 35-year career in marketing and advertising fields, most recently leading in-house creative services teams in biotechnology and consumer goods companies.  Her responsibilities included launching new products, developing company brand identity, implementing consumer events and building websites plus social media platforms.  Am holds a master’s degree in marketing from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Am (which is a nickname for Amneris, a character in the Verdi opera Aida) developed a love of theater and the greater arts from childhood.  She was most recently a board member of Forward Theater Company.  Am is thrilled to help support the Dane County arts community as a member of the Dane County Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission.

Jennifer Garrett is the assistant deputy secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, a cabinet agency. She has lived in Dane County for more than twenty years. A dedicated public servant, she also serves on the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board and the Wisconsin Women in Government Board, as well as the Purdue College of Liberal Arts Alumni Board. She lives in Monona with her husband and teenage daughter. Her son is a student at UW-Madison. She is proud to work to support the arts in Dane County.

Jay Handy has his MFA from the Lesley College of Art and Design and is an alum of Harvard Business School. He co-founded SignalPoint Asset Management, where he has serves as a financial advisor and senior portfolio strategist for 15 years and counting. Having personal experience with the power of support for overcoming hardship, Handy has volunteered with organizations to benefit causes such as reducing health and economic barriers to success. Handy was the president of The Odyssey Project and the founder of the Diabetes and Sports Foundation. Tapping into his eye for the arts, Handy has served as commissioner for Madison, Wisconsin’s Urban Design Commission, and Landmarks Commission. 

Jay eventually answered the call of art he felt in his teens, and Jay Handy Ink was born in 2018. Today, his art has been added to private collections across the U.S. and included in prestigious exhibitions like the Florence Biennale. Jay has built an international career, with exhibitions in England, Greece, and India and the publication of his art in the Brazilian magazine Revista Literária Pixé. Handy’s dual expertise in business and art led to his role as a strategic advisor and board of directors member for CODAworx. Handy began innovating new ways to showcase his art, creating a method for audience participation that he unveiled at his 2022 solo exhibition, This Must Be The Place. 

Jay currently resides and creates in Madison, Wisconsin, and is honored to work in the arts for Dane County.

Mary Klehr (Vice Chair, Executive Committee Member) holds a joint MMSD/UW-Madison appointment as an elementary teacher educator working to prepare skilled and caring new teachers for culturally diverse public schools.  She also coordinates the MMSD Classroom Action Research Program, supporting teachers in studying instructional practice. 

Before becoming a teacher, Klehr studied with George Houston Bass at Brown University's Rites & Reason Theatre, a research-to-performance company and one of the oldest producing Black theaters in the U.S., and worked as a creative drama specialist in Boston and Madison.  At UW-Madison, she earned a masters in Educational Theater and completed a Curriculum & Instruction dissertation featuring K-12 teachers who use arts-based research methods to study classroom life.  Klehr brings a strong commitment to engaging children in the arts and highlighting connections between community, advocacy, and the arts.

Deshawn McKinney comes to the Commission with over 10 years of experience as a writer, performer, editor, and educator. He brings a deep appreciation for the creative ecosystem in Dane County, having collaborated with arts organizations throughout, both for his own work and to highlight others. As a member of the First Wave Hip-Hop arts community at the University of Wisconsin-Madison he earned a BA in Creative Writing, pursuing his passion for service through his creative enterprises. He also holds a Master in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master in Creative Writing – Poetry from the University of East Anglia. Deshawn is excited to bring his skills to support and help expand the footprint of the arts through the Commission. He currently serves as a Director of Development at the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, advancing the philanthropic priorities for the UW Department of Medicine and Transplant Center.

Marcia Miquelon (Executive Committee Member) owns and directs the Mazomanie Movement Arts Center and the Wild Rumpus Circus. She is a dancer, teacher, event organizer, and circus performer.    

Marcia Miquelon is a dancer, improviser, aerialist, stilt walker, movement teacher, and project manager.  She joined Cycropia Aerial Dance (www.cycropia.org) in 1994, and performed, taught, choreographed, and directed projects with this unique artists’ collective for over 20 years.  In 2002, she opened the Mazo Movement Arts Center and co-founded the Wild Rumpus Circus. She has produced many workshops, festivals, and events featuring internationally known teaching artists, particularly in contact improvisation and aerial dance, and she has had the opportunity to work as a teacher and performer in many interesting locales, including Andara, Namibia; Boeblingen, Germany; and Doha, Qatar.

Fran Puleo Moyer (Executive Committee Member) is the Associate Director of Outreach Programs at UW-Madison, and comes to the Commission with over 20 years of experience in program planning, arts administration, event and venue management, community engagement, marketing, public relations and communications. In addition to her work in the UW System, she worked for a decade as the Community and Public Relations Manager at Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center, and has held administrative positions with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has been a member of many Madison organizations and held positions on numerous committees, including the Greater Madison Public Information Officers, the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau Partnership Development Committee, the Business Forum, and PRSA, Madison. She received an MBA in marketing from DePaul University, and a BFA in music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Fran is a freelancing musician (flute/piccolo) and sings alto with the Festival Choir of Madison.

Kelly Parks Snider is a visual artist, activist, and writer who explores contemporary social, political, and cultural issues through the arts. Her work is displayed in both public and private galleries. Recent exhibits and projects include Hidden in Plain View: An Exhibition of Art and Activism; Rural Women: Voice and Spirit; Project Girl; and Dialogues with Silence.

In addition to her book, Zilly: A Modern-Day Fable, Kelly has also co-authored an art-based curriculum with Jane Bartell (co-founder of Project Girl) and Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D. (Professor of Education and Human Development at Colby College in Maine). She lectures nationally, serves in artist-in-residence programs, and produces workshops. Kelly lives and works on a little farm outside of Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and four children.

Roderick Ritcherson is president of The Ritcherson Companies, Chair of the Dane Arts Commission, and a member of the Executive Committee. Ritcherson has over 40 years of experience in providing corporate services and over 20 years of experience providing services to non-profits.
Before forming The Ritcherson Companies in 1993, Ritcherson held positions in the creative department of Stephan and Brady, Inc. advertising agency; Home Savings Bank, as vice president and director of marketing; Development Services, Inc., a national franchising company, as vice president, marketing, and WPLH Holdings/Wisconsin Power and Light (now Alliant Energy), a $3 billion global corporation, as manager of corporate communications. Ritcherson also held the position of Special Assistant to the President and Director of Corporate Relations with UMOS, Inc.

Ritcherson has served on the boards of the following non-profits: Madison Development Corporation (past chairman of the board), Dane County Development Corporation, Friends of WHA-TV public television (past vice president), American Advertising Federation-Madison (past president), the Henry Vilas Zoological Society, The African American Ethnic Academy, and the Wisconsin Community Action Program (WISCAP). He currently serves on the board of the Wisconsin Farmworkers Coalition. 

“My vision is to continue the great work done by Dane Arts and to make sure that the arts are equally accessible to all and Dane Arts funding is equally accessible by all.”

Rick Rose (County Supervisor, Executive Committee Member) is an Emmy award winning producer who works for Discover Mediaworks, based on Madison’s Eastside. He is also a social activist and entrepreneur.  Born, raised, and educated in Wisconsin, Rick is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Beloit College, after starting his college career at Bennington College following his senior year of high school in Osaka, Japan. Fluent in Japanese, German, and English, he is an active fighter for equality, children’s and women’s rights and an advocate for those living with  AIDS, addiction, abuse and cancer. He serves on the Wisconsin Statewide HIV/HCV Statewide Action Planning Group and co-chaired the Pride in Prevention Coalition addressing the opiod crisis in Dane Co.  He travels the country speaking on Community Grieving as a result of the impact of COVID-19. 

He has volunteered for economic betterment projects and has led sustainability efforts  in New York City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Hannibal, Mo., Shreveport, La. and now Madison, Wis. where he has lived for five years. He is an active member of Heartland Church in Sun Prairie. 

Kelsey Yudice is an arts administrator who hopes to use her skills and passions to provide more inclusive, accessible arts opportunities to communities around Dane County and beyond. Kelsey received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a BFA in Acting and a minor in Sociology. Afterward, she worked as an actor, director, teaching artist, and producer in Chicago and the Washington D.C. area. As InterAct Story Theatre’s Associate Artist, she brought theatre and artist-in-residence programs to underserved communities around Washington D.C. teaching school curriculum through different art mediums. Eventually, she became InterAct's Outreach Associate, expanding their communication and development efforts. Kelsey recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Arts and Creative Enterprise Leadership program at the Bolz Center for Arts Administration. Kelsey is currently the Wisconsin Singers Program Coordinator.