Ava Coploff is an account manager at Marathon Digital, which is based in New York City and is Broadway's first social media marketing agency. The company represents revolutionary shows and other live entertainment clients worldwide. In her role, Coploff runs the official social media accounts of shows like “Hamilton,” “Hadestown, Ain't Too Proud” and “Diana, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical.” Her work helps create initiatives that put artists to work, builds investments in local communities and brings people together.From July 2020 through early 2021, Coploff managed the social media channels for “Be an #ArtsHero,” the grassroots campaign that advocated for financial relief to the arts and culture community during the pandemic. She helped grow the Instagram following for the campaign from 1,000 to over 20,000 in roughly five months. She coordinated with dozens of influencers to help spread the word and to get thousands of arts supporters to contact their representatives to advocate for the arts. Coploff’s other social media advocacy projects include Ham4Progress (the activism Instagram account for “Hamilton”), Belt The Vote, and Shields for Heroes.

State Senator Joyce Elliott  represents Senate District 31, comprising parts of Little Rock and Pulaski County. She was elected to the Senate in 2008, after having served three terms in the House of Representatives, from 2001 through 2006. She is vice-chair of Senate Education for the 93rd General Assembly. Senator Elliott is also a member of Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee, Joint Retirement and Social Security Committee, Joint Budget Committee, Arkansas Legislative Council and Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and serves on several different committees. In 2013 Senator Elliott received the Arkansas Municipal League Distinguished Legislator Award. In 2003 the Central Arkansas Labor Council honored her with the Marty Schuller Community Service Award. The same year WiLL (Women's Legislative Lobby) recognized her with its Pacesetter Award for leadership and commitment to the vision of a just, peaceful and inclusive world. Also, she was named by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as one of the Ten Best Legislators of the 2003 General Assembly and the 2005 General Assembly. Senator Elliott is a member of the NAACP, the Arkansas Women’s Forum and the Arkansas Women’s Leadership Forum and serves on the board of directors for the Milton P. Crenchaw Aviation Training Academy. She has served on the board of directors of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History (Little Rock), Just Communities of Central Arkansas (Little Rock), Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) Education Fund (Arlington, Mass.) and City Year of Little Rock.

Matthew-Lee Erhlbach is a writer, actor, and organizer from Chicago and New York. He is the Co-Founder of Arts Workers United and their Be An Arts Hero campaign, where he leads multiple state and national organizing efforts, works on policy, and lobbies congress to make Arts and Culture Workers an economic and legislative priority. Matthew-Lee has appeared on NPR, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, WGN, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, Playbill, and numerous local TV/Radio stations and outlets in support of city, state, and federal initiatives.As a writer, he is currently writing for a new Netflix series and has previously written for MASTERS OF SEX/Showtime, GYPSY/Netflix, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS/ Netflix (nominated for two Sports Emmys), and for WWE, MTV, and Nickelodeon. As a playwright, his play THE DOPPELGÄNGER (an international farce), starring Rainn Wilson and directed by Tina Landau, premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, where he recently developed his political drama REVELATIONS and is currently under commission. His plays have been developed/produced with The New Group, Steppenwolf, Vineyard, Ars Nova, MCC, Williamstown, New Harmony Project, NYTW, the Orchard Project, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others. Matthew-Lee has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Puffin Foundation, was a member of Ars Nova's Play Group, MVMNT Theatre’s Play Group, and is a HUMANITAS New Voices recipient. A proud graduate of the public school system from K-College, Matthew-Lee created a writing program for single mothers transitioning out of homelessness and prison and is a team leader for Habitat for Humanity, locally and globally. 

Allyson Espositos is an arts administrator, lawyer and artist from a family of artists with more than 12 years of change management experience in the philanthropic sector. She moved to Northwest Arkansas from Boston where she served as senior director, Arts & Culture Program for the Boston Foundation, responsible for creating and implementing the Foundation’s new arts strategy focused on improving diversity, equity and access within Greater Boston’s arts sector. Prior to Boston, Allyson served as director of cultural grants for the city of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, managing a portfolio of more than 300 grantees and leading the first restructure of the Cultural Grants program in more than 20 years.  Allyson is a life-long dancer/choreographer who founded and led Chicago-based contemporary dance company Space Movement Project from 2004-2015, co-creating more than 10 original evening length works and touring nationally and internationally.

Melissa Gill is a multidisciplinary artist interested in the ways that cultures use pattern and decoration to denote transformative experiences. Her practice includes printmaking, mixed media, drawing, collage, embroidery, artist books and installation. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Indiana University Bloomington, a Master of Arts from Purdue University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona. She is professor of Drawing and Printmaking at Hendrix College in Conway. 

Tori Jones is a co-owner and yoga director of Eden Salt Studio in Little Rock. Jones began using yoga to decompress and stretch her body after working long hours as an attorney in Washington, D.C. She signed up for yoga teacher training with Faith Hunter at Embrace Yoga DC and has since taught more than 2,000 hours of yoga in D.C. and Arkansas. Jones is designated as an E-RYT 500 and a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider with Yoga Alliance.Jones makes yoga approachable to people who have not discovered the practice due to cultural stereotypes, financial obstacles or lack of yoga classes. In her classes, she infuses detailed structural alignment cues with creative sequencing. Jones creates classes based on the needs of students to provide experiences that leave students feeling restored, confident and strong, both mentally and physically.

Heidi Knochenhauer is a blues aficionado living in Memphis, Tennessee since 1999. Knochenhauer has been the grant writer for 14 years for the Sonny Boy Blues Society, which presents the world-renowned King Biscuit Blues Festival (KBBF) in Helena, Arkansas. She attends blues festivals around the country and world to market the Delta Blues region and the KBBF. Knochenhauer is also the liaison for Community Affairs and Special projects for the Sonny Boy Blues Society, plus a grant consultant for other blues organizations.

Kathy Liao is a member of the Artist Services team at Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City. She leads the planning and implementation of Artist INC, a professional development program for artists by artists. Through her role as both educator and arts administrator, Liao facilitates equitable, diverse, inclusive, and accessible spaces to build community that encourages collaborations and partnerships across the arts ecosystem. As a visual artist, Liao looks for patterns and repetitions in the lives of the immigrant family through her mixed media work. Liao received her MFA in Painting from Boston University and BFA in Painting and Drawing from University of Washington, Seattle. In the past, Liao was Director of the Painting and Printmaking Studio Art Program at Missouri Western State University, and taught at Boston University, University of Washington, Seattle University, and Gage Academy of Art. She was nominated the “Most Influential Professor” in 2019. 

Debria Love is a content creator and storyteller who studied at Middle Tennessee State University, where she majored in mass communications with a minor in African American studies. Love uses the art of poetry and modeling to highlight the beauty of culture, identity, self-empowerment to address issues on social justice and self-expression. She is a model, poet and social media influencer whose YouTube channel has garnered more than 88,500 views since 2015. She began her channel at age 12 to bring healing, joy and truth to her audience. She is a rising star in the art of spoken word and slam poetry. Love was part of the Southern Word’s slam team for the national teen poetry slam festival three times, was interviewed by Teen Music Insider as a social media influencer and has hosted MTSU’s Urban Awards that honor Black creatives. Love also has her own radio show, which she created.

Mary Zunick is the cultural affairs manager for Visit Hot Springs. Her job responsibilities include working with the Hot Springs arts community and the wide array of arts activities, businesses and organizations in Hot Springs. She also serves as the executive director of the Hot Springs Sister City program. In 2013, Mary was instrumental in reorganizing an arts group into the Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance (HSACA), which promotes, advocates and celebrates the arts and culture of Hot Springs. She works with HSACA as well as numerous other arts organizations to promote Hot Springs as a thriving community for creative economies and a destination for cultural tourism. Through her work with the Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation and the community, the sister city message of tolerance and promoting peace through people-to-people relationships is shared. Hot Springs Sister City Program was recently awarded the Best Overall Program for cities with populations 25,000 – 50,000 for the second time by Sister Cities International. Mary has served as the honorary consul of Japan for the State of Arkansas, a position appointed by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since 2018. Mary serves on the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Board of Directors and the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, is a member of Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club and Hot Springs Downtown Association. In 2020 she was appointed by Gov. Hutchinson to the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Board of Visitors. Mary is an Arkansas native with a degree in communication from University of the Ozarks.