Career Curious: Careers in the Arts May 2022

Career Curious: The Arts

Fletcher Branch Library | Saturday, May 21 | 1-2 PM | Community Room 308/309

Career Curious is about highlighting successful individuals within a particular occupation or theme in the workforce operating in Hagerstown and surrounding areas. Our goal is to share positive career stories for our Teens and Emerging Adults. By doing so we are building bridges for them from graduation (either high school or college) into the workforce. 

Meet our panelists for the May 21 program:

Sarah Hall

Sarah Hall became director of the WCMFA in July 2020 and brings to the museum nearly 30 years of experience with museums and exhibitions. Joining the museum in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarah worked to increase the museum’s variety of online programming, while also stabilizing and strengthening the exhibition program. Under Sarah’s leadership the museum has embarked on its first professionally-led Master Planning process in its 90-year history and had its most successful Annual Fund. Prior to joining WCMFA, Sarah was chief curator and director of collections at The Frick Pittsburgh, where she directed the curatorial department for thirteen years of a 25-year tenure. In this role she oversaw the care, exhibition, and interpretation of the Frick’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Hall has been responsible for leading major grant-funded historic preservation, conservation, and exhibition projects, including work on historic structures as well as collection objects. She has extensive experience with museum education, staff training, and public programming. Hall has taken graduate coursework in nonprofit organizational leadership at Robert Morris University and also did graduate study in arts and humanities at the State University of New York at Buffalo, specializing in film history, media studies, and creative writing.

Kitty Clark

Kitty Clark is an arts administrator, events coordinator, dance artist, and yoga instructor. She is the principal of Spoon Arts Services, an arts and entertainment event administration firm that serves independent artists, small arts entities, and large organizations with a full menu of practical, feet-on-the-ground services meant to get arts and cultural events from concept to content. She has worked for the City of Hagerstown overseeing the City’s Arts & Entertainment District, planned the City’s cultural offerings, and worked with a wide variety of people and organizations doing events on city property that required logistical coordination. In her career as a dance artist, Kitty has long been committed to spearheading performance projects that make contemporary dance and performance accessible to a broader audience. She is currently one half of the Maryland-based MAD Dance along with colleague Ray Shaw. In collaboration with composer Cam Millar and poet Neha Misra, MAD is working on a new immersive piece called “Portal” which will premiere in June in Frederick, MD. MAD has received two Creativity Grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and was also awarded an Independent Artist Award from MSAC in 2020. From 1999-2014, Kitty was based in Shepherdstown, WV, where she was Founder/Director of the non-profit Goose Route Arts Collaborative and directed her dance company kittyclarkmoves. In addition to arts administration and art-making, Kitty is also a dance and yoga teacher. She has taught at Shepherd University, Hagerstown Community College, Wilson College, in private studios, public schools, and in community centers. Kitty holds a Master of Fine Arts in dance from Smith College (Massachusetts), a Bachelor of Arts in history from Vassar College (New York), and yoga teacher certifications from Ananda Shala (Frederick, MD), and Embodyoga/Amherst Yoga Center (Massachusetts).

Candice Mowbray

Appearing as a soloist, collaborative musician and guest lecturer, guitarist Candice Mowbray has been a featured artist for festivals and concert series in Philadelphia, Toronto, Samobor, Washington DC, Baltimore and Los Angeles. She is a recipient of the Maryland State Art Council’s 2020 Independent Artist Award and has performed with ensembles such as Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Opera, Satori and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington. Her CD, Reverie, has been featured on radio shows such as In Tune (BBC Radio 3) and G-Strings with Tom Cole (Washington DC), and Blair Jackson of Classical Guitar Magazine called the release “A revelation!.” Mowbray is active in music research and especially noted for her work about women in the history of the guitar. Her writings have been published in Soundboard, the journal of the Guitar Foundation of America, and her talks have been repeatedly applauded for being engaging and insightful. Mowbray earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Classical Guitar Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia. She is professor of guitar studies at Shepherd University in West Virginia and has held previous teaching appointments with Shenandoah Conservatory and Hagerstown and Frederick Community Colleges as well as numerous schools of music in the Mid-Atlantic region. She also works with the Rockville-based non-profit, Marlow Guitar International.

Peter "BAM" Arizmendi

Born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, BAM has been performing since the age of nine.” Through urban dance BAM was able to avoid the perils of the streets while growing up. Bam has choreographed commercials for Nike, Sprite and Coca Cola. He's also performed with Omarion, Donnie McCurklin and Aretha Franklin. Film credits include "Daddy Can't Dance" and "Perfect Holiday" with Cedric the Entertainer and Queen Latifah. Bam also co-directed and choreographed off Broadway musical Break "The Urban Funk Spectacular" and was a dancer in Jam On The Groove, the first Hip-Hop musical. BAM has received worldwide critical acclaim through the constant media attention surrounding his work, and his vision has taken flight with performances at such places as The United Nations, Madison Square Garden, U.S.S. Intrepid and NBA Hall of Fame.  BAM is currently working on the film "The Ruwach" A Quest For The Truth and "Boogie Boy" Baily's Dream. Where Hip Hop meets the super natural. He is the owner of "Fresh Academicz" Urban Arts Academy in Hagerstown Maryland teaching youth life skills through the performing arts.

Monika Wertman

Monika is a photographer based in Hagerstown, MD. She is in love with the dance of life, spring, summer, fall and a bit of winter. Seeing people interact with the seasons and each other, showing their silly side and the love they have for each other is magical. She joins in behind the lens to capture that joy and turn it into memories, little treasures to come back to. Monika holds a Masters of Fine Art in Photography from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and a Bachelors of Fine Art Degree from Frostburg State University.

Howard Burns

Saxophonist, composer, arrange and teacher Howard Burns is a native of Baltimore, Maryland.  Howard was inspires to play music by his Uncle who was a Physicist, mathematician for the National Bureau of Stand. Howard attended Frederick Douglas High School and was one of the band directors there for three years. Howard Burns received his Bachelor degree from Howard University 1979. He received his master degree from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1980 in Brussels, Belgium. Howard has studied with Thomas (Whit) Williams and George Coleman. Burns has had the opportunity to perform with various artists such as Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Frank Foster, Larry Willis, Frank Wess, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Cobb, Benny Powell, Gary Thomas, Joe Wilder, Charles Davis, Ben Tucker, Billy Harper, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Eddie Gomez and many, many more. Howard has been the Jazz Band Director at Frederick Community College for over 25 years.  

Douglas Zaruba

Douglas Zaruba was born in Buffalo, NY, in 1949 and studied Fine Art, Architecture, Poetry, and Physics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In the mid-70’s, he shared studio space at the Essex Street Studios in Buffalo along with other young artists, including Duayne Hatchett, Robert Longo, and Cindy Sherman. For 15 years he worked as a stage technician for acts like The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendricks, Michael Jackson, and Pink Floyd. After an initial success as a painter, he abandoned painting to become a nationally-recognized jewelry designer and master goldsmith. In 2005, he left the US to live on a remote Caribbean island off the coast of Panama, where he began to paint again and create sculpture. Upon returning to the US in 2010, he pursued both fine art and fine jewelry design. Douglas Zaruba maintains a studio at 15 W. Washington St, Hagerstown, MD, 21740.