FRANKLIN Arts Consultants ::: Staff

ELDA FRANKLIN MORENGA HUNT BENNETT LENTCZNER
SUSAN MIVILLE LINDA WHITESITT

Elda Franklin holds degrees in music performance (M.M. in viola) and music education (B.M.E.) from Florida State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Ed. D.). Her teaching experience includes pre-school music through higher education, including Suzuki Violin and Orff-Schulwerk. She is Professor Emerita of Music at Winthrop University in South Carolina, where she taught undergraduate and graduate music education courses for 26 years, directed the Summer Orff Training Program for teachers, and received the Distinguished Professor award in 1993. While at Winthrop, Franklin was active as a member of the South Carolina Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Steering Committee, and helped establish the Curriculum Leadership Institutes in the Arts (CLIA) and the Arts Education Leadership Institute (AELI). In 2001 she served as interim director of the ABC Project.

During her years at Winthrop, Dr. Franklin also performed part-time as a violist with the Charlotte Symphony, and after retirement from Winthrop served as arts assessment specialist and teaching artist for the Charlotte Symphony’s Education Program. From 1999 until 2009, Franklin was assessment and evaluation specialist for the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Education Institute in Charlotte, where she was responsible for annual evaluations of the model arts integrated programs at each of the five Blumenthal Partner K-5 Schools; created and implemented assessment and evaluation tools and procedures for community-based programs; and assisted in the training of teaching artists.

Through her own consulting group, Franklin Arts Consultants, she directs evaluation and curriculum development projects for various arts organizations and schools throughout the Carolinas. Through RealVisions her evaluation work also includes serving on evaluation teams for Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination grant projects in Montgomery County, MD, Greenville, SC, and Beaufort, SC., and on-going evaluation of the Woodruff Arts Center’s teaching artist training program in Atlanta, GA.

During her years at Winthrop, Dr. Franklin was also a violist with the Charlotte Symphony, and later served as arts assessment specialist and teaching artist for the CSO Education Program. While in that position, she worked closely with Education Director Susan Miville to develop arts integrated curricula for Charlotte area schools.

Presently, Dr. Franklin is assessment and evaluation consultant for the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Education Institute in Charlotte, N.C., where she has responsibility for annual evaluations of the arts integrated programs at each of the five Blumenthal Partner Schools, and assists in the training of teaching artists who work in the partner schools. In addition to her responsibilities at the Blumenthal Dr. Franklin is a regular arts evaluation consultant for RealVisions in Berkeley Springs, WV, and serves as a consultant for various arts organizations and schools throughout the Carolinas. Her evaluation work also includes Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination grant projects in Montgomery County, MD, Greenville, SC, and Beaufort, SC.

Dr. Franklin has presented at national and international conferences in the arts, including the International Network of Schools for the Advancement of Arts Education, the Kennedy Center National Partnerships, the North Carolina Conference on the Arts, and the South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education. Her publications include numerous articles in national and international journals on music education and arts assessment, including assessment of teaching artists. She is also active as a violist, performing regularly with local orchestras and opera groups in the greater Charlotte area.

Morenga Hunt Morenga Hunt is the former Vice President of Education and Director of the Education Institute at the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte. While serving in that role, he was responsible for the Institute’s overall strategic direction, planning and fund raising to advance its school and community programs. The Education Institute is an affiliate of the Kennedy Center’s national Partners in Education program, and has been included in the Dana Foundation’s Acts of Achievement, a national publication that focuses on the role of performing arts centers in education around the country.

Before his 12-year tenure at the Blumenthal, Mr. Hunt was the managing director of a 1200 seat arts center in Manchester, England, where he also served as an advisor and consultant to various arts, education and cultural groups and agencies in the UK.

He holds a Master’s degree in Education from Ohio State University, where he also taught in the College of Education. He is currently a member of the National Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and serves on various boards and advisory committees, including the Editorial Board of the Teaching Artist Journal and the Education Committee of the League of American Theatres and Producers.

Mr. Hunt was selected as a 2003 recipient of the Latin American Excelente Award in Charlotte as the “non-Latin person most supportive of the Latin Community,” and received a Certificate of Appreciation from the mayor for supporting the artistic and cultural efforts of Charlotte’s Caribbean community. Mr. Hunt is a consultant for the Rock Hill-York County Arts Council in South Carolina where he is engaged in audience development activities for that organization.

lentzcner Bennett Lentczner, administrator, artist and educator, is recognized across the country for his leadership of the renowned New World School of the Arts. A university dean and provost for more than eighteen years, Dr. Lentczner has served on numerous national, regional, state and local boards and associations as well as evaluation and accreditation teams.

Dr. Lentczner’s experience in evaluation and assessment includes work with more than 20 chapters of Young Audiences, Inc. (providers of arts education programs and residencies in K-12 schools), The Leonard Bernstein Center for Education through the Arts, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, several projects for Arts Education in Maryland Schools and the Maryland Board of Education, The North Carolina School of the Arts, and The Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, GA.

In the early 1990s, Lentczner chaired the International Council of Fine Arts Deans Arts Education Committee and was responsible for producing its Principles and Standards of Arts Education, a precursor to the national arts standards. He has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Getty Foundation for Education in the Arts, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. He has also served as a member of the National Coalition for Arts Education and the Goals 2000 Steering Committee.

More recently, Lentczner fulfilled the role of executive director for the Arts Schools Network, creating a landmark conference in Miami Beach, FL that brought together artists and arts educators, and a major conference on arts integration in Oakland, CA. His editorial writings for NETWORK NEWS that spoke to the importance of education in the arts brought praise from many, and as a speaker, Lentczner has inspired many to better understand the importance of an education that includes the arts. “There are many ideas out there now about “arts education” that are not centered on the arts and not educational in the sense of study and learning. I hope [all] will read your message and think deeply about it” wrote Sam Hope, executive director of the National Arts Accrediting Agencies.

Dr. Lentczner holds degrees from the Juilliard School of Music, Teachers College, Columbia University and Ball State University, and is the founding president of RealVisions, consultants that work collaboratively with Franklin Arts.

Susan Miville is a writer and an educator. She worked as the Director of Education, Outreach and Community Partnership at the Charlotte Symphony from 1996 to 2009, developing and managing its education and outreach activities. Under her leadership, the Symphony’s education and community engagement programs grew considerably, garnering national acclaim for their innovation in approach and content. Susan has designed, developed and implemented a series of curriculum-based residency programs for grades K-12 that involve integrating music with other disciplines and subject areas. These programs explore connections between music, visual arts, dance, language arts, math and social studies. Susan continues to work in the field of arts education and community engagement, partnering with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and other community and cultural organizations.

One of the many community engagement projects that Susan developed and directed during her tenure at the Symphony, was the Mill Community Project, which resulted in David Crowe’s work Mill Village: A Piedmont Rhapsody. This piece has been performed throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In addition to the performances, Susan and Mr. Crowe partnered in designing an inter-disciplinary curriculum component for the eighth grade in which the students learn how to use community-based research to create a multi-media performance piece.

Susan attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY and trained to be an actress, first at the Herbert Bergof Studios in New York, and then at the Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art in England. After performing in England and in New York, Susan changed her focus to writing. Susan has also studied ballet at the New York School of Ballet, piano with Elizabeth Silard, and drawing at the Arts Student League in New York. Along with composing poetry, short stories and essays, she has owned and operated a copy-writing, graphic design service, Crystal Image, where she wrote and produced brochures, ads, press releases and newsletters. As a freelance writer, Susan has written for magazines and newspapers about theatre, opera, dance and literature. Susan continues to write poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

Linda Whitesitt is a professional evaluator with extensive background in arts education as both a K-12 teacher and college professor. In addition, her work as a researcher and published author has been widely recognized. She also maintains an active schedule of musical performances.

Whitesitt has directed RealVisions evaluation of arts education projects and professional development programs, including an evaluation of the implementation of Fine Arts Strategic Plans in Maryland’s twenty-four (24) school systems and evaluations of the impact of a number of professional development programs for Maryland classroom teachers and arts specialists. Whitesitt led the three-year evaluation of the Arts Integration in Model Schools Program (Montgomery County, MD), a project supported by a U.S. Department of Education Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant.

Currently, she leads the four-year evaluation of the USDOE-funded AEMDD project in the Beaufort, SC public schools. She also directs RealVisions’ on-going evaluation of the Woodruff Arts Center’s teaching artist training program in Atlanta, GA.

Whitesitt has served as a member of a National Endowment for the Arts’ grant review panel and an evaluator for Young Audiences, Inc. She helped form the South Carolina Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts (CLIA) and founded community arts organizations and arts celebrations in Charlotte, Rock Hill, and Berkeley Springs, WV.

Whitesitt holds degrees in music performance (B.M.) and music history and literature (M.M.) from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, and in musicology (Ph.D.) from the University of Maryland. She has performed in orchestras and chamber ensembles in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. She has attended several education sessions of the American Evaluators Institute, and joined RealVisions in 2003 as director of its evaluation projects.