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DEDICATED LEADERS IN ARTS EDUCATION
CAPE's key staff members come from a variety of professional backgrounds. They bring a unique blend of talents to the organization.

With experience in arts education, visual arts, performing arts, education and research, they provide CAPE with knowledgeable leadership and direction. As needed, CAPE also utilizes consultants, brought on board to provide specialized input and skills.

CHICAGO ARTS PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION (CAPE) PERSONNEL

Arnold Aprill, Founding and Creative Director of CAPE, comes from a background in professional theater as an award-winning director, producer and playwright. He has taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia College, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is one of the co-authors of Learning Partnerships: Improving Learning in Schools with Arts Partners in the Community, published by the Arts Education Partnership, and is one of the co-editors of Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning. He consults nationally and internationally on the role of the arts in effective school improvement. He has been recognized for exceptional leadership by the Chicago Community Trust and by the Leadership for a Changing World initiative supported by the Ford Foundation.

Amy Rasmussen serves as Executive Director of CAPE and is responsible for strategic planning, fundraising, marketing & financial management. Amy joined CAPE in 2000 after working with the Chicago Chamber Musicians for six years. She also serves as a consultant to non-profit organizations, including the Japanese American Service Committee and the Chicago Human Rhythm Project. Amy holds an M.A. in Arts, Entertainment & Media Management, and a B.A. in Music from DePaul University. She is a musician, performing classical to pop music in a variety of settings. In 2005, she co-founded the Ravenswood Community Orchestra in Chicago.

Kelly Nespor is CAPE’s Office Manager, responsible for the organization’s day-to-day operations. Prior to joining CAPE's staff, she worked in the communications department of an international insurance brokerage firm. Kelly holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an M.A. from Northwestern University.

Yanira Cirino serves as CAPE's Development & Communications Associate. An avid museum visitor, she had her first experience in the arts education field in 2005 as a Docent for the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. Yanira holds a B.A. in Public Communication from the University of Puerto Rico and an M.S. in Nonprofit Management from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (also in PR).

Scott Sikkema, who has been with CAPE since 2002, serves as Education Director. Prior to CAPE, Scott worked at Kohl Children's Museum, where his duties encompassed staff and facility management, and programming for students, families and teachers, and at the Terra Museum of American Art, where he developed the museum's outreach community programs, initiated an extensive amount of collaboration with other Chicago institutions, and revamped the museum's approach to teacher programming. For his efforts, he received the Illinois Art Education Association Museum Educator of the Year award. At CAPE, Scott works closely with programming staff in planning and coordinating teacher and artist professional development, partnership programs and special projects.

Erica Tryon serves as Project Coordinator for the BCCLA initiative. Prior to joining CAPE, she served as Education Director at the Cambodian Association of Illinois and as an Education Consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation‘s Making Connections Initiative in New Orleans. In addition, she completed a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship on West African masking rituals in Cote d‘Ivoire, Benin and Burkina Faso, and has taught English in Thailand, Argentina and San Francisco. Erica holds a B.A. in Art History and Theatre from Lawrence University and an M.A. in Development Studies from Brown Univerity.

Mark Diaz serves as Program Associate at CAPE. Prior to CAPE, he was Development Director/Media Instructor for Cooperative Image Group, as well as a teaching artist for CAPE. He has also been Business Manager and Arts Instructor at Street-Level Youth Media, and a Co-Director at OpenSource Art. Mark received a Master of Fine Arts in Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is an artist in Chicago.

Laura Tan serves as CAPE's Research Associate. Prior to CAPE, she served as Program Officer for Partners for Livable Communities in Washington, D.C., where she studied, documented, and provided assistance to neighborhood-based art programs under a Ford Foundation initiative on Art, Culture, and Neighborhood Change. Laura considers herself a maker of many things and freelances graphic design services to other passionate craftspeople and artists. She holds an M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in English with Honors in Creative Writing from Brown University.
 

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