UW-Madison Bolz Center Team

BolzCenterBolz Center for Arts Administration MBA program students and faculty members.
About the Bolz Center
The Kenosha Creative Economy Strategic Plan reflects the aspirations of creatives. Based on feedback over the past several years, activists have been working to engage the community more broadly for the promotion of creative endeavors. To achieve this aim, a band of leaders have launched a process for the creation of a Kenosha Creative Economy Strategic Plan. This 2-semester process will be undertaken in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Bolz Center for Arts Administration in September 2016 and will wrap-up by May 2017. This will outline a framework or “road map” will investigate strengths and opportunities of our local arts community and recommend action steps to strengthen networks and foster artistic and cultural development.
Members have been selected to serve as part of a 25-member Steering Committee, guiding the process.
Bolz center logo-horizontalThe Bolz Center for Arts Administration was founded in 1969 as the first multidisciplinary business degree program to address the special needs of this emerging field. Master of Business students across campus embrace the opportunity to understand the nature and structure of arts enterprise while discovering practical ways to cultivate their own career vision and creative project goals.
Artful Business Consultants is a team of dedicated arts professionals and arts administration students. We use a collaborative, focused approach in our consulting work, making sure that the client stays engaged with the process of strategic planning and that the final deliverables are actionable, useful tools. The Artful Business Consultants team comes out of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison. Five of its members are second-year MBA students, with several years of professional experience in music, dance, theater, visual arts and educational nonprofit administration. The team is led by Christine Harris, founder of Christine Harris Connections, a consulting practice focused specifically on connecting and serving creativity and the creative community, and Sherry Wagner-Henry, Director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration.

Team Members:

Christine Harris (Founder, Christine Harris Connects) has been working with creative enterprises and community development for over 30 years and she began focusing on the creative economy in 2009. Christine co-founded the Creative Economy Coalition, a working committee of the National Creativity Network, and designed and executed the nation’s first review of defining the creative economy with the seminal work America’s Creative Economy: A Study of Recent Conceptions, Definitions, and Approaches to Measurement Across the USA. Christine has worked on creative sector development with the City of Austin, TX; Arts United and the City of Fort Wayne, IN; City of Lawrence, KS; City of Marquette, MI; Arts Alliance Illinois; ArtServe Michigan; Americans for the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; National Creativity Network; Arts Wisconsin; Greater Milwaukee, and many others. She was CEO of Creative Alliance Milwaukee, where she developed a full profile of the regional creative economy and developed online resources for the sector.
Sherry Wagner-Henry (Director, Bolz Center for Arts Administration and Arts Business Initiatives) has extensive experience in arts administration and higher education. As director, she is responsible for the ongoing development of the Bolz Center, recruitment of students, and development of enhanced educational experiences, as well as advisory board engagement and job placement for center grads. She was most recently director of graduate programs at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis/St. Paul, for the College of Continuing Education and faculty director of their Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Leadership (ACL). She created the ACL masters and, within the college, substantially grew the number of masters degrees and certificates. Through her efforts, enrollment, scholarship support, and general revenue all increased. Previously, at the University of Minnesota, she was managing director of university theatre and dance and executive director of Minnesota Centennial Showboat.
Gabriel Benghiat (Class of 2017 MBA candidate, Bolz Center for Arts Administration) graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with a degree in Theater & Performance Studies. Gabriel was most recently the Administrative Manager at American Theater Company in Chicago. While there, ATC celebrated its 30th anniversary and produced two world premieres, two Chicago premieres, and a re-imagining of a classic American musical. These were the most critically-acclaimed and financially successful productions in ATC’s history. Bolstered by his efforts managing the marketing department, single ticket sales increased by more than 140% over the previous season. With the MBA in Arts Administration, Gabriel hopes to work with arts and cultural organizations to make effective, sustainable decisions and produce work that is impactful and accessible in their communities.
Katerina Herder (Class of 2017 MBA candidate, Bolz Center for Arts Administration) attended Northwestern University where she earned her BS in dance and sociology. Upon graduation, she joined the Joffrey Academy team at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. As the Academy Production Manager, she cultivated her passion for the performing arts industry and gained significant organizational and leadership experience. Additionally, Katerina stayed involved with the arts as a dance instructor for outreach programs and local dance studios and as a member of the Steppenwolf Auxiliary Council. With the MBA from the Wisconsin School of Business, Katerina seeks to help performing arts organizations achieve financial and administrative stability so they can sustainably push artistic boundaries, diversify their audiences, and stimulate their communities.
Nicole Kite (Class of 2017 MBA candidate, Bolz Center for Arts Administration) received her BA in landscape architecture at the University of California-Berkeley, a field which intersects her interests in community development, design, and creative place-making. After several years working as a landscape designer in both private and public settings, Nicole joined the nonprofit sector in 2013 at the Richmond Art Center. As the Education Program Coordinator, she played a central role in the planning, development and growth of a robust selection of free and fee-based visual art education programs, comprising annually of nearly 300 classes, workshops, and camps and numerous community events. With the MBA in Arts Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nicole looks to support artists and communities to develop and sustain a public sphere rich in arts-based educational and economic opportunities.
Mae Saul (Class of 2017 MBA candidate, Bolz Center for Arts Administration) came to Madison from Seattle, Washington where she spent the previous four years working with various arts and cultural organizations. She spent four years with the Production Department of Seattle Opera working as a Production Assistant in Stage Management and later as the Assistant Manager of the Wig and Makeup Department. As the Community Outreach Manager at Classical KING FM 98.1, Seattle’s public classical music radio station, she managed the station’s community engagement activities, worked to expand partnerships with community arts and cultural organizations and helped develop the station’s free public chamber music series with the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture. Mae is interested in working with arts organizations on community engagement and education programs and hopes to use her MBA to help arts organizations build sustainable futures and establish robust community engagement programs.
Jessie Wright (Class of 2017 MBA Candidate, Bolz Center for Arts Administration) continued her contributions to the Virginia arts community, serving as the Company Manager for the Heritage Theatre Festival, and Events & Guest Coordinator for the 25th-annual Virginia Film Festival upon graduating from the University of Virginia. Following her passions for international studies and cross-cultural experiences, she moved abroad to Amsterdam, Netherlands for a year, exploring Europe while working as content curator for a cultural online startup. This led her to accept a position as Aspect Foundation’s Publicity Coordinator, where she increased online engagement 4-fold annually, and helped place over 500 exchange students with American host families each year. Jessie is excited to explore new ways of connecting cultures through the arts, and building safe spaces for creative expression and community relationships.