About

I grew up in Atlanta, GA, and returned there for a dozen years after graduate school and worked in theatre around administrative day jobs. I moved to New York City in 2002 to study the Meisner Technique of actor training, with the intention of returning to Atlanta to start my own acting studio. But while I literally still had a suitcase in my hand, I met this guitar player. Then I married him and stayed in NYC.

Arts Entrepreneurship

My interest in arts entrepreneurship goes all the way back to childhood, where one of my earliest memories is performing in a one-girl production of “Little Red Riding Hood” on my carport. I was also the writer, director, and box office manager. I made tickets and sold one for a nickel to a neighborhood friend, but gave the nickel back to her after the show (I guess I was always destined for the non-profit sector…).

As an adult, I started several arts programs and businesses, including a family-oriented theatre company in Atlanta, the Arts Ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City (back when you could still find Tim Keller wandering the hallways), and an arts business incubator for Creative Waco (TX).

In my job at Redeemer, God opened up a passion in me for helping artists to thrive artistically and spiritually through helping them to acquire the skills to make their creative work financially sustainable. I heard many artists in NYC say that the way to make it to “the top of the heap” was to outlast everyone else.

I’ve studied arts entrepreneurship, policy, and leadership, at NYU, Columbia University, Lincoln Center, National Arts Strategies, Springboard for the Arts, and Mid-America Arts Alliance. I’m a member of the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education.

Directing

I have a BFA in acting from Baylor and an MFA in directing from University of Tennessee (Knoxville). I directed professionally in Atlanta for a dozen years, including founding and running a theatre for family audiences, before moving to New York City in 2002. While living in NYC I wasn’t pursuing directing, but I did manage to direct a few Equity staged readings and one fully-staged production, *mark, a solo performance of the Gospel of Mark, presented by Magis Theatre Company at world-renowned LaMama Experimental Theatre Company.

Today

My husband, Chuck, and I relocated to Waco, Texas, in July of 2016. For five years I was on staff with Creative Waco, the local arts agency, as Project Manager for Artist Professional Development, where I taught workshops and developed and ran the Greenhouse, an arts incubator and mentoring program. I left Creative Waco in fall 2021 to focus on writing a book and developing a ministry to visual and performing arts students at Christian colleges and universities.

Soon after arriving in Waco, I started a theatre project called Insite, which performed plays in “found spaces,” including an art gallery and a brewery. We made the decision not to reboot after the COVID lockdown. I directed The Three Musketeers for Waco Civic Theatre and Reckless for Silent House Theatre Company, taught the theatre class at Bishop Reicher Catholic High School for two years, and have been mentoring early-career theatre artists.

I’m proud to be involved with Artists Thrive, a project of the Tremaine Foundation, the largest private funder of artist professional development in the country. “Artists Thrive is a growing initiative offering activities, practices, language, visions and values of what it means to succeed and thrive as an artist – and what it means to have a thriving arts sector and, eventually, thriving communities.” Right up my alley.

Chuck and I are now in the process of moving to Chattanooga, TN. It’s closer to our families and is a larger arts market with more opportunities for both of us. I’m working on a couple of projects that I’ll post about soon.

If you have any questions or thoughts, I’d love to chat. Feel free to email me through the Contact page.

Blessings,
Luann