Leadership Team

Margo T. Drakos

Committed to a life of service that harnesses the innovative power of technology and the transformative potential of the arts, Margo Drakos is a former concert cellist turned entrepreneur, and a proud U.S. active duty Military spouse. She is a founder and CEO of ArtistYear.

Margo has spent the past decade working with private and public sector institutions leveraging technology and strategic alignment to realize scale, revenue generation, and sustainability. She has a track record of driving and growing emerging software product and service management lines. Her specialties include go-to-market strategies, vertical campaigns, fundraising, operational process design, and release roll-outs.  She has recruited, led, and motivated matrix and dispersed organizations of engineering, product, marketing, and growth teams while maintaining high-quality standards.  Until 2017, Margo spent four years as Chief Technology Officer at McChrystal Group LLC and its spin-off, CrossLead, Inc., an enterprise software and services company working with leaders to optimize organizational performance by leveraging real-time data to understand their human networks and align strategies to daily execution.

Margo began working as a professional musician at age four, performing on national radio and television commercials.  Over the course of her career as a cellist she performed as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician on the world’s preeminent stages on five continents. Margo entered music conservatory at fifteen as a double major in cello and composition and graduated from Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1999. She served as Artist-in-Residence and Cello and Chamber Music faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and Manhattan School of Music from 2002-2008. Margo’s positions included cellist of the American String Quartet, Principal Cellist of the Oregon, San Diego, and Seattle Symphonies, and Associate Principal of Pittsburgh Symphony.  She toured regularly with “Musicians from Marlboro” and has recorded and produced for Sony Classical, Naxos, Arabesque, and Longhorn Records.

In 2007, embracing the power of technology to democratize access to the arts, Margo co-founded and led her first start-up, InstantEncore.com, the world’s leading provider of web and mobile technology to the performing arts. In that role, Margo executed strategic partnerships to enable some of the first live web and mobile concert streaming and download events from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House.  In 2011, she was made a Partner at the SwitchCase Group, the lead investor in InstantEncore. Margo has gone on to advise and invest in early-stage startups and serve as venture advisor to Otto Capital Partners LLC.

In 2010, Margo was honored as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a community of extraordinary global leaders under forty. Through the Forum and Clinton Global Initiative, Margo founded AppBridge, an SMS mobile application platform and competition designed to bring education and economic opportunity to communities in Pakistan and the Philippines. Margo has been invited to speak on technology, entrepreneurship, and the arts at institutions and events including Americans for the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, the Global Competitiveness Forum of Saudi Arabia, TechVenture in Singapore and the World Economic Forum at Davos.

Margo received a Masters in Human Rights from Columbia University and holds Executive Degrees in Global Leadership and Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Her publications have appeared in the Aspen Institute Magazine, The International Affairs Review, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The Cornell International Law Journal.

Elizabeth Warshawer

Elizabeth Warshawer brings more than twenty-five years of successful experience leading and managing organizations in the Philadelphia area in the corporate, non-profit, and academic arenas in leadership positions and as an external consultant. She is Principal of EBW Consulting LLC and is a founder and trustee of ArtistYear.

From 2007-2015, Elizabeth served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Advancement Officer for the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In this role, Elizabeth directed all non-musical functions of the Institute including, finance, advancement, external affairs, communications and marketing, legal affairs, information technology, digital initiatives, facilities and human resources. She led two successful strategic planning processes for Curtis and successfully managed the Institute’s physical expansion with the construction of Lenfest Hall; a $65 million mixed use building that opened in August 2011, renovation of The Rubenstein Centre; a recently completed office building, and renovations of all of Curtis’s historic buildings.

Elizabeth served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2003 – 2007. Her responsibilities included labor relations, all human resource functions for the staff and musicians, media and technology, financial controls and operating procedures, shared services with the Kimmel Center, office management, and interdepartmental coordination. From 2000 – 2003, Elizabeth served as Vice President and Chief People Officer. Her initial work with The Philadelphia Orchestra was as co-founder and principal consultant of The Alliance for Effective Organizations Inc. (AEO), a firm specializing in a full array of management consulting services.

Her consulting and design activities have included a focus on helping organizations to align the competencies of their existing workforce with the strategic demands of emerging business challenges, with particular focus on issues of culture change and leadership development. She provided consulting services to the Aresty Institute of Executive Education, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for clients of their Custom Programs and was selected as one of fifteen senior strategy and organization effectiveness practitioners from around the world to form the initial partnership network for the Center for Organizational Fitness founded by Mike Beer of the Harvard Business School.

Elizabeth’s corporate experience included senior positions in manufacturing and healthcare companies. Elizabeth holds a BA from Washington University with Phi Beta Kappa distinction, and an MA, also from Washington University.

Christine Witkowski

Christine Witkowski is a musician, educator and organizational strategist. As the Chief Impact Officer of ArtistYear, Christine leads ArtistYear’s evaluation and research efforts to assess program outcomes for underserved youth, schools/districts, and the ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellows themselves, today and tomorrow.  Through her work as a consultant, Christine provides expertise in leadership, strategy, staffing, cultural competence, teacher training and evaluation for foundations, non-profits and cultural institutions. She is also the author and editor of “El Sistema: Music for Social Change” (Omnibus Press): a collection essays on the practical and philosophical application of impactful and community-driven music programs for youth development.

From 2010-2015, Christine designed, implemented, and led Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA) at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA)- an intensive, free music and youth development program located in the city’s most diverse and underserved neighborhood. With a dedicated teaching faculty, grassroots parental support and multiple partner organizations, YOLA at HOLA became a model program, serving hundreds of K-12 students and hosting visitors from over 25 countries.

Christine received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, a master’s degree from McGill University, and holds a certification in community counseling from the Southern California Counseling Center. She was an inaugural Sistema Fellow at New England Conservatory of Music, and a New Horizon Fellow at Aspen Music Festival and School.

Julia Durkin

Philadelphia-suburb native Julia Durkin grew up surrounded by the arts as a musician and visual artist where she gained a deep appreciation for the impact of arts education. She brings this perspective and passion to her role as Director of Finance and Human Resources at ArtistYear. Julia leads finance, compliance, and human resource planning and implementation in addition to supporting ArtistYear’s operations, strategy, and realization.

Prior to ArtistYear Julia served as Operations Director for Play On Philly, where she created the Human Resources department, guided the organization through six years of successful financial audits, and managed the budget growth from $1.2 million in 2013 to $2.4 million in 2018.

She has also served as Operations Director and Director of Compliance for Senator Bob Casey’s successful 2012 reelection campaign.

Julia received a Bachelor of the Arts with a double major in Performance Studies and Political Science at Northwestern University. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, and a certification in Human Resources from the Society for Human Resources.

As a lifelong musician, she studied bassoon with Shirley Curtiss, performed in chamber ensembles at Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School, performed in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra under the direction of Rossen Milanov, and participated in numerous musical theatre productions over the years.

She currently resides with in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband, their son, Quinn, and miniature goldendoodle, Lucy.  She also enjoys painting and chalk pastel in her spare time.

Maryanne Braine

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Maryanne Braine is an artist and photographer who is committed to addressing inequities in our society through arts education and national service.  She served two AmeriCorps service terms with City Year New York and Reading Partners New York. During her service with City Year, Maryanne designed and implemented an after-school arts curriculum at a public elementary school in East Harlem. While serving with Reading Partners, she ran a tutoring center for K-4th grade students out of a charter school in The Bronx. During her time serving with AmeriCorps she witnessed how the creative arts can positively impact communities and provide a platform for youth to tell their stories.

Prior to ArtistYear, she worked at NYC Service, a division of the Mayor’s Office of New York City. In her role as NYC Service Year Support Coordinator, she created and managed professional development programming and networking opportunities to strengthen the current AmeriCorps member and alumni community throughout NYC. This work allowed her to advocate for the AmeriCorps population while helping members leverage their own service experiences to meet career goals.

Maryanne continues to pursue art making, specializing in alternative and analog photography processes such as cyanotypes, mordancage, emulsion lifts, and gel transfers. Her work has been featured in collective exhibitions nationally and internationally, including China, India, and New Zealand. She was an artist-in-residence at The Spruce Residency in Indiana, PA in 2019.

Maryanne received her BA in Studio Art from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana in 2014 and her MFA in Photography & Related Media at Parsons School of Design, The New School in New York City in 2018.

She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Kate Curtin

Kate Curtin is ArtistYear’s North Carolina Regional Lead, serving as a liaison to Moore County Schools and surrounding county schools, and providing mentorship, professional development, and day-to-day supervision for the ArtistYear NC Fellows.  She grew up surrounded by the arts and is deeply committed to bringing all youth the same opportunity.

Kate received her Bachelor of Arts with a double major in History and French from Hofstra University.  Kate is a U.S. Army Veteran and the Youth Program Director for the Arts Council of Moore County. In her role with the Arts Council, Kate is responsible for bringing educational performing artists into the rural county’s 23 schools, reaching over 15,000 students each year. She created the RePaint Art Supply Drive which distributes donated art supplies to Moore County’s public schools and is the organizer of the annual Young People’s Fine Arts Festival showcasing K-12 youth art from across Moore County. 

Over the past 12 years, Kate has volunteered extensively within the Moore County Public School system, primarily in Title 1 schools.  She served as the Southern Pines Primary’s PTA Vice-President, Southern Pines Elementary’s PTA Treasurer, and Southern Middle School’s Parent Advisory Committee liaison, School Improvement Team member, PTA Treasurer and President. She was the co-founder and chair of the Military Family Council and the Pineland “Thundering Herd,” a travel basketball team for at-risk male teens.  Kate currently serves on the Moore County Historical Association’s Board of Trustees and is a swim team coach for the Southern Pines Elks.  

Rebecca Imani C. Graham

Rebecca Imani C. Graham is a musician and educator of both vocal and instrumental music. A graduate of Ithaca College’s James J. Whalen School of Music, Rebecca earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education with a concentration in trumpet in 2010. Upon graduating, she spent a year in service as the Family Communications Americorps VISTA at New Roots Charter School, a start-up high school in Ithaca, NY where she was later brought on as the full-time Music Director. Over the course of her two years at New Roots, Rebecca taught and developed sustainability and social justice arts curriculum for grades 9-12 with classes including chorus, jazz ensemble, chamber ensemble, a student-led rock band, music theory and appreciation.

Since moving to Philadelphia in 2013, Rebecca has worked as a vocal Teaching Artist with Musicopia’s FAME (Fostering Artistry and Musical Excellence) and residency programs. Her Complaint Choir program has been hailed as “innovative” and “highly popular” and is often requested by school communities looking to better engage their at-risk and special needs students. Rebecca served on the Musicopia Board of Directors from 2015-2017 as the Teaching Artist liaison. She also worked with Philadelphia Youth Orchestra’s Tune Up Philly program as a brass faculty member and Site Supervisor, working closely with the Director to ensure continued program-wide success amongst faculty and students.

As ArtistYears’ City Lead of Philadelphia, Rebecca looks forward to working with each ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellow class to achieve their highest potential as teaching artists, classroom educators, and dedicated citizen-artists.

You can catch Rebecca performing under the moniker Honeychile, as well as with Philly-based hip hop collective Hardwork Movement and the Mexican diasporic-fusion band Interminable.

Tami Wisley

Tami Wisley spent her youth in Southeast Asia, the child of parents deeply committed to Community Development, Conflict Resolution, and Social Justice.  Her parent’s commitment to the underserved took hold and Tami found her way into the classroom. She is dedicated towards the ideal that teaching can and does positively alter the trajectory of lives.

Tami has spent the past fifteen years developing her craft as a teacher and school leader.  In Glenwood Springs, CO, she has grown the instrumental music program from 100 to 300 students in five years.  It continues to expand and thrive and offer powerful music opportunities for local students. Tami also created a mentoring program for at-risk students, partnering local leaders with students in danger of dropping out of school.  Continually striving to create new opportunities for students, she also founded a peer-mentoring program with band students and spearheaded a school-wide reading intervention. She draws upon her extensive experience teaching English and music education, and snowboard and kayak instruction.

Tami is ArtistYear’s Colorado Lead in the Roaring Fork Valley, mentoring the ArtistYear Fellows during their year of service.  She believes the inspiration, contemporary, and youthful contribution that is possible for the Roaring Fork Valley teachers, students, and school communities will be immense!

When Tami is not teaching or playing mandolin with her all-women’s bluegrass band, she spends her time kayaking, biking, and camping with her two sons.

Traci Molloy

Traci Molloy, ArtistYear’s New York City Lead, is a Brooklyn-based artist, collaborator, and education advocate.  As an artist, she has presented her artwork in over 175 national exhibitions, including solo shows in New York City, Chicago, Kansas City, and Nashville. Traci provides professional development and mentoring of our ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellows throughout their service year.

Traci creates multi-media collaborations with young adults across our nation who have experienced trauma. The National September 11^th Memorial and Museum owns five of Traci’s collaborations. Her multi-media projects have also been exhibited at the United Nations, Pentagon, Bronx Museum of the Arts, CDC’s Global Health Odyssey Museum, Norman Rockwell Museum, International Summit on Racism in Johannesburg, and Tokyo’s Children’s Museum. Her projects are featured in three books: Empowering Children through Art and Expression, Not Far from Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio, and Where Can I Get a Phoenix. Articles about her work appear in Ms. Magazine, BOMB Magazine, Art Papers, and newspapers across the country. Her work has also been featured on Good Morning America, NPR, and news stations throughout the Northeast.

As an educator, Traci’s pedagogical strategies are centered on teaching art as a way to stimulate change and promote social justice, raise intellectual and aesthetic consciousness, and visually empower individuals and communities. For over twenty years, she has directed arts-based educational outreach programs for underserved youth in Appalachian Ohio, Atlanta, and The Bronx. While directing these programs, Traci partnered with prestigious institutions and organizations including the Studio Museum in Harlem, High Museum of Art, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, and the Center for Arts Education.

Traci has received fully-funded residencies throughout the country and project grants from the Puffin Foundation and Ohio Arts Council. She has held academic posts at The Art Institute of Atlanta, Ohio University, Rutgers University, and the University of Southern Maine, and is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges, universities, and arts and education-based conferences about her work.

Traci received her B.F.A. from Alfred University, and an M.F.A. and M.A. in arts education from Ohio University. In 2013, she received the Distinguished Visual Arts Alumni Award from Ohio University.