Speaker and Artist Information
Conference Day – Tuesday, May12
11:20 – Jamie Bennett
Jamie Bennett [he/him] works with nonprofits, philanthropies, and government agencies through a partnership with Lord Cultural Resources. He works across rural, suburban, Tribal, and urban geographies with a focus on arts, culture, and equitable community development.
Jamie has been interim co-CEO of Americans for the Arts, interim CEO of United States Artists, Executive Director of ArtPlace America, and Chief of Staff at the National Endowment for the Arts in President Obama’s administration and at the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in Mayor Bloomberg’s administration. Jamie also worked at the Agnes Gund Foundation, New York Philharmonic, The Museum of Modern Art, and Columbia University.
Jamie lives, works, worships, and plays in Brooklyn, NY and Toronto, Canada and has been sober since 2009.
12:00 – Donovan Zimmerman, Paperhand Puppet Project
Donovan Zimmerman is the Executive and Artistic Director of the Paperhand Puppet Project, an award winning arts organization that uses giant puppets, masks, stilts, elaborate costumes, shadows and original live music to tell stories and inspire audiences of all ages. He co founded the troupe in 2000 with Jan Burger. He is a puppeteer, artist, drummer and teacher who puts his energy and whole heart into the work of bettering our world. His dream is to create art that helps to heal, uplift and transform while restoring our connection to the Earth and each other.
12:50 – Ken Melton
Ken Melton, principal/owner of Ken Melton & Associates, has lobbied in the NC General Assembly for over two decades. During that time he has earned statewide recognition for successes achieved on behalf of his clients, regularly being named one of North Carolina’s top 50 lobbyists by the NC Center for Public Policy Research. Prior to lobbying, Ken worked in the General Assembly as a legislative staff member, serving then State Senator Virginia Foxx (now Congresswoman Foxx) the House Finance Committee and the Research Division.
Ken’s tenure as a lobbyist includes four years as Director of Legislative Affairs for the NC Department of Revenue where he worked as a top deputy for Secretary Norris Tolson. Before that he spent four years as a contract lobbyist with Alley Associates, one of North Carolina’s top-ranked firms for nearly two decades.
As head of his own governmental affairs and lobbying firm, Ken has represented a diverse list of clients, including numerous associations; medical companies; utilities; manufacturers and distributors; and local, state and federal retirees. He specializes in a number of policy areas, including child care and early education; health care (pharmaceuticals and MH/DD/SAS); taxes/finance; transportation; alcohol and beverage control, and gaming.
Ken has a Master of Public Affairs Degree and Bachelor of Science Degree from Western Carolina University. He is a North Carolina native, who grew up in New Bern and currently resides in Garner.
1:40 – Hannah Hassan
Hannah Hasan is an award winning poet, speaker, playwright and theatre producer. Her work has been recognized through multiple awards, acknowledgments, fellowships, grants, and artistic residencies throughout her career. Her writing and performances are rooted in themes of home, community, blackness, social justice, faith, womanhood, and more.
Hannah is the Co-Founder of Epoch Tribe, a theatre production and consulting company devoted to centering Black voices and cultivating spaces of connection, care, and collective imagination. Through live, original performance, and facilitation, Hannah’s work invites audiences into moments of reflection that feel intimate, expansive, and deeply human.
Hannah is also the co- creator of I Am Queen, a live theatrical production that uplifts the stories of Black women in the South. This work is grounded in legacy building and joy, honoring the fullness of Black womanhood while creating room for truth telling, celebration, and collective remembrance.
Hannah is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University and Full Sail University and she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband Jamaal.
2:55 – Panel Discussion
Carly Jones – Moderator
Carly P. Jones is the President + CEO of Artspace in Raleigh, NC . She has experience in grant work, arts funding, community programming, nonprofit development, and arts equity work. Jones attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, a Bachelor of Arts in Black Music History, and a minor in Arts Management. She served the state of North Carolina as the Senior Program Director for Artists & Organizations at the NC Arts Council, within the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, where she oversaw the statewide organization grants and individual artist resources for artists across all disciplines.
Mimi O’Brien – Panelist
Mimi O’Brien became the executive director of The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation in December 2012. She joined the foundation after a 21-year career in corporate and foundation development at Duke University. At the Biddle Foundation, she has worked with the board to evolve the foundation’s grantmaking approach from many small project-based grants to fewer and larger multiyear grants, with a goal of helping nonprofits build organizational capacity and sustainability. She has engaged the foundation in the Triangle Capacity Building Network, a funder collaboration that has pooled resources to support nonprofits through grants and other resources. She represents the foundation on the Durham Cultural Roadmap Steering Committee and on the Advisory Committee of the North Carolina Network of Grantmakers.
Charles Thomas – Panelist
Charles Thomas joined Knight Foundation in February 2016. He currently serves as the Charlotte Director
Raised in Charlotte, Thomas is the former executive director of Queen City Forward, a hub for entrepreneurs who have business ideas that address social needs. A professional photographer, Thomas co-published a book of photography and stories with author Valaida Fullwood titled “Giving Back: A Tribute to Generations of African American Philanthropists.”
Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and is a graduate of several leadership programs, such as Leadership Charlotte, the Leadership Development Initiative and the Innovation Institute at the McColl Center for the Visual Arts. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, Micaila Milburn, and their three sons.
David Heinen – Panelist
David Heinen has been with the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits since 2007, leading the Center’s public policy and advocacy work and providing non-answers (and occasional useful information) about legal compliance, trends in the nonprofit sector, and advocacy to hundreds of nonprofits. He has served on boards of a variety of local and national nonprofits. David is a graduate of Duke University and the William and Mary School of Law. Before returning to North Carolina to work for the Center, David spent seven years as an attorney with a Washington, D.C. law firm serving the nonprofit community. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and three children, the oldest of whom describes her dad as “weathered.”
Vicki Vitiello – Panelist
Vicki Vitiello is the Deputy Director for the North Carolina Arts Council. She more than 25 years of leadership and senior program experience with the agency. In her 10-year tenure as Director of Operations, she oversaw pandemic recovery efforts and the distribution of $25 million in federal funding to our state’s hard-hit nonprofit arts sector. Vicki helped manage the growth of the N.C. Arts Council’s annual grants portfolio to more than 1,000 awards annually, and established the North Carolina Creative Forces Initiative, which brings arts to military-connected audiences for healing and resiliency.
3:35 – Africa Unplugged
Africa Unplugged is led by renowned djembe master, songwriter, and educator, Atiba Rorie. The
band combines traditional, west-African percussion instruments with guitar and bass to play
traditional rhythms while drawing from global influences. The result is funky, soulful blues that
keeps you moving as they tell stories from the old world and the new!