Staff

Christina Martin-Wright

Executive Director

Christina has been our Executive director since 2019. She holds an M.F.A. in directing and dramaturgy from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and an undergraduate degree in Performance. She is one of the founders of Madison’s StageQ Theatre and has been an active member of the arts community for over two decades. Christina has nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and external relations experience with some of the area's most vibrant organization and events, including the Wisconsin Film Festival, Children’s Theater of Madison, and Madison Children’s Museum. Christina is also a member of the Friends Board at UW—Madison Waisman Center and sits on the Leadership Team of Any Given Child Madison, a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts.

Jill Jaworski

Director of Arts Education

Jill holds a Bachelor of Science Education in Elementary Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Drawing from Drake University. She also holds a Master of Science in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her time at UW-Madison, she explored the psychological underpinnings of children’s prejudice toward peers with disabilities and researched various interventions to increase understanding and empathy. She also has worked with several local artists with disabilities in school partnerships. As an early education teacher she created and led disability-related training material for school-wide professional development, as well as new staff trainings, parent education sessions, and conference workshops.

Mike Lawler

Director of Development & External Relations

Mike earned a B.S. in Theatre Arts and Anthropology from Western Oregon University, and has spent most of his working life in the performing arts. He is also a published author, former staff writer for TYA Today, and freelance writer, focusing on stories and articles about the arts advancing the way artists think about and execute their work. He has led and/or founded multiple arts organizations, including Arden Theatre in Salem, Oregon, Wisconsin Story Project, and Theatre LILA in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dawn Lawler

Choir Coordinator

Dawn is a musician and teacher. She holds a Master of Music in Flute Performance from Boston University, and is an active performer and teacher in the Madison area. In addition to teaching a full studio, she plays regularly with both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She served as a Lecturer in Flute at UW-Platteville from 2011-2013, and at UW-Madison in the spring of 2010. She was also an Artist-in-Residence with the Wingra Woodwind Quintet at UW-Madison from 2008-2010. Ms. Lawler was a semifinalist in the 2006 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition, as well as prizewinner of the 2004 James Pappoutsakis Memorial Solo Flute Competition in Boston. She has performed with the Dubuque Symphony, the New England Philharmonic, the Hingham Symphony, the Texas Festival Orchestra, the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, and as the flutist for the Latin American group Sotavento.

Debra Scheibinger

Art Director

Debra graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a B.S. in Art Education. After starting her own media design business, VertuArts, she became a product designer at American Girl, and spent three years designing dolls, accessories, and furniture, including the historical doll, Kit Kittredge. More recently, she was the marketing specialist and educational program manager at Eugster’s Petting Farm in Stoughton.

Leslie Iwai

Teaching Artist

Leslie holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Chemistry from Wayne State College in Nebraska and a M.Arch. from Virginia Tech. An installation artist and sculptor, her artwork is multidisciplinary and material rich. Tandem with her studio practice, Leslie has been a teaching artist since 2002, was on the Nebraska Teaching Artist Roster from 2009-2013, and traveled widely throughout the state as part of the Dana Foundation's Nebraska Teaching Artists Initiative. Leslie has worked with children as young as three, teenagers, senior adults, and those with a wide variety of abilities. She has had extended teaching artist training through the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has worked with ARTS for ALL Wisconsin since 2013 as well many other local Wisconsin organizations such as the Overture Center for the Arts, and Badger Prairie Health Care Center.

Patrizia Ferreira

Teaching Artist

Patrizia holds an M.S. from Philadelphia University in Textile Design for Prints and a B.A. from the Institute of Industrial Design in Montevideo, Uruguay in Textile Design. She has been teaching with AFA since 2016, and her workshops focus on playing with color and patterns and incorporating fabric and other textile materials. She also teaches numerous other workshops for adults and children in several art centers in Dane County, as well as work on her own art out of her studio in Monona.

Christy Grace

Teaching Artist

Christy has been making art her whole life but made it her focus and career after graduating with an Associates Degree in Graphic Design from Madison College. In addition to her work with ARTS for ALL Wisconsin, Christy is a professional fine artist, art-jewelry maker, and children's book illustrator. She averages about two art local art markets and shows a month while creating new work. Christy also strives to connect with and advocate for those living with invisible illnesses, physical or emotional, by creating art that communicates what can't always be seen or said. 

Deb Neuman

Teaching Artist

Deb has worked for AFA since 1994 and is an educator with a BS in Music Therapy from UW-Eau Claire. She has held many positions with AFA, including as the founder and Choir Director of our Menomoie Choir, and the Western District Director.

Carolyn Schwartz

Teaching Artist

Carolyn  is a certified Music Together (R) Teacher and a Madison Area Music Association (MAMA) Award-winning jazz singer. Originally from Mamaroneck, New York, she has been making music and making people smile for over 20 years. This is her third residency with ARTS for ALL leading music and movement in Head Start programs in Madison. In addition to her work with ARTS for ALL Wisconsin, Carolynn is a graphic artist, and the Special Events & Development Associate at United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Dane County.

Mike Scheibinger

Teaching Artist

Mike is a certified learning disabilities teacher with over a decade of experience working with K-12 students in the public school setting. He is an accomplished teacher, musician, music producer, and program manager. As a producer, Mike has worked with many top artists, including Mick Fleetwood, Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), and star producer Bill Laswell

Beth Turner

Teaching Artist

Beth is an Emmy-award winning television journalist who loves words and the power they carry to encourage, empower and equip people. She is a professional expressive writing facilitator and healing storyteller who hosts workshops, retreats, conferences because she sees over and over the transformative power of words. “I help provide platforms and expressions for those who don't typically have a voice or are unsure sometimes of the one they do have. It is life-giving work for all.” Beth is an author, published poet, wife, and mom to three boys, a large black lab, a rabbit named Esther, and a few wayward backyard chickens.