BIOGRAPHIES:

ELLEN JACOBS: PRESIDENT/PUBLICIST
A native New Yorker, Ellen has been working in the performing arts as a writer and publicist since she graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she received a B.A. in English. Her dance training began at the age of three, when her mother took her for interpretative dance for children at the Jefferson School in Greenwich Village, followed by Saturday mornings at the Neighborhood Playhouse. After four years at the School of American Ballet she finally learned that "real" dancing was hard work. She had been working on a combined MFA in dance and writing in Madison, when she accepted a writing position at Dance Magazine. Later she took a job as a writer for a visual arts encyclopedia. In the summer of 1970, she began her first job as a publicist: director of publicity for the American Dance Festival. That fall, she served as BAM’s program book editor. Over the next few years, in addition to returning to ADF for the next two summers, she worked as a writer and publicist. As a publicist, she directed media relations at BAM, was director of public relations for the Creative Artists Public Service Program, and spent three years as associate director of public relations for the New York State Council on the Arts, where she also served as publications editor. Her last job before creating her own firm was as a press representative at Gurtman and Murtha, where she handled many major dance companies and individual musicians and ensembles. Her articles and reviews have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Soho Weekly News, Changes, The Daily News Magazine, Playbill, Dance Magazine and Arts in Society, among others. She also contributed chapters to "The Poor Dancer's Almanac" and “The Whole Earth Catalogue of Dance.”

JULIA WHITNEY BARNES: ART DIRECTOR
Julia has been with the company for over a decade taking on a variety of roles including overseeing the marketing, print and web design and visual arts publicity. Julia earned a MFA in Studio Art from Hunter College, City University of New York in 2006 and a BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons The New School for Design in 2001. Julia was born in a pastoral town in Vermont and grew up in several New England towns. Julia is also a mixed media artist who has spent the last dozen years making indoor and outdoor works related to the natural world. Her art studio is located in a large, converted factory building, along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, where she recently completed, in conjunction with Art Assets, a site-specific outdoor painting directly along the Canal at the site of a future Toll Brothers development. Another public art piece currently on view is part of a project called Artbridge, which features original works of art installed on scaffolding on the historic London Terrace building in Chelsea. During the summer of 2008, Julia's installation Gilded Phytophillic Bats, comprised of dozens of life-sized, gold-plated ceramic bats, and based on species indigenous to the area, hung in a willow tree as part of the exhibition "Relative Environment" in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, directly north of the Brooklyn Bridge. Julia is part of an all-female art collective, tART, whose combined work was featured in 2008 Rabbitholestudio Gallery and in 2009 at A.I.R. Gallery. Julia participated in the International Open Art Residency on the Island of Dreams in Greece in 2008. One of Julia's installations was published in "500 Ceramic Sculptures," by Lark Books in May 2009. Julia’s work has been on view in several museums including the Chelsea Art Museum (NYC), Brooklyn Historical Society Museum (Brooklyn, NY), Annmarie Garden & Sculpture Park, Smithsonian Institute (Solomons, MD) and the Old Stone House Museum (Brooklyn, NY). For more information visit: www.juliawhitneybarnes.com (PORTRAIT BY IAN PASQUER)

AMY JACOBUS: ASSISTANT PUBLICIST
Amy Jacobus graduated with high distinction from the University of Iowa in May 2009 with bachelor’s degrees in dance and journalism and mass communication. Following graduation, she moved to New York City seeking employment that would combine her obsession with words with her infatuation with movement. Early in 2010, Amy worked as the Administrative/Development Assistant at Brooklyn Ballet and a marketing intern at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet where she helped implement the company’s new and improved “Passport” campaign. She developed a taste for arts marketing at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2008 where she completed a PR/Editorial Internship, writing press releases and assembling program information for America’s first theater made specifically for dance — the Ted Shawn Theatre. Amy also fosters an interest in dance history and scholarship. She spent her research assistant days helping dance scholar Rebekah Kowal edit the manuscript of her book (How To Do Things With Dance, published in 2010 by Wesleyan University Press), and she created the book’s index freelance from NY. Amy is also a choreographer and performer who has created a multitude of modern works for dancers at the University of Iowa and danced for colleagues and faculty, including Lynn Bowman and Jennifer Kayle. After a short hiatus from the rehearsal studio and stage, she created and performed in Powers of i, an interactive improvisational work, for FIGMENT on Governor's Island in June 2010. (PORTRAIT BY WHITNEY WARNE)

ELIZABETH CLAIRE WALKER: PUBLICITY INTERN
Elizabeth Claire Walker was born in New York City and raised in Stamford, CT from the age of 11. A ballet dancer and student at Harvard University, she has performed most recently with Los Angeles Ballet, Avi Scher and Dancers, and Harvard Ballet Company. At Harvard, Liz is pursuing a concentration in History of Art and Architecture, with a focus on modern and contemporary art. She also served as Co-Director of the student-run Harvard Ballet Company in 2009. During Spring and Summer 2010, Liz took a leave of absence from Harvard to pursue freelance projects as a professional dancer, as well as intern in the Ellen Jacobs Associates office. She is very pleased to have the opportunity to help promote the work of performing artists through her work at EJA

ROSALBA STRADA: FINANCIAL MANAGER
Rosalba Strada was born in Crotone, Italy and raised in Deer Park, New York.  With an innate creative ability, Rosalba always new she wanted a career in the arts so during her her years in high school she cultivated her talents at the Huntington School of Fine Arts, a small private fine arts program for high school teens.  It was here that solidified her feelings for the arts.  After graduating high school, Rosalba headed to Brooklyn, NY to pursue her education and graduated from Pratt Institute in 2001 where she majored in Illustration.  After taking on little projects for friends she realized that full time work was a necessity so after graduating, Rosalba began her search.  She struck gold with the help of a family friend and began working in the financial services industry.  This is when she discovered her love of numbers and dislike for corporate environments, she came to the decision to use it in a positive way by working for small arts based companies.  She went on to work at a Museum Gift Design firm, a Web Development and Consulting firm and finally made her way to Ellen Jacobs Associates where she enjoys the company of her talented coworkers and the satisfaction her role here gives her.

JAY VAN BUREN : WEB DESIGN CONSULTANT
Fine artist and web designer Jay Van Buren escaped from Kansas in 1997 to follow his dreams in New York. He received a BFA in painting from the University of Kansas in 1994, and a MFA in painting from Parsons Scool of Design in 1999. After a two and a half year stint as senior designer at the Forbes's Favorite-award-winning financial site, Multex.com, he has spent the last 5 years creating unique, highly creative and effective web sites for a variety of arts and arts-related companies including Twyla Tharp, Jeff Bailey Gallery, painter and Yale university Proffessor Frances Barth, National Public Radio program On The Media and award-winning site for Bellwether Gallery. Jay has worked closely with EJA to develop this website, train the staff, and find new ways to use the web to its best potential. For more information visit: www.early-adopter.com.

KELSEY COVENTRY BUCHANAN : INTERN

BONNIE ORSHAL : BOOKKEEPER