Marty Khan

Co-Director, Outward Visions

Co-founder of Outward Visions Inc., a non-profit arts and education service organization established in 1976, Marty Khan is a veteran artist manager, consultant, strategist, non-profit expert, producer and activist. Affiliated with some of the late 20th century’s most innovative and provocative artists in jazz and the performing arts, Khan handled management for George Russell for 25 years, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the World Saxophone Quartet for 14 years each, as well as shorter but highly productive stints with such heavyweights as Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, Sonny Fortune and notables like John Zorn, Steve Reich and visionary choreographer Alwin Nikolais (a Kennedy Center honoree). Khan has produced more than 30 albums, scores of concerts and arranged over 200 tours comprising more than 1000 concerts. He has also curated and produced festivals and highly influential cultural initiatives in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Tucson, including The Coltrane Project of Philadelphia. Khan has helped set up and/or consulted with over 100 non-profit organizations across the U.S., and has lectured at Yale, Rutgers, Columbia, New York University, the New School University, the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, the Hartford Artists Collective, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Arizona Commission for the Arts, and the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) Conference. He is also an instructor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He is the author of Straight Ahead: A Comprehensive Guide to the Business of Jazz (Without Sacrificing Dignity or Artistic Integrity), published in March 2004 by Outward Visions Books. Khan has been a key advisor on all business affairs for LiveWired, and is the principle conceptualist behind the LiveWired Cultural Initiatives.

Susan Silverman

Executive Director, G.A.R.D.E.N. Inc.

Writer, educator, artist, organizer and organic gardener Susan Silverman is the Executive Director of G.A.R.D.E.N. Inc. (Growing Alternative Resource Development and Enterprise Network), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting arts and culture, community development, health and welfare, and a sustainable environment. In her career as a community development consultant, Silverman has raised more than $2 million for a variety of arts and education organizations, and has produced numerous community arts events that have attracted large audiences. As the Director of Arts & Culture at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, she coordinated the 2004-2009 Tucson Jewish Film Festivals and associated music concerts, literary series, fine art exhibits, lectures and special events. She is a founder of the GREEN (Gardening, Recycling, Environmental Education and Nutrition) Project at Miles Exploratory Learning Center—a school and community garden project founded in 1994 that still thrives today. Silverman currently serves as the Director of Development for LiveWired, and is on the board of directors of Tucson Arts Brigade, Southern AZ Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (SAZ COEJL), Cultural Awareness Center and REAP, Inc. She has previously served on the boards of the Food Conspiracy Cooperative, the Tucson Cooperative Warehouse, Bicycle Intercommunity Action and Salvage (BICAS) and more.

Len Easter, Esq.

Attorney

A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, Mr. Easter is one of the foremost experts on all aspects of non-profit law. Working with Outward Visions since he was the director of Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts in 1980, he has incorporated more than 50 non-profit organizations including most of those in the LiveWired Alliance and many of the members' affiliates. Mr. Easter has taught law at Yale and Columbia, and currently teaches at New School University.

Steve Rowland

Founder ArtistOwned, Music Documentary Producer

In nearly 25 years of public broadcasting, oral historian and radio producer/director Steve Rowland has won just about every major award in his profession, including two Peabody Awards. He is the recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, as well as a top honor from the American Oral History Association, and his works are part of the permanent collections of The Library of Congress and The Museum of Television and Radio. His groundbreaking programs have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (ten grants) and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (five grants), and have been heard on over 700 radio stations in the U.S., Europe, Australia and South Africa. Having produced over 50 hours of radio documentary work since 1987, all of Rowland’s projects are based on extensive oral histories. His most recent work is the 11-hour Peabody award-winning documentary Leonard Bernstein: An American Life, narrated by Susan Sarandon and based on over 100 exclusive interviews with colleagues of Bernstein. Other works include the acclaimed 8-hour Peabody award-winning Miles Davis Radio Project (hosted by Danny Glover), a 5-hour documentary on John Coltrane entitled Tell Me How Long Trane’s Been Gone, and documentaries on a number of American icons, including Carlos Santana: Music for Life (hosted by Edward James Olmos), Patti LaBelle: Gospel into Soul (hosted by Whoopi Goldberg), Frank Zappa: American Composer (hosted by Beverly D’Angelo) and Hip-Hop 101: On the Road with the Roots (hosted by Chuck D). Rowland was president of The Association of Independent Radio Producers (AIR) from 1998 to 2004, and he is currently in charge of the AIR Mentoring Program. He has lectured at Princeton, Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, Columbia University, Arcadia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and on dozens of radio stations nationwide. Rowland is also the founder and Executive Director of CultureWorks, Inc., and the founder of ArtistOwned, a download/streaming service for independent music that equally honors musicians and consumers, bringing audiences closer to musicians who retain ownership of their work.

Helene Cann

Co-Director, Outward Visions

Co-founder of Outward Visions Inc., Helene Cann began her career in the arts as publicist and tour coordinator for the Outward Visions Touring Program in 1976, and directed the program from 1977 until it ended in 1994. She arranged tours for a wide range of artists, including Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the World Saxophone Quartet, George Russell’s Sextet and Living Time Orchestra, John Zorn, Ali Akbar Khan and Steve Reich (whom she managed for six years), including Reich’s first tour of Japan. She was also Company Manager for the Nikolais Dance Theatre for two years. In 2003, she was appointed to the Board of the Arizona Humanities Council by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, on which she served until 2004. Cann is also a consultant to the arts, and has lectured and held seminars and workshops for ArtsMidwest, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, ASCAP and JazzTimes. She currently directs all communications for LiveWired and co-directs the activities of Outward Visions.