Staff
Anna Roberts Ostroff (Executive Director) holds a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied Musical Theater and minored in Applied Theater and Psychology. While in college, Anna did multiple arts outreach programs through her club, Community Connections. Community Connections, which transitioned into Arts For All, also won the President’s Service Award at NYU two years in a row. Anna has many professional theatrical credits from all over the country and has also served as a producer on multiple theatrical productions both inside and outside of New York City. In the past, Anna worked as a teaching artist for many organizations: the Children’s Theatre of Annapolis in Maryland, where she taught musical theatre audition workshops; D.A.R.E. America, through their D.A.R.E. P.L.U.S after school program; and for Camp Broadway (now known as Curtain Up) at the Renaissance Charter School in Queens. Anna also serves as Co-Producing Artistic Director of Infinity Theatre Company, providing professional New York City theatre to Annapolis, Maryland each summer. As Executive Director and President, Anna looks forward to continually spreading Arts For All’s mission to in-need youth communities so that deserving children all over NYC have the opportunity to explore the arts!
Olivia Harris (Development Associate) joined the Arts For All team in 2012. Olivia first fell in love with theatre at age 6, and experienced the value of the arts as tools for community and individual growth during her 2008 work with Aarohan International Theatre in Kathmandu, Nepal. Since then, Olivia has served as a teaching artist/facilitator with the Drew University D***** Project (Madison, NJ), the Drew Partnership with the Marion Bolden Center (Newark, NJ), Voice and Motion Players (Washington DC), Voices UnBroken (Bronx, NY), and Bond Street Theatre (New York, Guatemala). She has also facilitated in three US prisons for women and juveniles. Olivia is passionate about supporting social arts and arts education as well as doing it, which she learned through her work as an administrator with Bond Street Theatre, the Metropolitan Opera, and now Arts For All. Olivia is also a lighting designer and electrician with myriad companies in New York and Boston. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts/Sociology from Drew University and is currently pursuing a Masters in Applied Theatre from the CUNY School of Professional Studies.
Bonnie Pipkin (Program Manager of Step Right Up) is a teaching artist, arts administrator, writer, musician and independent theater producer living and working in New York City. She is a teaching artist with Arts For All as well as with Queens Theater in the Park’s CentreStage Program. Her specialty is creating, producing, and performing original works of theater with her students. Students are guided through all steps of bringing a play to the stage: from the creation of the script, to the acting, directing, costume making, set design and construction, music, and prop making. Through workshops, children explore these many different art forms and discover their strengths and abilities. She has been an adjudicator and panelist for The New York International Fringe Festival for five years. She holds a BA in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and an MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University.
Shawn Shafner (Program Manager of Literacy Through the Arts) is a theatre-maker, educator, and creator of The People’s Own Organic Power Project (www.thePOOPproject.org)- an organization that uses art, education and humor to promote sustainable sanitation for the person, planet and world community. His NYC acting credits include performances at Madison Square Garden, Theater Row, Joe’s Pub, The Club at La Mama, and Classic Stage Company. Shawn spent most of 2008 touring nationally as Pablo in Nickelodeon’s The Backyardigans Live!, and has been creating original ritual theater with Storahtelling since 2005. He is the recipient of a 2005 Spielberg Fellowship, and has since enjoyed eight sessions as Artist-in-Residence at four different Wisconsin summer camps. Shawn edited and contributed writing to Think-Build-Live Success, a three-part life skills, self-empowerment, and career readiness curriculum; and he has led educational programming for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Learning Through Art department, HiArt!/TimeIn and Periwinkle Theater for Youth. He holds a BFA with Honors in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is proud to have been working with Arts For All since 2006.
Cara Burdick Winter (Program Manager of Arts For All Chicago) has been a theater professional for 15 years. Favorite jobs include two national tours of A Christmas Carol, the National Tour of The Adventures of Curious George, “Mrs. Molloy” in Hello, Dolly!, “Helena” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and singing with the New York Oratorio Society at Carnagie Hall. As a playwright, Cara’s play Social Work was produced by the Manhattan Repertory Theatre in 2007, and she’s currently working on her second play. Cara holds a BFA in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Lisa Dellagiarino (Program Assistant for Arts For All Chicago) has been with Arts For All since its inception as NYU’s Community Connections Club. She is a playwright who also writes and performs in the sketch comedy group, Oh Theodora! Lisa holds a BFA in Fim & TV from NYU.
Jordana Schacht-Levine (Intern) has been an intern at Arts For All since 2010. She enjoys the opportunity to work with students in need because it is extremely eye opening. Jordana has been volunteering with non-profit organizations for years and has been a part of organizations like Raising the Blues, Housing Works, and Women in Need. She has been playing bassoon for seven years and has performed on multiple occasions at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Apollo Theater. Jordana is a senior at NYU and participates in the NYU orchestra, band, and chamber music programs and has participated in summer music programs at NYU, C.W. Post, Crane School of Music, and the New York State Summer School of the Arts. She has studied with bassoonists Cindy Lauda and Leonard Hindell and is currently working with Gina Cuffari while earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Bassoon Performance at NYU Steinhardt.
**PRO BONO SERVICES**
Phillip J. Benoit has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1974, holding memberships in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the AICPA Tax Section and the National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA). He has been designated as a Fellow of the National Tax Practice Institute. Mr. Benoit is also a member of Anderson Kill’s Health Reform Task Force. Mr. Benoit has lectured nationally on issues of estate tax preparation and administration and was recognized in 2000 with NAEA’s Excellence in Education Award. Mr. Benoit works in all areas of taxation and representation, but concentrates in the areas of individual, estate and trust taxation and return preparation.
Mary E. McGuire, EA is an Enrolled Agent with Anderson Kill who is licensed to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. She is a National Tax Practice Institute Fellow and has successfully completed New York University’s programs in taxation and personal tax counseling. She received her United States Treasury Card in 1975. Ms. McGuire is also a member of Anderson Kill’s Health Reform Task Force. Ms. McGuire works in all areas of taxation and representation but concentrates on individual taxes and tax return preparation and on estate and trust taxation. Ms. McGuire is past President of the National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA). In 1997, she received the NAEA Founder’s Award, in 1999 was awarded the Association’s Excellence in Education Award and in 2001 was the recipient of the New York State Society of Enrolled Agents Founder’s Award. Ms. McGuire has had the distinction of serving a two-year term on the Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service’s Advisory Board.
Kimberlee Malaska, Esq. is an associate in the Litigation Department with the firm Goodwin Proctor. She joined Goodwin Procter in 2007. Ms. Malaska is admitted to practice in New York, and before the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. While attending law school, Ms. Malaska was the Managing Editor of the Fordham Urban Law Journal.
Kerri M. D’Ambrosio (Attorney at Law) joined Arts For All’s Operations Committee in early 2011. Kerri earned a BA in Communication and Cultural Studies from New York University in 2003, graduating with a concentration in Mass Media. While at NYU, Kerri served as secretary for Community Connections, which later transitioned into Arts For All, Inc. She also received a President’s Service Award for Volunteerism and Community Service for her volunteer work on behalf of the NYU ice hockey team. After graduating from NYU, Kerri attended law school at Hofstra University School of Law, earning a juris doctorate in 2008. Kerri is an active member of the New York and Connecticut state bars and currently practices maritime law, serving clients across the globe.
Arts For All would also like to thank Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts for providing pro-bono legal assistance.
