Biography
As an arts administrator and consultant, Jessica Schmidt is passionate about supporting performing arts organizations in becoming more equitable and inclusive places for all stakeholders, building individual and organizational capacity to recognize and utilize power to reimagine the way arts organizations exist. She leads work that amplifies the power of arts and culture to catalyze positive social change, connect individuals from an array of lived experiences and center the existing strengths of communities and stakeholders. Jessica has been trained in and uses modalities of facilitation, mediation, coaching and consulting to meaningfully respond to the individual needs of client organizations and the people who work to advance their missions, all through a focused lens of inclusion and belonging. She specializes in meeting stakeholders where they are at in the development and practice of necessary skills that are not always offered as a part of formal learning in the arts.
From 2012-2017, Jessica served as Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, providing internal and external leadership for BSO education and community engagement programs. Since January of 2016, she has offered consulting services via Orchestrate Inclusion (orchestrateinclusion.com), serving as an external partner to orchestras and other performing arts organizations as they create and implement strategies toward healthier cultures and greater inclusion within their organizations. Jessica served for three years as Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor to the League of American Orchestras. Her consulting and workshop clients have included over 40 orchestras, higher education institutions and other performing arts organizations. Jessica has served as a speaker/presenter for conferences including the Association of British Orchestras, Orchestras Canada/Opera Canada, International Conference of Symphony Orchestra Musicians (ICSOM), League of American Orchestras and Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA). Jessica has also served as a Guest Faculty member of the League of American Orchestras Essentials of Orchestra Management Program, presented in collaboration with Juilliard Extension on the campus of Lincoln Center.
Prior to arriving in Boston, Jessica was the Senior Director of Community Programs at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Education Coordinator at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Jessica received an MA in Arts Administration and an MBA from Southern Methodist University and completed her undergraduate education at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN where she studied horn performance and political science. She is a graduate of the 2015 LeadBoston Program, an executive leadership program focused on social responsibility administered by the YWCA Boston and has completed the Interaction Institute for Social Change’s Fundamentals of Facilitation for Racial Justice Work training, Racial Equity Institute’s Phase 1 Workshop, and AORTA’s Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals training. She is a trained mediator, having completed forty-hours of mediation training in accordance with M.G.L. ch.233 § 23C with MWI in Boston, as well as a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Developmental Inventory. Jessica completed a certificate in leadership / performance coaching via the ACT Program at the Brown University School of Professional Studies and is an Associate Certified Coach via the International Coaching Federation.