Year-Round Development Consultant

As Principal of Written Wings since 2011, Erica views her consulting as service to the oppressed, working in the background as an ally helping community nonprofits tell their stories in their own voices, access resources, and use best practices to operate efficiently and impactfully. She has supported dozens of local and national nonprofits in the fields of social justice, human services, economic development, and the arts. Erica particularly serves many racial justice and reproductive justice groups, including working since 2014 with SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the national nonprofit that founded the reproductive justice movement. In addition to serving Blues to Green since 2014, her local clientele includes Community Action Pioneer Valley, Tapestry Health, and many others. Erica raises millions of dollars each year through grant writing and fortifies nonprofits with strategic, development, and program planning. She also guides clients to create program evaluation systems and messaging strategies, and she writes appeals and outreach materials of all kinds. She provides all of these services for Blues to Green. She is also a Latin dancer involved in Springfield and Holyoke’s largely Puerto Rican Latin dance community and spends part of the year in Vieques, Puerto Rico annually with her dance and life partner (below), who is of Puerto Rican descent.

Year-Round Communications Consultant & Seasonal Festival Production Manager

Kyle has been House Sound Engineer and Technical Director for the iconic Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA and toured internationally as Technical Director for numerous artists giving concerts at all scales. When he became a parent, he shifted to a career in IT, marketing, and design, but later returned to music by founding Laudable Productions, which produces festivals and concerts and consults for artists and presenters. They produce the annual Barbes in the Wood festival, Millpond Live summer concert series, World Music Collider quarterly concerts, Planetary Party monthly concerts, and Hinterland Live farm-to-table concerts. He also tours as Technical Director with Sweet Honey in the Rock. Kyle recently co-founded Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity, a nonprofit that stewards the former Florence Congregational Church building, built by abolitionists, as a venue for arts and social justice experiences in Florence, MA. He has been the Springfield Jazz & Roots festival’s Production Manager since 2016 and now leads his own team at Laudable Productions to produce the festival. Kyle also manages the festival’s sound and light, and he supports Blues to Green year-round with graphic design and our newsletter and website.

Artist Liaison

As a producer and arts administrator, Yvonne’s expertise includes operations and logistics, marketing, public relations, program and organizational development, fundraising, strategic planning, and fiscal management. She has produced a variety of theater and music events that educate, enliven, and empower diverse audiences. Currently Director of Education and Engagement at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Fine Arts Center, she manages a variety of arts programs, including the Valley Jazz Network. She has also been the Marketing & Outreach Director for New WORLD Theater and the Lead Producer for The Bright Moments Festival. Holding a Master’s degree in Media Studies from The New School, she also runs Visual Concepts 123, which offers print, web, multimedia, and video design to artists and nonprofits. Yvonne has been Assistant to the Producer of the Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival since 2015 and became the Festival Coordinator in 2019 and Artist Liaison in 2022.

Production Manager

As President of Klondike Sound, Klon has played key technical roles in thousands of events with audiences up to tens of thousands, mainly as a sound contractor or production manager. Specializing in jazz and outdoor music festivals and events, his accomplishments include supervising audio operations for both of Bill Clinton’s Inaugural Celebrations on the Washington Mall and for the New Orleans Jazz Festival for over 40 years. He has also served as house engineer for two years of Prairie Home Companion live broadcasts. He was co-founder and treasurer of Katrina’s Piano Fund, a nonprofit that gave 400+ free instruments of all kinds to New Orleans musicians displaced by the flood. He is also an accomplished bassist whose bands have performed with BB King, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, James Cotton, Waylon Jennings, and many others. Klon has produced our festival since its inception and also advises talent selection, site layout, and development.

Year-Round Fundraising & Event Consultant