Yes Arts Team
Leadership
Elle Travis
Executive Director
Elle Travis is a Frankfort native and graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in Photography and Digital Imaging. In her early career while in Florida she worked as a freelance photographer, a full-time nanny, gymnastic coach and homeschool teacher. After a severe auto accident, Elle returned to her Frankfort home where she found recovery following addiction to prescription opioid pain medication. In 2008, Elle began to establish herself in the community by taking a position with the Kentucky Arts Council and working in IT sales with Pomeroy. In 2012, Elle followed her passion for working with children to become the Director of Children’s Ministries at First Christian Church, where she still serves today. She has served as the Store Manager at Completely Kentucky, a shop in downtown Frankfort carrying the work of 650+ Kentucky artists from 2014-2022. Elle previously served on the Board of Directors for the Franklin County Women and Family Shelter as the Fundraising/PR Chair and is now serving on the Board of Health for the Franklin County Health Department. Elle enjoys spending her free time with her devoted husband, Pete, and 2 boys, Rhys (7) and Lane (2). She continues her freelance work in photography, digital imaging, graphic design, and social media marketing in her spare time.
ADMIN
Jasmine Fouts
Grants & Data Manager
Jasmine Fouts is a singer-songwriter and grants professional who has worked as Yes Arts' Grants Manager since the Spring of 2022. Jasmine brings 7+ years of experience with federal, state, local, and foundation grants, specializing in strategic planning, data collection, and evaluation. Jasmine is passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, language access, and employees' rights policies.
Jasmine received her undergraduate degree in Spanish, International Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies from Guilford College in 2002. She received an Associate's Degree in Nursing from Kentucky State University in 2009. Jasmine has lived in Frankfort since 2006 and has been in recovery from Opioid Use Disorder since December 3rd, 2014.
Nancy Thompson
Bookkeeper
Programs
Janet Osborn
Art Therapist
Janet Osborn, MA, ATR-BC, LPAT
Board Certified Art Therapist (Nationally)
Licensed Practicing Art Therapist (Kentucky)
Janet has been practicing art therapy for over 30 years in a variety of settings including schools, clinics, nursing homes, VA hospitals and community centers. Although originally from the east coast, Janet has spent much of her life in Kentucky and presently lives in Frankfort where she has a private practice providing art therapy for children, teens and adults.
In addition to her training as an art therapist, Janet has received extensive training in sand tray therapy. She believes that through art making and/or sand play one can connect to the inner world of feelings, thoughts, and experiences. This process offers a unique perspective and helps create a pathway toward personal growth and healing.
Janet enjoys working with all ages in both individual sessions and group settings. She is dedicated to helping others connect to their own creative process in order to navigate the vast world of human experiences such as life transitions, grief, trauma, recovery, depression, and anxiety. Janet firmly believes in and completely trusts the creative process to heal, nurture, and promote overall wellbeing.
Noel McCutchen
Youth Program Leader
Noël McCutchen is a graduate of the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development, Minoring in Youth Studies. Her work and philosophy is grounded in the idea that children and youth deserve to be treated with respect and empathy. She spent several years working with children in Residential Treatment centers before her career in the field of Domestic Violence Prevention. Noël spent over 10 years coordinating and developing programs for children who were homeless due to domestic violence as well as supporting their mothers to become self-sufficient, find alternative housing and support them with the challenges of single parenthood after trauma. She also spent several years as a substitute teacher while raising her two daughters, Ella and Lyvia. Noël has lived in several states including Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and North Carolina. She moved to Frankfort with her husband Keith, who teaches music at Kentucky State University and is happy to now call Kentucky home!
Julie Smith
Youth Program Leader
Julie Smith has been an educator for over 30 years. She left traditional classroom teaching and started Flourish Educational Services after realizing that there are numerous children and families who need additional coaching, strategies, and advocacy. She specializes in helping children be successful in their educational setting as well as helping homeschooling families determine curriculum and structure to meet their needs. She believes in working with parents and children to find integrated, whole-child strategies to support children. Working with Yes Arts allows her to follow her passion for working with children while engaging in activities where children are supported and encouraged to be who they are.
She and her husband moved to Frankfort, Kentucky from Northern California in December 2021 after falling in love with The Bluegrass State. She has three adult daughters (two of which now live in Frankfort) and two dogs. She loves gardening, arts and crafts, exploring and learning about Kentucky, and traveling in her free time. Feel free to provide recommendations for places to go and see in the area!
Leah Childs
Youth Program Leader
A Frankfort native and graduate of the University of Kentucky where she studied Communications. While studying, Leah worked with a KY craft paint company on their Digital Marketing team where she had the opportunity to work with many artists. Leah is a lifelong practicing artist and more recently a ceramics instructor at Broadway Clay, where she teaches multiple children’s classes, workshops and private lessons. Leah spends many of her weekends vending her pottery at festivals and craft fairs. She has a passion for cultivating and healing community through the arts. Leah sees art as a main ingredient to bringing people together for a healthy community. Leah currently serve as Vice President on the Friends of the Franklin County Farmers Market Board.
Stephanie Potter
Youth Program Leader
A Frankfort native, Stephanie earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Murray State University. She continued her studies while attending numerous workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Crafts and Larkspur Press. Currently, Potter maintains a private studio, exhibits her work regularly and teaches children and adults.
Stephanie is a Design Partner with the publishing company, Broadstone Books, and is currently enjoying her time working with Yes Arts and getting to know Frankfort's youth as a substitute teacher for the Frankfort Independent School District.
Stephanie's CV is vast, touting visual arts experience from printmaking to woodworking and everything in between. Her roles over the years have been just as diverse, including positions in Accounting & Business, Gallery Coordination, as well as serving on numerous Board of Directors, and as a Montessori Daycare Director!
Amanda Dunn
Facility & Volunteer Coordinator
Amanda Dunn, originally from Louisville, Kentucky, made a life-changing move to Frankfort in 2007 and has since woven herself into the fabric of the community. Her professional journey has been as diverse as it is inspiring, primarily within the realm of hospitality. Her roles have spanned from the creative world of a chef to managing the renowned Midway Bakery, where she contributed her culinary talents to the esteemed Ouita Michel until 2020.
In March of 2023, Amanda embarked on a new chapter, joining the Yes Arts organization as the Facility and Volunteer Coordinator. This role embodies her deep-rooted desire to serve and make a meaningful impact on the lives of individuals within the community.
Amanda's personal journey has been marked by a commitment to recovery since 2008. Her experiences have enabled her to work closely with numerous women, guiding them along their paths to recovery through various approaches. Her life is a testament to the power of resilience, compassion, and the beauty of nurturing both personal and community growth.
Amanda finds fulfillment in her roles as an avid reader, dedicated gardener, and accomplished baker, channeling her passions to create a life that blooms with creativity and warmth, cherishing her roots and the beauty of her surroundings.
Her biggest joy is her daughter, Sydney Dunn, who is currently studying to be an Art Therapist in Louisville.
Jackie Gordon Duvall
Bridging Divides Coordinator
Jackie was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky and moved to Frankfort at a young age when her father became a men’s basketball coach at Kentucky State University.
Jackie and her 4 siblings were all raised here in Frankfort, KY and attended Frankfort Independent Schools. Jackie has been known for her success in athletics as she ran track, cross country and played basketball from elementary school on up. She earned numerous all-state and national honors in cross country and track and field. She was honored for basketball at Frankfort High School after scoring over 1000 points in her career there. She went on to compete in Track and Field at the University of Kentucky and a brief professional stint from 2008 - 2011.
Jackie’s background also includes studying multiple music genres and piano training for 10+ years. Band (clarinet) and theatre were also a part of her plethora of extracurricular activities. Jackie has served many years in the music ministry through directing and singing at her home church, Bethesda Temple Church of the Living God, Inc. in Frankfort.
Since finishing her own athletic career, Jackie has spent 10 years in coaching (track & field/basketball), developing & mentoring youth athletes, starting a youth track club, and loving her community through various areas of service and nonprofit work. Jackie is married to Nicholas Duvall and they have three children (Na’Mya, Nicholas, and Jaleia).
Youth mentors & Interns
Board of Directors
Chair - Marian Hayden
Vice Chair - Maria Bartholomew
Secretary - Chelsea Fitzpatrick
Amelia Berry
Mary Cardwell
Ryan Newcomb
Chip Peal
Doris Thurber
Chair Emeritus - Joanna Hay
Founding Team
Doris Thurber,
Founding Artist
Doris Thurber is an arts educator and a visual artist who works primarily with batik and collage on cloth. Her work is displayed in both private and public venues, including several large pieces in the permanent collection of the Paul Sawyier Public Library. In 2016, as a response to the death of her daughter, she helped found Hands Healing HeArts (now Yes Arts). The organization works with youth and adults mobilizing the power of community and the arts to disrupt the cycle of addiction.
Joanna Hay, Founding Artist & Board Chair Emeritus
Joanna Hay is a filmmaker, musician, Community Scholar, and arts consultant. Her production company creates videos, oral history documentaries and visitor experiences. Her work can be found in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and on regional public television. Her films have won two Oral History Association awards, a Telly Award, a Communicator Award and many regional awards. Joanna’s clients include University of Kentucky Nunn Center for Oral History, Kentucky Historical Society, Sazerac, Inc., Buffalo Trace, DLA Piper and Kentucky Distillers Association. Funders include National Endowment for the Arts, Preserve America, Kentucky Arts Council, Kentucky Oral History Commission, Kentucky Humanities Council and Kentucky Foundation for Women. She has produced three music CDs, available on iTunes, with her bands Stirfry Musette and Coq Au Vin. Joanna is a co-founder of Yes Arts and the Franklin County Arts Council, is a past board member of the Grand Theatre and currently serves on the board of the Kentucky Author Forum and the board of governors of the Speed Art Museum. Her website is www.joannahayproductions.com.
Jennifer Zingg, Founding Artist
Jennifer Zingg is a professional artist, arts educator, and arts activist. She has been involved in the Kentucky arts community for over twenty years. Jennifer’s passion is empowering others by encouraging them to discover their own creativity, believing it can be a catalyst to transform and elevate individuals and communities.
Jennifer has undergraduate degrees in studio arts and psychology from Kentucky Wesleyan College, and is currently completing her masters in art therapy/counseling & creativity development from West Liberty University.
Jennifer specializes in creative development and accommodations for neurodiverse individuals.
She is currently the Visual Arts Director and Art Enrichment Coordinator at Stewart Home and School in Frankfort, Ky.
Career Highlights
2020 Presenting Artist at VSA Intersections- Kennedy Center, Washington DC
2018 John P. Stewart Award of Excellence in Special Education
2016 Co-founder of Hands Healing Hearts (Yes Arts)
2013-present Owner of Full Circle Studio
2009 Designer for the Kentucky Governor’s Awards for the Arts
Multiple recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women Arts Meets Activism Grant
Three-time recipient of the Kentucky Arts Council/Kentucky Crafted Artist Choice Award
Various television appearances on HGTV , PBS, and KET
Amelia Berry, Executive Director Emeritus
After beginning her career in direct social service work with immigrant and refugee women in the US, Amelia has held positions in non-profit management, legal services and consulting. Her clients have included the United Nations Secretariat Office for the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the Consensus Building Institute, the China Law Society, and Yes Arts. Amelia is a graduate of Middlebury College and holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Having previously lived in China, France, and Trinidad & Tobago, Amelia now makes her home in Frankfort, Kentucky, where she was a former member of the Frankfort Independent Schools Board of Education. Amelia has played steel drum since adolescence, has played with the Trinidadian band Invaders during Trinidad Carnival’s “Panorama” celebration as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, and occasionally has the opportunity to teach the instrument to Frankfort youth. Amelia also enjoys creative writing and making things with her hands, and is a firm believer in the power of the arts to transform lives and communities. In 2019, Amelia was selected as one of forty leaders nationally to be part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Leaders program. Amelia served as Executive Director of Yes Arts from 2018 to June 2021 and was a driving force behind the creation of Just Say Yes, the county-wide youth substance use prevention program. Amelia now serves as Executive Director of Just Say Yes at the Franklin County Health Department.
Karen Kimmel Hatter,
Instructional Director
Karen Hatter has been involved in theatre arts for well over 50 years, starting onstage and then moving, as a senior in college, into the role of director. She has maintained that role, having now led countless productions from auditions to final performances. As drama director at Frankfort High School for twenty years, she produced as many as six plays per year, gravitating toward material with a message. Ms. Hatter has been a social activist since the late 1960s, using theatre as her primary tool to protest inequality. Karen also became heavily involved in writing later in her life, and taught writing to high school sophomores for ten years. While at Frankfort High School, Karen also mentored multiple students who were accepted into the Governor’s School for the Arts. Karen holds a BA in Oral Interpretation and an MA in Education from Georgetown College. Karen served as the Drug Court Recovery Program Instructional Director for Yes Arts until 2020.
Rebekah Berry,
Data & Website Specialist
Rebekah Berry is a musician and photographer who holds a Master in Political Science degree from Miami University in Ohio. As a VISTA for Yes Arts in 2017-18, her work focused on capacity building, including program evaluation, creation of organizational systems and procedures, and development of a resource kit to share with other Kentucky counties wishing to incorporate the arts into Drug Court programming. Rebekah has worked with Yes Arts mainly as a teaching artist, leading photography sessions with Drug Court participants and steel drum workshops for youth. Rebekah produced a photography and musical exhibition in coordination with the Equal Justice Initiative and Focus on Race Relations Frankfort’s commemoration of the victims of two lynchings that took place on Frankfort’s Singing Bridge.
Jeri Katherine Howell, Prevention Consultant
Jeri Katherine Howell is a singer-songwriter, teaching artist, scholar-activist, and community development practitioner. She engages people of all ages in creative experiences that uplift our stories, embody our interconnectedness with more-than-human nature, and build community. As the Assistant Director at Josephine Sculpture Park, she works to connect people to each other and the land through the arts and foster a sense of place where people can play, create, grow, and heal together. Jeri Katherine is an adjudicated member of the Kentucky Arts Council and Partners for Rural Impact Teaching Artist Rosters and a certified environmental educator and Kentucky Community Scholar. Her artistic, activist, and academic achievements have been recognized by the Kentucky Arts Council, U.S. Department of State Fulbright program, and Kentucky Foundation for Women. Learn more and connect at jerikatherinehowell.com