WHO WE ARE
Susan Willats, Executive Director
Susan worked as a program administrator at the University of California, Santa Cruz for over 30 years. She discovered Community Music School when her daughter first enrolled in Kid Camp. Susan served on the CMS board of directors for seven years before stepping into the executive director position when Shelley Phillips stepped down. As someone who greatly benefitted from both private piano lessons and a robust public school music program growing up, Susan is an ardent believer in exposing kids to music. In addition to her work at Community Music School, she also serves on the advisory board of the Cabrillo Youth Chorus, and works with Arts Now Santa Cruz County to advocate for equitable access to arts education in local K-12 schools.
Shelley Phillips, Founder and Artistic Director
Shelley Phillips, MM San Francisco Conservatory of Music, is the founder and artistic director of the Santa Cruz Community Music School and the Santa Cruz Shape Note Society. As a multi-instrumentalist member of The Coulter/Phillips Ensemble and the Chris Norman Ensemble, Shelley has shared her wide repertoire throughout North America and Europe, also Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. Shelley is also known as a member of The Anjali Quartet, improvising on folk melodies from India. As a Celtic harpist, Shelley gives workshops and teaches young players; as a wind player, she's taught bamboo flute making; as a broadly-versed folk musician, she’s a sought-after visitor and volunteer at UCSC. Her recordings are internationally distributed, with four solo albums and numerous ensemble recordings on the Gourd label. The Santa Cruz Sentinel awarded Shelley the Gail Rich Award in 2008 and the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission selected Shelley as 2017 Artist of the Year. Presently she is playing and singing lots of music locally with friends of all generations and backgrounds.
Board of Directors:
Tom Padula, President
Wren Reeve, Vice President
Cheryl Golich, Treasurer
Thérèse Johannesson, Secretary
Lisa Charnock
Juliet Davoren
Neal Hellman
Sophie Widman
We are grateful for the support we’ve received from:
California Arts Council
Santa Cruz Arts Council
Omega Nu
Santa Cruz Rotary
El Vaquero Winery
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Scotts Valley
The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist