Our Team
BUSY GRAHAM
Founder & Executive Director
Busy Graham has devoted most of her life to the arts and education, from music teacher to artist representative to nonprofit administrator and arts advocate. In 1995, while serving as the director of the Institute of Musical Traditions, Busy founded Class Acts Arts (now Artivate) with the goal of bringing high-quality and culturally diverse traditions of music, dance, storytelling and theater to schools and under-resourced communities throughout the National Capital Region. In 1999, she launched Project Youth ArtReach, serving youth and women in corrections.
After leaving Class Acts/Artivate in 2005, Busy founded Carpe Diem Arts with a focus on community building through the arts, creating cross-cultural, multi-generational opportunities to participate in the visual, literary and performing arts. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her work on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, including Maryland’s Sue Hess Award as "Arts Advocate of the Year," and the “Lifetime Impact Award” from Montgomery County. She believes that the arts matter – in our towns, our schools, our communities, in the life of every citizen -- and that through creative partnerships, we can make the power of the arts accessible and beneficial to all.
DIANE DOWLING
Chief Financial Officer
Diane Dowling brings over 20 years of experience in finance, accounting, and strategy to Carpe Diem Arts as she shifts to the nonprofit sector to make a positive contribution to the lives of others.
Diane currently also serves as Performance Coordinator for Harmony Express, a barbershop style mixed a cappella chorus out of Germantown, MD. She has previously served as troop leader for a Girl Scout troop as they progressed from 2nd through 8th grades and for 12 years as Catechist at her church working with 3rd graders.
Diane says she got her love for music from her father and her appreciation for art from her mother. She enjoys dabbling in drawing and painting, while her husband sings with Harmony Express and her daughter is studying theatre.
Diane is a graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and earned her M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Her career has taken her to many locales around the U.S., including Florida, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Nevada.
MUNIT MESFIN
Project Director, Ukes on the Move!
Munit Mesfin is an Ethiopian singer and songwriter, teaching and international touring and recording artist, entrepreneur, arts advocate, and a celebrated cultural ambassador. She believes in the power of culture to unite and build bridges. She is the Music Creative Director for Yegna, an innovative radio drama turned TV series that addresses difficult social issues surrounding girls in Ethiopia and uses the arts (storytelling and music) for positive social change. She currently splits her time between Ethiopia and the US.
Alongside music performances, Munit works as a teaching artist at the Wolf Trap Center for Performing Arts, a Youth Programs Coordinator at the Ethiopian Community Center in Washington DC and consults with other organizations working on out of school and library programming. She also works extensively as an emcee and moderator for conferences, workshops, festivals, fundraisers, launches and more. Munit is currently working on her third album slated for release in 2020.
Besides her role as program manager for two programs, Munit serves as a teaching artist with Carpe Diem's Youth ArtBeat afterschool program and Jump Start with the Arts program for preschoolers, teaches children to play the ukulele at our summer camps, and is a performing artist for Carpe Diem Arts, as a solo artist, as a member of Project Locrea, and as leader of Munit & z Lovebugs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munit_Mesfin /
SMITA KHATRI
Program Manager, Arts Alive! and Jump Start with the Arts
Smita Khatri is an accomplished dance and movement instructor with experience in Bollywood, Indian folk dance, Creative Dance for kids, and NIA Technique. She also is a yoga instructor and blends mindfulness practice with her dance programs.
Smita brings to Carpe Diem a wealth of nonprofit experience and strong organizational skills, with a law degree to boot!
At Carpe Diem Arts, Smita will be managing the seniors program, Arts Alive! This program will benefit from Smita's very intentional approach to life and her calming personality.
DENISE M. JONES
Community Engagement Director
Denise Jones is a meeting facilitator, instructional designer, teaching artist, and facilitator of K12 education and workforce development support training for parents and students. She has been an ardent supporter for parent advocacy and student achievement, especially targeting families of color, and parents in particular to encourage them to walk the school journey with their children.
Denise is also a passionate advocate for arts integration in education and in positive youth development programs, and has developed several artist residency projects that combine the visual arts with history, math and social studies.
In her work for community, youth and adult capacity building, she has been a member of the Montgomery County NAACP Parents Council, served as the NAACP Parents Council Representative on the PTA leadership team of two schools as well as their School Improvement Teams; and served four years on the Deputy Superintendent’s Minority Achievement Advisory Council of Montgomery County Public Schools. Denise’s commitment to parents and adult empowerment has been further fostered as a teacher of adult learners in Prince Georges County Public Schools and Prince Georges Community College; a facilitator for the Safe Silver Spring Summit conference; a training facilitator for Juvenile Justice Family Advocacy Initiative Resource; and as a consultant for the Impact in the Schools Initiative of Impact Silver Spring a capacity building community organizing non-profit in Montgomery County, MD.
Denise has designed and delivered trainings in MCPS schools, for the National Council of Negro Women, Community Preservation and Development Corporation, Takoma Park Youth Collaborative, ACE (African Arts, Culture and Education) Academy c/o Montgomery County Collaboration Council and Carpe Diem Arts, the League of Women Voters, and other community serving organizations. Her College Prep Seminar, Begin with the End in Mind is a celebrated community event.
JO RASI
Program Director, Daily Antidote of Song
ANNA ALTER
Program Manager, Daily Antidote of Song
Anna (they/she) is a musician, folk dancer, and craftmaker based in Boston, MA. Anna has spent much of their life exploring music from around the world, learning how to make their own (most recently, they’ve become quite taken with the fiddle), and supporting organizations that utilize music and art to build community and strengthen our connections with one another.
Anna has experience as an events manager for a music and arts center in Seattle, and was an active intern and volunteer for KEXP, a public alternative music radio station for three years. Volunteering to support music-related organizations and projects continues to be a meaningful part of Anna’s life. She currently serves on the Pinewoods Camp Inc. Board (where she met fellow Board Director, Jo Rasi, the Daily Antidote of Song Program Manager), as well as the DEFFA (Downeast Friends of the Folk Arts) Board.
In 2020, Anna published Some Alternative Roots, a creative resource website, and through this platform, co-curated and hosted a week of the Daily Antidote of Song in the spring of 2021. Anna soon became a regular part of the Daily Antidote of Song community, and delightedly joined Carpe Diem Arts in September 2021.
BETH & VINNY MWANO
Camp Directors
Beth and Vinny Mwano were house parents and teaching artists at the Carpe Diem Arts Summer 2021 Sleepaway Camps and were in training to be Camp Directors, which is their current role. Beth taught yoga, singing, and creative dance while Vinny taught hip hop and photography.
Beth and Vinny are both creative beings who use dance, film, music, photography and more to explore ideas that they find challenging and inspiring. They have both been dance teachers for a while and have partnered with several non-profits as artistic collaborators, including Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, Body Wise Dance, and now, Carpe Diem Arts.
Beth currently is a private dance teacher, yoga teacher and spiritual guide. She is also attending Maryland University of Integrative Health to get her M.S. in Yoga Therapy. Vinny is working as a Filmmaker, Editor, Business Creative Marketing Consultant, Teacher (photography) and is a guest teacher at Dance Exchange.