Mark Peabody – Director
Mark has 16 years experience teaching music in California public schools. He was a graduate of Sonoma State receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Art, English & Music and attended the S.F. Conservatory of Music. Over his career he has won many awards including SSU Outstanding Music Graduate Award, Mission Rotary Teacher of the Year and the Golden Bell Award. In 2001 Mark designed Marin School of the Arts and won a grant from the Department of Education for $270,000 to create the school. As a teacher, Mark’s music groups have been winning top honors for the past 16 years. Mark’s groups have been selected to perform for the President and First Lady and performed at California Music Educators State Conference. Last year, Peabody’s MSA music ensembles were among the top ten in California, receiving perfect score at ten different festivals. In addition to his work in education, Mark is an active musician in the Bay Area music scene on the Double Bass.

Ian Dickenson – Instrumental Music
Ian Dickenson is an award-winning composer and double bassist, and graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and California State University, Sonoma. A Bay Area native, Ian earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in jazz studies from California State University, Sonoma. In 2001 Ian was an ASCAP/Mancini Scholar in composition at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles. While at the San Francisco Conservatory, Ian won the Jim Highsmith Composition Competition and Conservatory Honors Award.  He served as principal double bassist for the Conservatory Orchestra, Baroque Ensemble, and New Music Ensemble, and studied composition with Elinor Armer. 

Ian has composed or arranged works for the Universal Music Jazz Chamber Orchestra, Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, SFMC New Music Ensemble, Santa Rosa Symphony Chamber Players (string quartet), Del Sol Chamber Orchestra, Punk Rock Orchestra, JH Big Band, Mike Vax Big Band, and the 16mm Orchestra. In addition to his work as a composer, Ian remains in great demand as a bassist in both the jazz and classical worlds of the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.  He has worked with musicians and composers such as Quincy Jones, Diana Krall, Shirley Horn, Diane Reeves, Jerry Goldsmith, Mark Levine, Christian McBride, Terrance Blanchard, Elmer Bernstein, Bill Holman, Louis Bellson, Steve Smith, John Clayton, Jack Elliott, Michael Abene, Vince Mendoza, Bob Brookmeyer, Manny Albam, and many others.  Ian currently serves as Artistic Director for the Punk Rock Orchestra in San Francisco, and as President of the Bay Area Composer’s Circle.

Rebecca (Tout) d’Alessio – Instrumental Music
BM (summa cum laude), Bradley University; MM, Arizona State University.  d’Alessio served as Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay from 2002-2006, where she taught Applied Clarinet, Symphonic Band and Music Education courses. She has presented master classes and clinics in China, Turkey, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona and California and has served on the faculty at the UW-Green Bay Summer Music Camps and at Donner Mine Music Camp in Bear Valley, California.

As an active chamber musician, d’Alessio has performed with symphonies and opera orchestras in Illinois, Arizona and Wisconsin and performed in a concert tour of Turkey with the Trio Academe.  She has been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio in its "Live from the Elvehjem" series and has performed as a clarinet soloist throughout the United States as well as China, Turkey and France. 

A strong supporter of contemporary solo clarinet literature, d’Alessio was recognized by the Concert Artists Guild and the International Clarinet Association with semi-finalist and finalist rankings in both institutions' international competitions.  She is currently completing her doctoral dissertation on Eric Mandat, a contemporary composer and clarinetist.

Holly Howard – Dance
Holly Howard has been working as a professional dancer, choreographer and dance educator for over 25 years, since her graduation as a dance major from University of Michigan. Her early modern dance training included study with Twyla Tharp and members of the Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham and Alwin Nikolais companies. Her eclectic career as a professional dancer and choreographer showcased Holly in many styles of dance including tap, jazz, rock, African, historical, modern and show dance. Holly's love of diversity in dance brought her to musical theater about 12 years ago and since then she has choreographed 17 different musicals and many revues. As an educator, Holly has worked with staff development, the CA arts standards and as an artist in residence with ‘Youth in Arts’ of Marin County. Holly feels strongly that excellent training must be paired with versatility in today's dancers. Toward that end, she is committed to augmenting her program with the best ballet teachers available and guest residencies by Bay Area and national dance professionals.

Dana Tamura – Film & Video
Dana, a traveler at heart, has settled back into her native California and into MSA after a nearly twenty year sojourn to Europe, Japan and New York. Her work in television and media led her to careers in freelance writing in Europe and film and video production in New York. Her impressive list of credentials include stints with Dateline NBC, Day One and Fox T.V.’s A Current Affair. She also worked on several specials for ABC’s Barbara Walters. Her personal credits include Heartstrings, Body Language, Steppin’ Out, and On the Edge.

Ms. Tamura received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Sonoma State University and a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology from San Jose State University. Her Credentials include; K-12 Multiple Subject Credential, a California Community College Credential in communications, a New York State credential in Television Production and Graphics and an Honorary Secondary Teaching Credential in Japan. This year, MSA film students Keith Tonini and Tucker Forbes won the “Best of the Best” award for student films at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

Sue Sommer – Creative Writing
Sue Sommer connected with the muse years ago and has been involved with the writing process ever since as a writer, editor, and bookstore manager. A staff member of the Semester at Sea shipboard campus, she has traveled extensively and shares a myriad of colorful experiences with her students as part of her curriculum. She graduated from Chapman University in Southern California and considers it a privilege to weave the ideas of young minds into a creative and vibrant written fabric.

Ms. Sommer has written a light-hearted compendium of the mistakes that people use in everyday conversation and writing called The Bugaboo Review, and is working on a novelette about a "posse" of characters who assist youngsters with learning English. She has completed the Notorious Nemeses, a packet she uses to teach parts of speech and punctuation to her classes, and is developing a course for instructors in teaching vocabulary, which she plans to introduce on the educational lecture circuit.

Ms. Sommer currently chaperones students to Europe on a cultural/educational excursion during summer breaks, continuing her penchant for imparting knowledge to travelers, as she did lecturing aboard Semester at Sea on in-port activities for three years. Ms. Sommer is knowledgeable about the arts – opera, ballet, Broadway plays, visual arts, and often takes her students on local field trips to visit these venues. She owns a design company, Sommertime Creations, for which she creates hand-painted items to sell to exclusive clients.

Erin Hoffman – Musical Theater, Theater Arts
A native of Washington State, Erin Hoffman has been performing in local and professional theater for over 25 years. She is a classically trained soprano and has performed as a soloist for prestigious groups such as the Monterey Peninsula Choral Society, Monterey Symphony Choir, and I Cantori di Carmel. Ms. Hoffman has had more than 20 years of private vocal training in musical theater repertoire, and she continues to train regularly in voice, yoga, ballet and tap. Ms. Hoffman has been seen on the stage throughout Portland and the Monterey Bay area in roles such as Sarah Brown (Guys and Dolls), Annie Oakley (Annie Get Your Gun), Mayzie (Seussical, the Musical), Jody (Quilters) and The White Witch (The Magician’s Nephew).
 
Ms. Hoffman is a graduate of Concordia University in Portland, OR and received her master’s degree in counseling from San Jose State University. For the past two years Ms. Hoffman has been involved in graduate studies in Theater Arts at Central Washington University and at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Ms. Hoffman has an extensive teaching background in public education. She has taught Theater, History, and Language Arts for the past 10 years at both the middle and high school levels. She loves working with teens and has produced and directed more than a dozen full scale plays and musicals with middle and high school students.

In her spare time, Erin loves to camp, hike, cycle, windsurf, rock climb, and play Mah Jongg.

Sally de Hart – Visual Arts
Passionately involved with art since 1972, Sally began her career by studying under renowned artists George Welch and Louis Bernal. The late photographer Louis Bernal was instrumental along with Ansel Adams in creating the Center for Photography in Tucson, Arizona, which houses many of the more prominent photography collections in the United States.

After transferring to the University of Arizona, she received a BFA in Studio Art-painting and drawing. At the University of Arizona, she studied painting under Robert Colescott, who represented America in the Venice Biennale, also under artists such as: Bailey Doogan, Harmony Hammond, Alfred Quiroz, James G. Davis, Bruce McGrew and Rosemary Bernardi. Sally received multiple scholarships and awards for her painting and drawing.

Sally’s exhibit resume includes numerous exhibits (solo and group) and her art works are in many collections, private, corporate and one in the University of Arizona ’s permanent collection.

After completing her bachelors, Sally earned a Post-Bachelor in Art Education from the University of Arizona. Sally established an AP Studio Art program and successfully taught art and AP Studio art for the Tucson Unified School District. She had one of the highest pass rates in the city for her AP students.

She earned her Masters in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University and worked on the international exhibit, Asia and Our Moment; Time After Time under Rene deGuzman, Curator for YBCA and for another Venice Biennale recipient, international artist Choi Jeong-Hwa, on his Bay Area site-specific community installation Happy, Happy, Happy; Let’s Go Everybody! - 2003.

Gray Douglas – Ceramics and Art
Gray has been exploring the visual arts with public school students for over ten years, teaching sculpture, ceramics, drawing, painting and photography. Graduating with summa cum laude honors, she holds degrees in both Art and Spanish, as well as her teaching credential from Humboldt State University. Before settling into schools, Gray shared her love of wilderness and nature-as-teacher by leading special needs, disabled and youth trips as a rafting, sea kayaking and cross-country ski guide. She continues this outlet as a volunteer. Her belief in experiential education led her to living abroad in Oaxaca and Guatemala, study in Europe, sojourns to Baja, and into the wild. In 2001 Gray was honored as a Fulbright Scholar to India and Nepal, and upon return created new art curriculum which she shared through seminars at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art and the California Art Educator's Association's annual conference. In 2006, she was also honored for her excellence in public art education with the annual, Bay Area wide 'Fund for Artists Arts Teacher Fellowship'. Gray creates musically as well, playing the djembe and percussion. She performs and is a founding member with Tandamanzi, a Bay Area African rhythm ensemble. She is thrilled to work with Novato and MSA students.