Madeline Bridges
Project Director

Madeline Bridges is Associate Dean for Academic Studies, School of Music at Belmont University where she teaches in the area of music education. Her degrees include a B.M. in piano performance from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, an M. Mus. Ed. from George Peabody College of Education of Vanderbilt University and an Ed.D. in Music Education from the University of Alabama. Dr. Bridges has taught music and music education in classrooms from kindergarten through the graduate level and frequently serves as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States in the areas of early childhood, elementary, middle school, and choral music education. She is past president of both the Tennessee Music Educators Association and  the Board of Directors of Choristers Guild International.

E. Frank Bluestein
Managing Director

E. Frank Bluestein is the 1996-1997 Disney National Performing Arts Teacher of the Year and the 1994 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. USA Today named Mr. Bluestein as one of the top 40 teachers in the United States in 1998. He serves as chairman of Germantown High School's Fine Arts Department and is founder and director of the school's theatre, the Poplar Pike Playhouse. Mr. Bluestein also serves as executive producer for the school's three million dollar Emmy award winning television studio. Mr. Bluestein is a past winner of the American Theatre Association's John C. Barner Award, and has served as an arts advisory panelist for numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission.  Mr. Bluestein spent several years as director of shows at Opryland, USA, and most recently wrote and directed the national touring production of Beale Street Saturday Night starring blues legend Joyce Cobb. 

Daryle Grenead
Visual Art Director

Daryle Grenead is currently the visual art specialist at South Christian Elementary School in  KY.  Retired from Glenellen Elementary in Clarksville and a past president of the Tennessee Art Education Association, he has taught and organized numerous workshops for teachers across the state. Mr. Grenead’s background includes 30 years of teaching art in the public schools, including two years as a Career Ladder Evaluator and a summer as chair of the State Department of Education Textbook Review Committee for Visual Arts. He currently serves as Publication Editor of the Volunteer Canvas, TAEA’s quarterly newsletter. Mr. Grenead has been awarded building level Teacher of the Year by his peers many times and was chosen as TAEA Art Educator of the Year for 2000. He earned a B.S. and M.A. from Austin Peay State University.


Judith B. Williams
Administration Director

Judith B. Williams, longtime art teacher and administrator in Bedford County Schools is serving as Administration Director for the Academy.
With over thirty years of experience in education, she has conducted numerous staff development workshops in the past seventeen years. She received her bachelor’s degree from David Lipscomb University and her master’s from Middle Tennessee State University. Mrs. Williams is past president of the Tennessee Art Education Association and a former recipient of the Tennessee Art Educator of the Year award. She has been a presenter for the National Staff Development Council and the National Art Education Association conventions.

Connie Fuller
Music Director

Connie Fuller is in her seventh year of teaching at Freedom Middle School, having formerly taught in Georgia, Texas and the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Her choirs at Freedom have consistently won superior ratings at local and state choral festivals. Her students are well represented each year in various honor choirs at the local, regional and national levels. She is a past president of the Middle Tennessee Vocal Association, and has served the organization in several other capacities. Ms. Fuller is an active member of TMEA, MENC and ACDA. She also sings with the Nashville Chamber Singers.

Susan Ramsay
Assistant Music Director

Susan Ramsay is a music specialist at Franklin Elementary School in the Franklin Special Schools District and has been named “Teacher of the Year” for that system.  She has received National Board Certification in Music and holds degrees from Peabody College and Middle Tennessee State University. Susan is Past President of the Middle Tennessee Orff-Schulwerk Association, the Middle Tennessee Elementary Music Educators Association and has served as regional representative on the National Board of Trustees for AOSA. Susan has presented at Orff and Kodaly national conferences and for National MENC. She complements this with an active schedule of performances as a storyteller and as a musician.

Nancy Cason
Assistant Administration Director

Before joining Belmont University as a full-time adjunct in art appreciation and art education, Nancy Cason held a variety of positions at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, including Associate Curator, Educator for Teacher and School Programs, Educator for Docent Programs, and co-founder of the Nashville Institute for Visual Arts Education.  Dr. Cason earned a Ph.D. in art education from the University of North Texas where she served as the Project Coordinator for the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts, a Getty professional development institute focused on museum and school collaborations.  She was Assistant Professor of Art Education at Middle Tennessee State University, an adjunct instructor at the University of North Texas and Baylor University, Art Supervisor for Mobile County Public Schools, and a K-12 art teacher in Alabama and Texas public schools.

Joe W. Giles
Dean Emeritus/Awards Coordinator

Joe Giles is founder of the Tennessee Arts Academy and former director of the Arts Education Program of the Tennessee Department of Education. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from Austin Peay State University and has done additional study at Peabody College, Middle Tennessee State University, and Fisk University. Mr. Giles is past President of Southern Division Music Educators National Conference (MENC) and of the National Council of State Supervisors of Music. He taught music in Metro Nashville for 22 years and has taken choral groups on concert tours in Europe and received gold and silver medals in international music festivals.

Cynthia Harris
Office Administrator

Cynthia Harris is the Office Administrator for the Tennessee Arts Academy. Cynthia and her husband Jim returned to Nashville five years ago after spending 30 years in Greeneville, TN. During 18 of those years, they owned and operated an office supply and equipment company.  In Greeneville Cynthia served on a variety of non-profit boards devoted to youth and economic initiatives. From 2001-2003 she served as Vice-Chair of the Reality Program, a Juvenile Court administered community program for adolescent drug and alcohol abuse. Cynthia was a member of the Asbury United Methodist Church choir for 24 years and also a member of The Big Spring Singers, who perform throughout East Tennessee. Cynthia continues to enjoy participating in her church choir in Nashville.

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