Behind the Magic: Celebrating the Outstanding Staff of the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine
Celebrating Our Staff
Compiled and written by Adriana Whitlock
This special post shines a spotlight on the incredible team behind the scenes at the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine (CMTM). We invite you to join us as we take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable individuals who make this beloved institution come alive with wonder, joy, and endless possibilities. From the exhibits team to the theatre administration, the staff at the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine embodies a spirit of innovation, empathy, and a profound love for nurturing the young minds that walk through its doors.
As the Marketing & Communications team, we interviewed each department to get to know what each team does to make CMTM flourish. First, a note from our director, Julie Butcher Pezzino, describing how vital teamwork and collaboration is within our organization:
“Here at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, we rely on teamwork and lots of collaboration to make our building hum every day! We love and are proud of the fact that we are so multifaceted. We are a children’s museum, a children’s theatre, a science center, a visual arts organization, and more! Our talented team includes trained educators, finance and HR experts, hospitality and buildings and grounds professionals, accomplished actors, gifted artists, expert aquarists, and more!
Through this blog, we’re excited to introduce you to our incredible teams. These dedicated individuals work every day with each other and cross-departmentally to ensure our visitors have a safe, welcoming, joyful, and educational experience at the Museum & Theatre.
Our staff are at the core of what we do and we couldn’t accomplish anything without them. When you see a theatrical storytelling program in the watershed exhibit or a STEM-oriented Makerspace activity, that is the result of hard, creative work by several teams working together to give you a robust interactive, interdisciplinary experience that is unique to CMTM.
I hope you enjoy learning a little more about my colleagues and why they are so important to the Museum & Theatre.”
Read on to learn more about CMTM’s dynamic and dedicated teams!
Visitor Engagement
Team Members:
Kifah Abdulla, Visitor Program Assistant, Skylar Ahern, Visitor Services Associate, Joey Christian Visitor, Program Associate, Nolan Ellsworth, Visitor Program Associate, Lily Gilbert, Director of Visitor Engagement, Darius Iranpour, Building & Grounds Manager, Caroline James, Visitor Program Associate, Annika Johnston, Visitor Program Associate, Liz Knowland, Bookings & Membership Manager, Katelyn Laverdiere, Visitor Program Assistant, Juliet "Jewels" Moniz, Visitor Services Manager, Aylin Ozdes Booking & Membership Associate and Administrative Assistant, Bronte Pirulli, Visitor Services Associate, Caleb Streadwick, Visitor Services Assistant, Juliette Vlachos-Coldreck, Visitor Program Manager, Helen McCain, Visitor Services Assistant Lucious Fox, Visitor Services Assistant, Taylor Waterman, Visitor Programming Intern, Alex Rice Building & Grounds Assistant, Evie Ford, Visitor Services Assistant.
Can you briefly share the role and purpose of your team at CMTM?
The Visitor Engagement Department focuses on creating a welcoming, safe, and engaging experience for our visitors, members, and theatre audiences.
The VE Department is made up of four teams: the Visitor Program team which focuses on providing engaging and experiential programs and activities for visitors and members on the museum floor, the Membership & Bookings team which manages over 4,000 family and organization memberships and coordinators rentals and group visits, the Visitor Services team that welcomes all 200,000+ visitors through the front doors of our building & manages our museum tickets and theatre box office, and the Building & Grounds team that manages the caretaking of our 30,000 square foot facility and outdoor space.
What is one project or aspect of your work that you are excited about?
We're excited about growing our admissions discounts and scholarships and breaking down barriers to visitation. We are excited to be more transparent about these discounts by providing discount codes online, simplifying the scholarship application, and growing partnerships with direct service organizations throughout the state. Once families arrive at CMTM, we're excited about the increased physical accessibility of our space, diverse and inclusive programming offerings, and working to create a sense of belonging among visitors, members, and theatre audiences.
What do you hope visitors will experience while they are here?
We hope visitors find a sense of belonging here and that they get what they need from our facility and programs even if that 'something' is a little different at each visit. This may be a time to connect and play together as a family, a moment for a caregiver to sit back and relax for a moment while their child participates in a staff-guided program, or a chance to try something new or meet a new friend.
Education and Exhibits
Team Members:
Lauren Grant, Education Program Associate, Zach Hindall, Exhibits Associate, Amelie Jensen, Live Exhibits Associate, Starr Kelly, Director of Education & Exhibits, Brittany Liscord, Education Program Manager, Colin Marshall, Live Exhibits Coordinator, Emilia McGrath, Exhibits Assistant, Azari Minter, Exhibits Assistant, Connor Perry, Exhibits Manager, Grace Perry Intern, Cass Snider Intern
Can you briefly share the role and purpose of your team at CMTM?
The role of the Education and Exhibits team is to create welcoming spaces and educational experiences that promote play, exploration, and curiosity about the world.
What is one project or aspect of your work that you are excited about?
I am excited by the world-building work we do in our department. Whether it's creating physical spaces in exhibits or developing a series of after-school experiences, my team creates spaces that allow children to explore interests and piques their curiosity about the world around them. These are empowering spaces where children are the experts and self-direct their play, creativity, and inquiry. I am continually inspired by the play and storytelling children are engaging with when they activate the spaces we help create.
What do you hope visitors will experience while they are here?
My hope is that the spaces we build for visitors whether it's exhibit or education spaces inspire joyful learning and play.
Theatre Team
The Theatre team works hard to put on a countless number of productions in Maddy’s Theatre at CMTM! They just finished up E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and are excited to start up Make Way For Ducklings soon!
Team Members:
Reba Askari Theatre, Artistic Director, Emily Dixon, Theatre Technical Coordinator, Nathan Lapointe, Theatre Program Associate, Allison McCall, Theatre Company Coordinator, Sage Bartlett, Theatre Intern, Gracie Karl, Theatre Intern
Can you briefly share the role and purpose of your team at CMTM?
The Theatre team produces children’s theatre-- a full season of six productions! These productions enable families to see their favorite stories come to life and experience new stories together. We work to make sure audiences see themselves represented on our stage and in our stories. We collaborate with local talent and spotlight artists of all skill levels.
We teach ensemble-driven theatre classes for young actors looking to boost their confidence, take some risks and make theatre with a group.
We create 20-minute pop-up plays for our visitors 2-3 times per day!
We collaborate with other departments to help make the Museum & Theatre a magical place!
What is one project or aspect of your work that you are excited about?
Fostering a love of theatre-- watching theatre or being onstage yourself!
We are excited to inspire the next generation of theater audiences and makers.
We are excited about the incredible lineup of plays in our Centennial Season!
What do you hope visitors will experience while they are here?
We hope visitors get to experience the magic of live theatre. We hope that visitors have a chance encounter with their imagination and pretend something that surprises everyone!
We hope they feel. Whether it’s a funny joke, an emotional hug, a moment of anticipation, or even a dislike of a villainous character - we hope they feel something.
Marketing Team
Team Members:
Shultzie Fay Willows, Director of Marketing and Communications, Angela Raup, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Adriana Whitlock, Marketing and Communications Intern
Can you briefly share the role and purpose of your team at CMTM?
The Marketing and Communications team is the bridge between the Museum & Theatre and the community. There is always something awesome happening at CMTM, and it's our job to make sure that people know about it! We author and design the organization's external communications, including the website, social channels, emails, community calendar listings, and signage. We also play a key role in the planning and production of CMTM's events, including the popular 21+ "CMTM: After Dark" series. The Marketing and Communications team works interdepartmentally with the entire CMTM staff to collect and share information about the organization. CMTM is an incredibly special place, and we are grateful to be able to share its stories with all of you!
What is one project or aspect of your work that you are excited about?
We love projects where our audience looks at the final product and says, "Hey! I was a part of that!" Whether it's sharing photos from a community event, writing a blog about a new program, or promoting a video of a theatre performance, we're so grateful to be creating content that reminds people that they belong at CMTM.
What do you hope visitors will experience while they are here?
We hope that every visitor comes away with their own stories that they are excited to share!
Development Team
Team Members:
Donor Wall at CMTM
Rose Splint, Director of Development, Deanne Dutton, Development Manager, MacKenzie Larson, Development Associate
Can you briefly share the role and purpose of your team at CMTM?
The Development Team’s role is to generate a significant portion of the financial support and resources necessary for CMTM’s operations, programs, and growth. We cultivate relationships with potential donors, sponsors, and community partners, effectively communicating CMTM’s mission and impact. We use various strategies such as fundraising events, soliciting donations, and pursuing grants, all aimed at sustaining CMTM's ability to provide enriching educational experiences, exhibits, and activities for children of all backgrounds.
What is one project or aspect of your work that you are excited about?
We are excited about expanding the incredible access and inclusion programs at CMTM because they promote equality and ensure that all children can enjoy our educational experiences. Our strategies for fostering diversity cultivate a sense of belonging and empowerment among children from various backgrounds.
What do you hope visitors will experience while they are here?
We hope that families come to CMTM to experience joy and fun together - to make happy memories, learn together, and build connections between families of all kinds.
Administration Team
Team Members:
Julie Butcher Pezzino, Executive Director, Lucia Stancioff, Deputy Director, Jamie Shaw, Finance & HR Manager,
Megan Franasiak, Finance & HR Associate, Aylin Ozdes, Booking & Membership Associate and Administrative Assistant
Can you briefly share the role and purpose of your team at CMTM?
The Admin team combines the worlds of finance, human resources, and staff support. We perform work as part of onboarding new employees, paying vendors, working with our bookkeepers and auditors, governmental compliance, keeping the museum and theatre stocked with office supplies and snacks for staff - all sorts of stuff. I view it as primarily making it as easy as possible for everyone else to do their jobs without getting bogged down in red tape.
What is one project or aspect of your work that you are excited about?
The project we’re most excited about is our new compensation system. Our team has worked with other departments to develop a new system of compensation that can be scaled annually based on cost of living calculations made by MIT, and rewards employees based on longevity in their roles as well as scalable merit pay increases. Not only does this help future-proof our pay scale against inflation, but it helped us make significant improvements to compensation immediately too!
What do you hope visitors will experience while they are here?
I hope that our visitors experience a welcoming, conducive atmosphere that helps their learners find new things to get excited about and contemplate.
We hope you liked learning about our staff as much as we love working with them! Are you interested in working with us? We are hiring for several positions across multiple departments! Learn more about these positions and consider joining our team as we continue to grow.