Master of Fine Arts Faculty

Dillon Beede, Director of Choral Activities & Chair of Music
Master of Music, Westminster Choir College
Doctor of Education in College Teaching-Music and Music Education Candidate, Columbia University
Practice Areas: Research, Formal Writing, Educational Philosophy, Pedagogy in the Arts

Bio: Dillon earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Hastings College in 2011 and continued his education at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. While at Westminster, Dillon performed with the Westminster Symphonic Chorus under the batons of Yannick Nezet-Seguin (Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra), Sir Simon Rattle (Berlin Philharmonic), Jacques Lacombe (NJ Symphony Orchestra), James Jordan (Westminster Choir College), Amanda Quist (Westminster Choir College) and Joe Miller (Westminster Choir College). During his time at Westminster he also studied voice with the late Julian Rodescu and Christopher Arneson and further studied with Matthew Anchel after graduation. His graduate voice research studied the effects of musical exercises in combination with Stemple’s vocal function exercises for voice feminization. He completed his graduate recital studying with Dr. Christopher Arneson performing works by Ravel, Rorem, Mozart, Dørumsgaard and Rossini. Upon completion of his Master of Music in Voice Performance and Vocal Pedagogy, he held a private voice studio in the Princeton community teaching students of all skill levels as well as specializing in transgender voice modification. Dillon has served as a guest clinician and conductor and taught vocal master classes in schools across Nebraska, Arizona, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania. Additionally, he is currently enrolled at Teachers College-Columbia University where he is completing coursework towards the Doctor of Education in College Teaching-Music and Music Education.

Jim Condron, Artist in Residence
MFA in Painting, Leroy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art
Practice Areas: Painting, Sculpture, Installations

Bio: Jim Condron is the Director of ArtCake in Brooklyn, NY. He earned his MFA at the Leroy E. Hofffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art (2004) and a BA in Art and English from Colby College (1992). He also studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture (1993-'95). His work appears nationally and internationally in galleries and museums as well as in corporate, university, public and private collections. Condron has been awarded artist residencies at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Heliker Lahotan Foundation. He is a 2017 recipient of a Pollock Krasner Foundation grant, an Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Foundation grant and a Maryland State Arts Council grant for sculpture.

Jen Graham, MFA Director & Assistant Professor of Dance
MFA in Dance, University of Maryland
Certified Movement Analyst (CMA), The Laban/Bartentieff Institute of Movement Studies
Registered Somatic Movement Educator & Therapist (RSME/T), International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association
Practice Areas: Contemporary Modern & Jazz Dance Techniques, Improvisation, Choreography & Creative Process, Somatics, Laban/Bartentieff Movement System & Applications, Experiential Anatomy & Kinesiology, Embodied Leadership & Communication

Bio: Jen Graham, MFA CMA RSME/T is a multidisciplinary movement educator and artist, grounded in somatic practice and process. She creates inclusive and exploratory spaces to instigate shifts in awareness, perspective, and pattern through embodied experiences. Using innovative and unconventional approaches, she promotes curiosity, investigation, and connection to manifest understanding and growth. Jen has worked in higher education in various roles since 2012, serving as guest artist, choreographer, lecturer, adjunct and full-time faculty in programs ranging from Associates to Fine Arts Conservatories for both Dance and Theatre. She is currently the Director of the Master of Fine Arts Program and Assistant Professor of Dance at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Previously, she was a lecturer in the BFA Dance Program at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she also served as a contributor and producer of several interdisciplinary initiatives at the intersection of performing arts and health. She has also taught in the undergraduate Dance Program at the University of Maryland, where she concurrently co-created and co-directed the DeLeComm embodied leadership and communication program for PhD students as an interdisciplinary partnership with the Neuro and Cognitive Science Program. Jen has also contributed to developing related leadership curriculum for The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. Jen’s work and research interests span the range of what it means to be embodied and in movement – from anatomical to abstract, functional to expressive, self to other, personal to universal – and, ultimately, the nature of the relationships these tensions create. She believes that embodied awareness is the key to unlocking potential, personal agency, and fulfillment, and creates the vital foundation upon which empathy, understanding, and connection are built.

Joshua Legg, Dean of the School of Professional & Graduate Studies
MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography, Shenandoah Conservatory
Practice Areas: Choreography & Improvisation, Performance Writing, Dancetheatre, Dance History, Painting

Bio: Recognized for his diverse range, Joshua Legg is a choreographer, theatre director, painter, poet, and curator of gallery exhibitions and live arts events. His choreography has been called “stunning, intense… an exciting interpretation of modern ballet.” The 109 dances he has choreographed/directed span site-specific works, concert and dancetheatre, film, musical theatre, opera, and performance art. He has served as a master teacher and guest lecturer/speaker for ACDA conferences, ADF’s Paul Taylor Project, the Dance Teacher Summit, and various universities, pre-professional and private studios, community arts programs, and high schools—and has adjudicated for festival’s such as Baltimore’s AKIMBO site-sensitive dance festival. Joshua's recent curatorial projects include a shared exhibition for printmakers Eric Avery and Adam DelMarcelle, and collaborations with other curators that featured the works of photographer Therese Frare, and the Indonesian artist collective Taring Padi. His book, Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques, is available in English, French, and Italian; and his artwork and poetry appear in creative journals as well. Joshua is an associate member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.

Philip Lindsey, Professor of Fine Arts
MFA in Painting & Drawing, Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute of College of Art
Practice Areas: Painting, Drawing, Design

Bio: Philip Lindsey is a tenured Professor of Fine Arts. He teaches painting, drawing, design, and directs the Cooley Gallery at Wilson College. Lindsey began painting in the 1980s, and currently explores abstraction as well as portraiture, allegory and metaphor. Professor Lindsey has received a number of awards for his work, both abstract and representational in national and international juried competitions and exhibitions. He is a recipient of the Donald F. Bletz Award for Outstanding Devotion to the Art of Teaching, the Paul Swain Havens Research Scholars Award, a Summer Research Stipend, Sabbatical Leave for research and scholarship, and the Drusilla Stevens Mazur Research Professorship.

Matthew McBride, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Practice
MFA in Poetry, Bowling Green State University
PhD in English & Comparative Literature, University of Cincinnati
Practice Areas: Poetry, Creative Writing

Bio: Matt McBride holds a BA in English from Capital University, an MFA in poetry from Bowling Green State University, and a PhD in English & Comparative Literature from the University of Cincinnati. He is the recipient of a Divine Poetry Fellowship and a George Elliston Poetry Fellowship as well as an Ohio Arts Council Grant. His poetry and fiction have appeared in or are forthcoming from Carve, Conduit, The Cortland Review, Cream City Review, FENCE, Guernica, Heavy Feather Review, The Laurel Review, Rust+Moth, and Zone 3, among others. He is the author of one full-length poetry collection, City of Incandescent Light, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2018, and four chapbooks. His most recent, Prerecorded Weather, co-written with Noah Falck, won the 2022 James Tate Prize.

Anne Reeder Bertram, Artist in Residence
MFA in Acting, University of California, Davis
Certified Movement Analyst (CMA), The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies
Registered Somatic Movement Educator & Therapist (RSME/T), International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association
Practice Areas: Acting, Theatre, Movement for Actors, Somatics, Laban/Bartenieff Movement System & Applications, Pilates

Bio: Anne Reeder Bertram began her career as a professional actress and physical theater artist. She received her undergraduate degrees in Theatre Studies and Dance from Emerson College and her MFA in Acting from the University of California, Davis. She worked in Los Angeles as a professional actress and has taught Acting and Theatre courses in higher education. Anne went on to study at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) in NY, NY to become a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) specializing in Movement Training for Actors and Bartenieff Training for Dancers. She expanded her work in 2008 and also works with individual clients in private practice. She works with clients to achieve more movement efficiency, to break unhealthy patterns, and to create healthful body mechanics. Anne is also a Certified Reformer Pilates Instructor through Balanced Body® and a Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist and Educator (RSMT/E) through The International Somatic Movement Educators and Therapists Association (ISMETA).