Alayne O. Dolson – Executive Director

The executive director of VSA Montana since 1994, Alayne is also active as an artist with the VSA Choir program. Alayne has a BA in English and Music from Jamestown College in North Dakota, and has done graduate work at the University of Denver in Medieval and Renaissance English and French literature. She also has completed an additional fifth year of study in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from the University of Montana. Alayne has worked extensively in the public schools as an English teacher and a music teacher, taught pre-school education, and developed an inclusive program at the Missoula YWCA for 3-5 year olds. Alayne has served as a community Board member on the Foster Grandparent Board, the Missoula Symphony Board, the International Choral Festival Board, and currently serves on the String Orchestra of the Rockies board. She is an active singer and volunteer in Missoula community arts organizations.

Cheryl Eamon

Teaching artist working with children in foster care and with the Anaconda Boys and Girls Club. Cheryl is a retired art therapist from the Montana State Hospital.

Heidi Jones Eggert

Heidi is a dance professor at the University of Montana and teaches the VSA/UM New Visions Dance class. This class provides dance instruction to people with disabilities and provides instruction in dance education for UM students interested in working with people with disabilities.

Don Kukla

Don is the artist and instructor in Mime and theatre activities doing residency programs at Washington Middle School, where he works with students who are deaf; and at Big Sky and Sentinel High Schools with students with autism and Aspberger’s Spectrum Disorder. He also conducts a series of classes at the Montana State Hospital for patients with mental ilness and a residency at the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind.

Don is the Director of IBS Productions, producing, directing and writing theatrical productions. He is a performing artist for Young Audiences of Western Montana. Don has a BS in Theatre from Northern Michigan University and an MFA in Directing from Western Illinois University.

Malcolm Lowe

Malcolm is the artist instructor for the VSA Choir program, now in its 8th year. Malcolm has a BA Music in musical performance from Western Washington State University and an MFA in musical theatre composition from San Diego State University. He is the former music director at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle and the Oregon Cabaret Theatre in Ashland, Oregon.

Carol Poppenga

Carol works in oils and as a muralist, and is particularly interested in public art projects that explore the historis, economic, and social fabric of specific communities. Carol holds a BA in US History and Art from the University of Great Falls and has done additional study in art education at Alberta College of Art in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She served in the US Air Force for 23 years as a journalist, an historian, and as an operational intelligence specialist.

Janet Taylor

Teaching artist with the Rainbow House Music program in Billings.

Sue Tirrell

Artist/educator, Livingston Montana, Sue teaches arts programs for VSA with Counterpoint at Livingston Art Center. Sue has a BFA from the School of Art and Design at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in New York and an Associate of Arts degree from Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri.