Presenters
Brae Blackley
A proven entrepreneur and strategic leader for mission-based organizations, Brae most recently worked with the Advisory Board for the Arts covering business development and advisory services for the global dance and ballet segment. Prior to that role, she served as Managing Director of External Affairs for The Washington Ballet, a 75-year old ballet school and professional ballet company in Washington, DC. Brae has recently completed a Master's in Engaged and Public Humanities at Georgetown University, where she wrote a thesis on the role of dance in American culture and equitable and inclusive audience engagement. She has also founded and sold a national women’s half marathon series and worked as a corporate attorney.
Brae is a member of the Arlington Commission for the Arts and serves on the Advisory Board for Carolina Performing Arts. She earned a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from George Washington University.
Michael Mael
Michael L. Mael is Founder Emeritus of the Advisory Board for the Arts which he co-founded seven years ago. He brings more than thirty-five years of executive leadership experience to his work on behalf of performing arts organizations.
Prior to establishing ABA, Michael was Executive Director of the Washington Ballet on an interim basis, helping that organization regain financial stability. In that role, he aggressively managed cash flow, rebuilt the financial system, negotiated with vendors and creditors, helped bring about changes in board governance, established a new community engagement program and returned to a balanced budget after four years of losses.
For nearly ten years he was with Washington National Opera. He served as Executive Director for six years, as part of the senior management team at the Kennedy Center. Highlights of his tenure included: production of WNO’s first Ring Cycle, six consecutive years of meeting or exceeding financial targets, development of innovative marketing and community engagement programs including Opera in the Outfield, creation of a new commissioning program, and development of a new strategic plan.
He joined the WNO in 2008 as Chief Financial and Operating Officer with responsibility for all financial and day to day operations of the company. Under his leadership, the organization returned to financial stability with four consecutive balanced budgets following more than a decade of losses. He also led the effort to affiliate with the Kennedy Center, ensuring the long-term stability of the Opera.
Prior to his appointment, Michael worked for nearly five years for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) as Vice President of the BSO at Strathmore where he was responsible for launching and managing all activities related to the BSO’s second home at the new Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD.
Michael currently serves on the board of Round House Theatre. He is a 2005 graduate of Leadership Montgomery, and served as President of the Board of Directors. He was Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Social Services Agency. Mr. Mael received his AB from Brown University and his MBA from Stanford University.
David Mallette
David Mallette joined Management Consultants for the Arts in 2005 after working for more than two decades as a performing arts administrator in theater and dance. His background and skills bring together a unique blend of organizational leadership, production experience, creative innovation and business acumen. He became MCA’s President in 2020.
At MCA, he has conducted searches for American Conservatory Theater, Guthrie Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at University of Maryland, Geffen Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Signature Theatre (Arlington VA), Virginia Tech / Moss Center for the Arts, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Georgia Tech / Ferst Center for the Arts, Ballet Arizona, Kansas City Ballet, and Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Planning, organizational development and research project clients include Broadway Dallas (previously Dallas Summer Musicals), Rockport Music, Dance/USA, Barter Theatre, Milwaukee Ballet, Texas Christian University School of Dance, Minnesota Dance Theatre and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
Mr. Mallette’s professional arts management experience began at Houston’s Alley Theatre where he was Director of Operations. He joined Houston Ballet as Company Manager, where he was extensively involved in new productions and touring. Mr. Mallette was then asked to join Fort Worth Ballet as Executive Director. During his 15-year tenure, Fort Worth Ballet quadrupled in size through its expansion across the region and state, first as Fort Worth Dallas Ballet and then as Texas Ballet Theater. The Company also performed extensively across the nation, including at the Lyric Auditorium in Chicago, City Center and The Joyce Theatre in New York City, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., as well as touring to over forty Texas communities.
His consultation experience has included work with large performing arts institutions, service organizations, and foundations as well as smaller institutions, individual artists, and festivals. Mr. Mallette has been a frequent speaker, author, and consultant in areas of organizational leadership and vision, crisis strategies, governance, and non-profit management. In addition to his professional demands, Mr. Mallette’s volunteer service to the field and to the community has included serving on numerous boards and panels, most significantly as chair of Dance/USA (2002-05), the national service organization for professional dance, with previous terms as treasurer and vice-chair. He has also advised and/or served as trustee on numerous non-profit boards and panels, including the Texas Commission on the Arts dance panel (as chair), the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, and the Mid-American Arts Alliance. He holds degrees in music and music education from Hardin-Simmons University.
Mr. Mallette is a frequent speaker and author on performing arts leadership. He and his wife Catherine reside near Princeton NJ.
Jane Raleigh
Jane Raleigh is the Director of Dance Programming at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In her role at the Kennedy Center, she curates the Ballet subscription series and presents all mainstage Dance offerings as well as a variety of dance performances on the Center's Millennium Stage and in the Center’s REACH expansion spaces. Locally, Raleigh serves as co-chair of the Pola Nirenska Award jury, and has served as a member of the Blacklight Summit Community Committee, and the board of Dance Loft on 14. Nationally, she an active member of Dance/USA and the Association of Performing Arts Professionals.