Paul Rabinowitz. Upon graduating from Tulane University in 1984, Paul began his career teaching and lecturing high school students about the history of the Middle East. In 2000, he was elected to serve on the board of a youth sports and mentoring program in Morristown, New Jersey before becoming president in 2002. During his five year term as president he played a pivotal role in building and shaping the organization. His philosophy that every student can succeed if given the right framework and mentors, still guides the organization today. He is currently the owner and president of an office maintenance company that he established in 1997.
Paul’s current involvement in the trends of the urban arts scene includes writing a monthly article titled Inside the Studio for an on-line arts magazine, volunteering his business experience to assist emerging artists and arts organizations and lecturing on the changing urban landscapes brought about by vibrant arts communities. He facilitates monthly poetry classes at senior centers and writes short stories.
Megan Fainsinger. Over the past 20 years Megan has been the CEO of a suburban household focused on the education, maintenance and sustenance of three creative and energetic boys.
Megan was born and raised in Durban, South Africa. After graduating from the University of Cape Town in 1983, she completed a teaching degree for children with special needs, in Jerusalem, Israel. She worked in Special Education and taught a foreign language to children with special needs. Currently, Megan works as an administrator and a part time floral designer. She is also completing a Master Gardeners program while studying Horticultural Therapy at the New York Botanical Gardens. .
In 2011 she became the treasurer and member of the board of ARTS! By the People.
Megan has lived in New Jersey since 1991.
Adam Shapiro is a co-founder and partner with Lapis Software Associates, a software development and consulting company that has been providing technical services and systems to government agencies since 1994.
As a member of the senior management team at Lapis, he is responsible for sales, customer relations, project management and budgeting, training, business process review and technology guidance. Throughout his career, Adam has provided custom software and technology expertise for twelve US state governments and numerous government and private organizations around the globe.
In 2010 he joined the board of ARTS! By the People, a nonprofit organization providing arts to youth and senior citizens in New Jersey.
Adam has a Master of Science degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree from Bucknell University.
He has also been involved with numerous community and school programs in his home town of Sparta, NJ, including 5 years as a coach for the town youth athletic program.
Lawrence Barnard is currently a Physician practicing medicine in the Bronx, NY and on Long Island.
After graduating from The New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1999, he completed an Emergency Medicine internship and residency in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine/ Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (NMM/OMM) at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, NY where he has been teaching for 8 years. During this time he co-founded a residency training program at North Shore/ LIJ’s affiliate, Plainview Hospital, served as the residency director for two years, and currently is the Chief of the Division of NMM/OMM at Plainview Hospital.
Sharing his skills and expertise with the needy and underserved has been important since early in his medical career. He has travelled to Haiti many times since the summer of 1995, volunteering as a physician in clinics, orphanages, children’s hospitals and hospitals for the terminally ill in and around Port au Prince.
In 2009 he became a board member of Arts! By the People, to use his unique skills and experiences to help guide the organization in it’s mission to provide arts to youth and senior citizens in New Jersey.
Lawrence and his family reside on Long Island where they enjoy the outdoors and the never ending journey of learning to sail.
Gary Glazner is the founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, (APP). The National Endowment for the Arts listed the APP as a “best practice” for their Arts and Aging initiative. In 2010, the U.S. Embassy has funded a pilot project for the APP in Germany. In workshops, training sessions, and symposiums in Berlin, Eichstätt, Hanover, and Marburg APP has trained over 250 poets, healthcare workers and students in using poetry and served over 500 people living with dementia. The APP has served over 15,000 people in 20 states since 2004.
Glazner is the author and editor of five books including: "Ears on Fire: Snapshot Essays in a World of Poets," published on La Alameda Press, the book chronicles a year abroad in Asia and Europe meeting poets, working on translations and writing poems; "How to Make a Living as a Poet" on Soft Skull Press, which features essays and interviews on creative ways to bring poetry to the world and “Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry,” on Manic D Press.
NBC's “Today” show, NPR's “All Things Considered” and Voice of America have featured segments on Glazner’s work. Harper Collins, W.W. Norton and Salon.com have published his work. From 2007 to 2010, Glazner was the Managing Director of the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.
In 1990, Glazner working with Poetry Slam founder Marc Smith produced the first U.S. National Poetry Slam in San Francisco. He was a member of the original board of directors of Poetry Slam Incorporated the non-profit that oversees the grassroots Poetry Slam movement. In 2000, Glazner organized the Slam America Tour, which reached 32 cities in 30 days.
