A Shift in Executive Leadership: Young Audiences of Louisiana welcomes co-leaders Jenny James and Richard Bates

Young Audiences of Louisiana (YALA) is excited to announce two appointments to the organization’s executive leadership. Jenny James and Richard Bates will co-lead as Executive Directors focused on Community Programs and Services, and Operations, respectively. James and Bates are no stranger to YALA. James is the former Director of Education and Programs and Bates is the former Associate Director. Together, they have dedicated 35 years combined to YALA’s work.

As James looks to the future, she is hopes to build upon the past. “We are committed to uplifting the extensive work that YALA has done in service to children and families, and to weaving our goal of becoming an anti-racist, multicultural organization into all of our efforts moving forward."

Simultaneously, YALA welcomes Tyree Worthy as the new Chair of the Board of Directors following two terms of service by Rite Moisio.

"I'm excited YALA has chosen me for this admirable role.” Worthy said. “I plan to do my part in helping the organization grow. I can't wait to continue the legacy in teaching our future leaders the best parts of art expression."

Artistic expression is permanently intertwined with YALA’s New Orleans legacy. For nearly 60 years the nonprofit has existed to serve New Orleans by inspiring children through arts education. During her 35 years of service to the organization, Rickie Nutik’s leadership facilitated a period of great organizational growth. In that time, YALA would partner with NORDC to reach thousands of children through their summer programs, pursue arts-integration strategies to ensure more students had the opportunity to experience the arts—even if their school could not afford a special instructor—and founded Young Audiences Charter Schools, (YACS) whose mission is to educate the whole child through arts integration and equip creative learners to flourish as leaders in life and learning.

“I am extremely grateful to have spent most of my work career at an organization which strives daily to make learning magic,” Bates said. “Our growth and impact, even during times of pandemic, are direct result of sustained efforts and commitment of past and present board members and staff, as well as the transformative work of hundreds of dedicated teaching artists.”

Since the 2013 founding of YACS at Kate Middleton, the Jefferson Parish school has added a new grade each year. As the YACS students grew, the school itself grew, adding the Little YACS Campus in 2016.

In 2020, YACS opened their state-of-the-art junior and senior high school building, the Burmaster Campus. For the 2021-22 school year YACS adds another first, a new campus in Orleans Parish, YACS at Lawrence D. Crocker. With the exponential growth of Young Audiences Charter Schools, outgoing Chief Executive Officer Rickie Nutik assumes the reigns as Chief Executive Officer of the Young Audiences Charter Association.

Meet YALA’s New Executive Leaders

JENNY JAMES

Jenny James has worked in a variety of capacities at Young Audiences of Louisiana (YALA) since 2008. Through this work she has designed and implemented innovative programming and community partnerships to meet the ever-changing needs of children and families that to date has brought over 5 million dollars of grant funding from the United States Department of Education. Over the years, she has presented on arts-integration, literacy, STEM, family and community engagement, and early childhood education at several national and local conferences. Her guiding principle as a leader is that ALL young people deserve access to a well-rounded, arts rich education and she is committed to weaving diversity, equity, inclusion, and access into the DNA of YALA. Jenny completed the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program and the Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum. She is the founding Vice President of Little League of New Orleans, and serves on the fundraising committee for Friends of the New Orleans Public Library.

RICHARD BATES

A native New Orleanian, Richard began his career at Young Audiences in 1999 as part of a staff of three and has supported organizational growth of programs and operations to the current staff of forty-seven. This includes twenty-eight full time school-based Teaching Artists and Operations Specialists. He has designed and implemented programs supported by the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, the Louisiana Department of Education, and the United States Department of Education. To date Richard has directly supervised over $22 million federal funds for arts-based youth development programs in the region. He has been active in national and state policy related to afterschool and extended learning as a White, Riley, Peterson Fellow and as an Afterschool Alliance Afterschool Ambassador. He currently serves on the leadership team of the Louisiana State Afterschool Network convened by LACAL. In his spare time Richard enjoys writing and recording songs with his local music heroes and coaching baseball and soccer.

TYREE WORTHY

Tyree Worthy is a writer, event curator, and UX designer with a love for community building around the arts. He has planned countless events for young professionals and creatives to connect and collaborate across disciplines and has published three poetry collections of his own. Tyree has been a board member since 2017 and on the special events committee since 2018.