As Berks Arts expands its programs, presenting events and creating educational opportunities as well as advocating for the arts in Berks County, the nonprofit has hired two full-time employees to join the executive team. Both individuals will begin on Friday, July 1.
As event operation director, Tish Davis will be responsible for leading operations teams for all Berks Arts events, including Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest, the Reading Blues Fest, and the Bandshell Concert Series. The teams take care of backstage needs such as stage production, hospitality, and transportation. Davis will work closely with Berks Arts' production manager, Gary Spencer.
Amanda Ehst will step in as community programs and office manager. In this role, she will lead Berks Arts' community programming efforts, which include Fast Lane Art, The Art of Jazz, and PA Council on the Arts grant programs. She will also support the organization's educational initiatives through Get JazzED and Music Educators of Berks County (MEBC) scholastic festivals.
Davis, born and raised in Reading and now a resident of West Reading, is no stranger to Berks Jazz Fest, having volunteered for it in both the hospitality and production departments for 18 years. As she retires from three decades at R.M. Palmer Candy Company, she will continue her second career behind the scenes at music events. In recent years, Davis has also worked as a stage manager at the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Fest and the Low Country Jazz Fest in Charleston, Va., through the Atlanta Backline Company and the Carolina Backline Company.
Ehst, a former music teacher, band director and, more recently, events administrator, lives with her family on the Ehst Hillside Farm in the Boyertown area. During her career in education in Pennsburg, Fairfax County, Va., and Roxboro, N.C., Ehst taught music to children of all ages. As an events administrator, she has balanced a variety of duties, including coordinating volunteers and travel, managing event timelines, and planning logistics locally and across the nation. When the COVID pandemic caused the cancellation of live events in 2020, she continued to work as a preschool teacher in Boyertown and in assorted substitute and part-time positions, including helping with the Boyertown Area High School band.
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