Sharon Maier-Kennelly has been a non-profit arts management professional for more than twenty years. In 2004, she became Executive Director of Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington, New York and grew the performing arts seasons from eight to over fifty shows annually in her nearly eleven years in the role. Sharon's other arts roles on Long Island have included General Manager and Director of Programming Initiatives for Tilles Center, as the Event and Gala Producer at Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, and the Adult Events Programmer at the Port Washington Public Library. She served as a Board Member of Long Island Arts Alliance, the Art Guild of Long Island, and a committee member for the Town of North Hempstead’s Art Advisory Council. She continues to work as a consultant with Long Island High School for the Arts (LIHSA), a role she's treasured since December 2016.
In Fall 2019, Sharon and her family relocated to Central Oregon. On March 2, 2020 (now known as just two weeks before the pandemic!), she became the Manager of Corporate Giving for the 460-seat Tower Theatre in Bend. In addition to fundraising in this role, with the blessing of the Long Island-based nonprofit Stage the Change, Sharon had the privilege of organizing the first two western Stage the Change Conferences PNW in 2022 and 2023. The mission of the conference is to inspire high school students to use the performing arts to find their social voice and be catalysts for change.
Most recently, Sharon served for more than two years as the Executive Director of the High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, sharing the organization's belief that everyone deserves good food. She left this role Fall 2025 to join her husband in Barcelona, Spain as he led fifteen students from Central Oregon Community College in a study abroad program for twelve weeks. Back in Bend, Oregon, she started a new role in January 2026 as the Conference Manager with the Arts Schools Network, planning their annual conference for arts educators throughout the United States.
Sharon (who is also a calligrapher) & her husband have three grown children living in Western Massachusetts, Chicago, and Memphis. They love hiking all around Central Oregon, attending performing arts events, visiting the area's museums, and traveling.