April Williams

President & Founder, MAP

April Williams, a native Los Angeles Arts Education activist, currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Musicians at Play Foundation. She has held that position for seven years and is responsible for the artistic oversight and coordination of virtual and live public performances, the MAP Mentor Orchestra’s overall strategic and operational plan, year-round programs, educational outreach, and community involvement. In addition, Williams oversees the training programs for the direct internal organizational processes and infrastructure, and is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing operational facets of the annual budget. She also monitors the quality of program execution and provides expert guidance on project management and personnel performance, as well as the organization’s marketing, communications, public relations, production, orchestra operations, media, diversity, and inclusion initiatives.

Williams has a gift for building audiences and bringing communities together through arts and culture, education, and diverse partnerships. The variety and depth of musical acts, from intimate 3-piece combos to 23-piece big bands and orchestras, keeps serious and casual music listeners coming back for more.

Among Williams’ successes was her tenure as an estate agent for Prudential Realty where her yearly sales topped the $40 million mark. In addition, she was a top producer, a training director, and a member of the Chairman’s Circle Gold Division for 10 years.  In 2008, when the financial crisis resulted in evictions and loss, April provided live music as a healing source by bringing Los Angeles communities together. April is the creator of the Red-Carpet Jazz Series for Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City, producing over 2,000 concerts in Los Angeles between 2008-2014. An advocate for live music, education and LA musicians, April’s series created over 20,000 live performance jobs for musicians, vocalists, music educators, and sound engineers.

She is responsible for dozens of groundbreaking artistic initiatives that include the launch of five new virtual learning programs, a virtual orchestra and vocal series, major multi-disciplinary projects, and dozens of live professional performances and community events. April’s tenure with Musicians at Play has been defined by her close relationships with such prominent musicians and composers as John Williams, Michael Giacchino and her husband, veteran studio percussionist Don Williams, who has appeared on thousands of film and television soundtracks, popular music recordings, and original cast albums over the past four decades. He is also the brother of the world-renowned, Oscar-winning film composer, John Williams. Generations of Williams-family musicians have been a vibrant force in the classical, pop and film music culture since 1925.

Williams is a life-long Southern California resident and, together with her husband Don, have raised six children.

Jamie Young-Eke

Vice President, MAP
Senior Account Manager, Entercom

Jamie Young-Eke has been a successful advertising, sales, marketing and account manager in the radio Industry for over 32 years. She currently holds the position of Senior Account Manager at Entercom Communications (formerly CBS Radio). Young-Eke attended UCLA and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson California. She currently sits on several boards of non-profit organizations including Musicians at Play and National College Resources Foundation.

Young-Eke has been married to her Husband Stanley for over 22 years and together they have raised 5 children. During her leisure time she enjoys dancing, going to the movies and attending concerts.

Young-Eke says, “I have a passion for live music, the arts & live entertainment. Musicians at Play provides me the opportunity to engage in my passion while doing something good for underrepresented youth in our communities.”

Nicolina Logan

Secretary, MAP
Professional Musician

Nicolina Logan is a Los Angeles based clarinetist. Active as a chamber musician, soloist, freelancer, and teacher, she enjoys collaborating with composers and other artists on projects musical and otherwise, forging exciting partnerships all across the theater, dance, media, literary, and visual arts landscape. A native of Burbank, CA, she is the co-founder and co-director of the Burbank Chamber Music Society, a collective that celebrates the intersection of music, friendship, and the bonds that build community.

An enthusiastic advocate for the arts, Logan serves as Secretary of the Musicians at Play Foundation and is the facilitator of MAP’s Junior Board—guiding youth of fourteen to eighteen years of age in governance and non-profit leadership projects through music. She is honored to serve her community through MAP’s inspired mission—and is proud to see MAP’s innovative, expansive initiatives change the lives of students all over Los Angeles, including those in the very same school music programs she attended.

Logan received her Master of Music Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was a recipient of the President’s Award in Achievement and Leadership, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Music Degree from the University of California-Los Angeles.

Logan says, “MAP is remarkable to me in that it takes an ever-curious, ever-compassionate approach to the planning, development, and production of each project under its mission–making sure the voices of all involved are not only heard, but amplified and embraced every step of the way. I find this mindful environment not only extraordinarily meaningful and valuable, but also very exciting–and find great joy in working with people who, in agreement or compromise, always find time to prioritize kindness.”

Staci Griesbach

Board Member, MAP
Professional Musician, Producer

Staci Griesbach is a Los Angeles-based vocalist specializing in reimagining the Great American Songbook of Nashville in the style of jazz. Griesbach just released her sophomore album called “My Shania Twain Songbook,” a tribute to the iconic pop-country singer-songwriter’s breakout album The Woman In Me. Griesbach’s debut album in 2019 was “My Patsy Cline Songbook” and garnered attention and performances at iconic venues including Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and Catalina Jazz Club.

Leveraging more than 20+ years in the entertainment marketing business, Griesbach consults for entertainment clients focusing on strategy, PR, marketing communications, casting and production. Most recently, Griesbach was Vice President of Worldwide Publicity at Sony Pictures Entertainment, where for nearly 15 years at the studio, Griesbach led publicity campaigns across the globe for major motion picture and television properties.

Raised on a working farm in rural Wisconsin but now living in Santa Monica, California, Griesbach holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, still loves animals, cooking, and traveling, yet sitting down at her piano is where her heart lives. Griesbach has been a board member of Musicians at Play since 2015.

Griesbach says, “Music education played such a huge role in my youth and development all the way through school, and I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to work with MAP and continue to keep music education top of mind in the community.”

Steven Klein

Board Member, MAP
Education Specialist

Education – Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, University of Texas- Arlington, Economics minor, Professional Clear Teaching Certificate, National University, Ryan Designated Subjects Credential, UCLA, various coursework at LATTC, Pepperdine, Cornell and MBA class at CIAM.

Work Experience – Civil and Human Rights Work, radio show on KENR Radio, Houston, TX, managed book stores in North Texas as a turnaround specialist, taught in LAUSD for 11 years as 9th grade English teacher at Dorsey and Jefferson High Schools, taught ESL in night school throughout South-Central LA and Southgate and Gardena. Became Union Rep for United Teachers Los Angeles for 16 years. Negotiated three first contracts at unionized charter schools.

Susan Francisco

Chairman, MAP Advisory Board
Warner Bros. TV Music Contractor

Susan Francisco is a music professional working in television contract administration for nearly 15 years at Warner Bros. with another 6 years at a well-established independent music publishing company.

Susan works very closely with all of the local union affiliates, in order to ensure studio compliance, and to regularly review and update best practices with her team. When seeking the opportunity to give back to her community, Susan found that her natural inclination was something in the arts. Musicians at Play was the perfect culmination of her love of live music and advocacy in arts education.

Susan currently resides in Burbank with her husband of 21 years and their two boys.

Susan says, “As a patron of the arts and music industry veteran, I also deeply appreciate the personal fulfillment I receive as I watch MAP’s reach grow.”

Wendy Stackhouse

Board Member, MAP
Educational Services Representative, Los Angeles/Ventura
Bertrand's Music

Wendy Stackhouse earned her Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theater from the University of Minnesota and did her post-graduate work in Voice & Opera at the Mannes College of Music in NYC. She spent many years singing in New York, including in Baroque and contemporary opera productions with Measured Breaths and Jazz with composer Paul Knopf before moving to CA to raise a family. She has also recorded the Art Songs of LA composer John Mitchell including Op. 104, 4 Poems by Sylvia Plath. In California, she has also performed with the Pacific Chorale and is now a member of VocArte, a small acapella choir based in Burbank, which happened because of a Musicians at Play (MAP) event. Thanks, MAP!

Currently, Stackhouse is the Manager of the Bertrand’s Music store in Burbank, as well as an Educational Services Representative for the company, serving Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. She also enjoys volunteering with local music organizations and spent 6 years as a committed (obsessed) parent volunteer with the John Burroughs High School Vocal Music Association, 3 years as a Powerhouse and Tech Krew Mama.

In her free time, Stackhouse is an avid reader of literary and science fiction, a knitter and spinner of yarn. She lives in Burbank with her husband, 2 adult children, 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Stackhouse says, “I will never forget my first experience with MAP, and the amazing concert our local high schools did together after being mentored. What an experience our students had as well as the audience!”

Sean Hughes

Board Member, MAP

Sean Hughes, a founding member of Musicians At Play, is a Hollywood native, the third generation in a show business family. In a fifty-year career, he worked in many areas of entertainment–theatre, film, music, recording, set decoration, research and television. During high school summers, Hughes had two jobs. During the day, at Warner Bros/Reprise Records, he mailed Frank Sinatra albums and, increasingly, rock and roll “singles” to nationwide radio stations. At night, a post at the Hollywood Bowl’s stage door enabled him to meet Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Rudolph Nureyev and others, and to enjoy classical, jazz and pop music, including appearances by The Beatles.

Following three years in college, where he was the school’s newspaper editor, Hughes began a five-year stint with The Smothers Brothers as a T.V. production assistant, road manager, and as the personal assistant to Tom Smothers. A seven-month hiatus in London, in 1972-73, was spent doing research for screenplays about Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. On his return to Hollywood, Hughes became a stagehand which soon led to his long-running position at CBS-Television City: for more than three decades, he was the production coordinator on “The Price Is Right”, in charge of all the game show’s prizes.

Now retired, Hughes spends his time writing occasional on-line music and film reviews. Since 2019, Sean has assisted his friend, the legendary composer, arranger, band leader Bill “Willis” Holman, who is on M.A.P.’s advisory board. He also works backstage at the several live concert events M.A.P. normally produces each year.

Hughes says, “My reward for my involvement with Musicians At Play is seeing the new confidence and improved skills exhibited by high school students after our professional mentors provide them with private and group coaching.

Jim Golden

Board Member, MAP
VP, Global Sales Flentis Corp.

Jim has been an executive in the manufacturing and software industry for over 30 years and is currently the VP of Global Sales for Flentis Corporation. He graduated from Lehigh University with degrees in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering.

He has been married for 26 years, and he and his wife have raised two daughters; one is an actress and musician, and the other is getting her Master’s degree in International Development. When it is time to relax, Jim and Nancy love travel, food, and live music, and Jim is also a competitive sailor.

Golden says, “I have a deep interest in supporting the arts in education and believe that music in education provides far-reaching benefits to both the students and the community. Involvement with Musicians at Play enables me to give back to the community and to support music in our schools.”