Executive Director

For more than 17 years, Anne has been a dedicated advocate for nonprofit and arts organizations in Northwest Arkansas.  Claiming dual hometowns of both Memphis and Atlanta, Anne moved to Northwest Arkansas in 1999 to attend the University of Arkansas.  She holds a Bachelor of Art in Journalism, specializing in Advertising and Public Relations.  

 Anne worked in development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of NWA, Single Parent Scholarship Fund of NWA and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  Most recently, she worked in high-profile event management and operations for major festivals, such as The Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C. and Bentonville Film Festival.  

At age six, Anne made her debut at the West Memphis Community Theater in a production of South Pacific.  She later realized that rather than making art herself, she prefers to make art happen for artists and communities.  As her experience in the art world grew, so did her love of visual art.  From contemporary works from Dan Jameison to original pen and ink works from her great-great grandmother, Anne’s eclectic collection of original artwork floods her walls.  

Anne participates on a number of local nonprofit committees and serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, NWA Chapter, where she is currently Co-Chair of National Philanthropy Day.  

She loves to talk music, plants and Razorbacks and looks forward to talking more about the importance of engaging in the arts!

Program & Space Engager

Her first name is pronounced DA-kree. She is inspired when surrounded by creatives and feels her best when sharing laughs, drinks, and/or food with others. Dacre once shared a pile of chicken wings with the Smashing Pumpkins in Dallas at Lollapolooza. She holds a BA in English from The University of Oklahoma, and taught English as a Second Language in Teajon, South Korea for a year. Dacre likes to mow her yard, enjoys visiting on porches, and the only thing she will refuse to eat is ketchup.

Production Coordinator 

Maddy has always had a passion for storytelling. The theatre has served as a common thread throughout all of her childhood, high school years, college, and beyond. Maddy spent two years studying Theatre Arts with a directing concentration at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. Her studies were deepened by serving as Assistant Director on three mainstage productions, including in the historic Merle Reskin Theatre. Following her days in Chicago, she participated in the Disney College Program, serving as a park entry cast member at Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World. 

When the pandemic hit, Maddy finished her undergraduate studies with the University of Arkansas, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. She then looked inward to see what she wanted to do next, and, as counterintuitive as it may initially seem, law school felt like the next step. Currently in her third and final year, Maddy is a law student who sees her legal studies as a natural extension of her love of storytelling. The Venn-Diagram of law and theatre include rhetoric, advocacy, perspective framing, and narrative. 

Maddy sees her role with Arts One Presents as an opportunity to use her legal studies and type-A personality to help facilitate the creation of art. In addition to her work as Production Coordinator, she has also had the privilege of serving as the stage manager on AOP's last two summer musicals: Sweeney Todd and Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 

The business of show business is unveiling itself as more of a passion every day for Maddy, and the work AOP does in creating inclusive spaces for collaboration, creation, and community building is in perfect alignment with her perspectives on the power of art. It is through art and storytelling that we learn empathy, and Maddy is proud to pave a career that helps facilitate that empathy vessel.