Staff – Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation

Demetrius Fuller

Chief Executive Officer & Artistic Officer

The 2020-2021 season marks Demetrius Fuller’s fifteenth as Founding Music & Artistic Director of Florida’s Sinfonia Gulf Coast. Maestro Fuller has helped redefine the cultural and arts education landscape of Northwest Florida by offering inspiring and artistically high-caliber performances, exciting critics and patrons alike, as well as championing arts education and music in the schools by providing outreach opportunities to thousands of students. In November 2020, as the organization was completing its 25th anniversary, Fuller was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation. Known as a visionary and forward thinker, Fuller will work closely with the board of directors of MKAF and Sinfonia Gulf Coast to create a partnership that will transform the MKAF land in to the full cultural and performing and arts education facility envisioned by the late Destin matriarch Mattie Kelly.

A versatile conductor, Mr. Fuller has been chosen to work with some of the world’s most prestigious conductors and orchestras. Mr. Fuller is an award recipient from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, the Werner Foundation, and the International Music Foundation. Fuller trained at the prestigious University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, receiving both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees.

As an accomplished clarinetist, Mr. Fuller has performed in the Dame Myra Hess Chamber Music Series, sponsored by the International Music Foundation and broadcast live on Chicago’s WFMT 98.7 FM. Festival appearances include the Opera Theater of Lucca (Italy), David Oistrakh (Estonia), Aspen, Cabrillo and Eastern Music Festival (USA). He has been invited to work with conductors Gustav Meier, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Charles Dutoit, Daniel Lewis, Marin Alsop, Neeme Järvi, Jorma Panula, and the late Robert Shaw. Fuller has been fortunate to present and collaborate with multiple icons in the music industry including Roberta Flack, Bernadette Peters, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, Vanessa Williams, Sharon Isbin, Chris Brubeck and Pink Martini, among others.

An advocate of contemporary music, Fuller has premiered, commissioned and/or collaborated with composers such as Augusta Read-Thomas, Dorothy Hindman, Thomas Schneller, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Joel Hoffman, Steven Winteregg, Tan Dun, giving the Southeastern U.S. premier of his Crouching Tiger Concerto and Chris Brubeck, presenting the Southeastern U.S. premier of both his violin concerto Spontaneous Combustion and symphonic tribute Ansel Adams: America, which was co-composed with his father, the late Dave Brubeck. During the 2013-2014 season, Fuller lead the Southeast U.S. premier of Identity – Zhongshan Zhuang, co-composed by Victor Cheng and Michael Gordon Shapiro. In 2014, Fuller and Sinfonia co-commissioned and performed the U.S. premiere of Chris Brubeck and Guillaume Saint-James Brothers in Arts and the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s full orchestration of his electric violin concerto Seeing is Believing.

Abroad, Fuller was invited several times by Maestro Kurt Masur to conduct the l’Orchestre Nationale de France (Paris) in a set of conductor readings. Fuller spent two seasons in 2005-06 as principal guest conductor and conducting pedagogue in Brazil at the Festival of the Mountains in Poços de Caldas, followed by his July 2007 invitation as one of two conductors selected world-wide to conduct the Iraqi National Symphony and three other Iraqi orchestras in a groundbreaking Unity Academy in Erbil, Northern Iraq sponsored by American Voices and the U.S. Department of State.

In Northwest Florida, Fuller serves as a Trustee of the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation and is a member of the board of the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center. He is a past board member of Alaqua Animal Refuge, Cultural Arts Alliance, Okaloosa Arts Alliance and is a past chair of the American Cancer Society’s Cattle Barons’ Ball and continues to serve as a grant panelist for the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. In 2009, New York City-based Musicians For Harmony appointed Maestro Fuller as one of three Artistic Advisors, an honor shared with musical luminaries Arnold Steinhardt of the renowned Guarneri String Quartet and violinist Cho-Liang Lin.

Deb Nissley

Director of Operations

In 1997, Deb served as an administrative volunteer that developed into a 26-year career as MKAF’s Director of Operations. Deb’s administrative and operational experience spans over 40 years from advertising, fundraising, special event planning, membership to volunteer development. Deb serves as Producer of MKAF’s annual Festival of the Arts. Under her leadership the Festival has enjoyed a waiting list for exhibiting artists and record attendance. During her tenure, MKAF has presented nearly 300 live music concerts featuring premier local, regional and national artists. Deb’s role at MKAF is usually representing the organization on the front line among its members and volunteers.

Melanie Moore

Director of Education & Community Engagement

Melanie is the Education Director for the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation. With 19 years of experience in nonprofits, cultural institutions, and as an art educator, she continues to further her mission for facilitating arts education for people of all ages and abilities. Under her direction, MKAF’s Community Outreach programs have served nearly 50,000 K-12 students, children and adults with special needs, at-risk populations, and active duty and veteran military with visible and invisible injuries in Walton and Okaloosa Counties.

Melanie received her Master of Arts degree in Humanities with a focus on “Texts and Images” from the University of Houston – Clear Lake. She also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas, with a major in Art History. Always an arts advocate, Melanie has served as an adjunct at University of Houston Clear Lake; and taught Pre-K through High School students in public and private schools. Melanie is also passionate about the Zentangle drawing method and is a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT).

Beth Clavier

Director of Events & Patron Services

A native of the Emerald Coast, Beth Clavier feels a great connection to our area and is happy to be back home, doing what she loves. Having had a career in entertainment spanning over two decades, the industry has taken her far and full circle. From her humble beginnings as a 20-year-old theater volunteer, to managing the annual marquis events at NBC Universal in Orlando, to opening a dynamic entertainment resort in Singapore, Clavier is thrilled to be a full-time Emerald Coast resident again.

Her early career included working for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), staging a range of large-scale productions including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, the Ice! sculpture event for Gaylord Palms and well over 100 live music concerts. In her previous role with Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, Clavier was on the opening team as an Entertainment Production Manager for the resort as a whole, as well as the Universal Studios Singapore theme park, S.E.A. Aquarium as well as the Maritime Museum within it.

Clavier says that she lives to see people enjoying themselves and strives to create and execute events that help people escape, while at the same time benefiting our community by raising funds to expose our local children to quality cultural arts experiences. You can find Clavier behind the scenes as the Production Manager for Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation as well.

Adventure and travel is how this event planner recharges, as she is always on a mission to experience something new. She really enjoys finding the solace in nature with her daughter Haegen, and loves spending time with her family when she’s not behind the scenes at your favorite event.

Zandra Wolfgram

Director of Marketing & Communications

As a marketing communication professional for more than 30 years, Zandra has promoted the performing arts in Cleveland, cultural tourism in New Orleans; and hotels, resorts, and restaurants throughout Northwest Florida. A passionate arts advocate, she launched her career promoting the performing arts for the Cleveland Playhouse, Theatre League of Cleveland and Great Lakes Theatre. In New Orleans, she was on a two-member team for Arts Tourism Partnership, a national cultural arts pilot program. After relocating to Northwest Florida in 1999, she led the marketing/PR efforts to open resorts, hotels, restaurants, retail stores, golf courses and mixed-use centers. She launched award-winning brand campaigns, established a PR division for a major resort and concepted a magazine, newspaper and television channel — all of which were award winning.

A writer who holds a journalism degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, Zandra held the editorship for Emerald Coast magazine for seven years and was a senior writer for both Tallahassee and 850 Business magazines. Her byline has appeared on destination travel stories for dozens of resort publications, Forbes Travel, Visit Florida and VisitSouth.com, for which she was the Destin/Fort Walton Beach Insider.

A founding member and past president of the Northwest Florida Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations, her work has earned more than 50 industry awards.

An avid arts advocate, Wolfgram supports national art causes such as Musical Theatre Project, Costume Industry Coalition, and Americans for the Arts. Locally, she served on the Emerald Coast Theatre Company board (2004-2022), and is a proud member of Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation, the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County and the Arts & Design Society of Fort Walton Beach.
She lives with her husband on a 3-mile barrier island, where she enjoys “shabby chic-ing” vintage furniture, frequenting festivals and kicking back with her sullen bulldog, Hapi.

Annalise Dedicke

Administrative & Programs Manager, Executive Assistant to CEO

Annalise S.R. Dedicke began her love of the arts in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a young violin student rapidly progressing to First Chair in her school orchestra. As a registration and trade show volunteer, she honed her organizational skills while working with Visit Cheyenne, the convention and visitor’s bureau. Dedicke moved to Boston in 2017 for college, working toward a double major in Marketing and English. She continued her education at Northwest Florida State College while working at the Frances Roy Agency as the Event and Office Coordinator.   A fanatic for logistical coordination, Dedicke executed events such as J. Leon Gallery Sip N’ Strolls and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast Foodie Festivals. She believes in the small details that make the world turn and the power of a strong work ethic. ]

In 2021, this mentality led her to the innovative team at Sinfonia Gulf Coast as Administrative and Programs Coordinator. In 2022, she is pioneering a dual role as Administrative and Programs Coordinator for both Sinfonia Gulf Coast and the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation.

Dedicke resides in Niceville, Florida, with her energetic pup, Joseph Talon. In her free time, she can be found on BookTok as a reviewer of literary fiction.