OVI Webinar Series: Expert Insights, Live & On-Demand
Stay ahead with our new, free educational webinars, thoughtfully crafted to explore the current landscape of arts administration, nonprofit leadership, volunteer management and opera advocacy. Scroll down to register, and for more information on our webinar topics and panelists!
- Learn from Industry Leaders: Get top-tier insights from our expert speakers.
- Interactive Q&A Sessions: Get your specific questions answered in real-time.
- Flexible Learning: Access live sessions or watch recordings on your own
schedule.
Participants who attended all three 2025 events live received an OVI Certificate of Completion in Volunteer Advocacy—a distinguished acknowledgment from Opera Volunteers International, celebrating your commitment to strengthening and growing the opera volunteer community.
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 1:00 PM EST
Top to Bottom: Refreshing Your Arts Advocacy Toolkit
Featuring:
President/CEO OPERA America, Michael J. Bobbitt
Senior Manager of Government Affairs and Civic Practice, OPERA America, Megan Carpenter
Manager of Volunteer Engagement, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Tyler McKenzie
Arts advocacy has never been more urgent—or more complex. As federal, state, and local policy
landscapes shift, volunteer leaders must be ready to engage with clarity, confidence, and purpose.
Join OPERA America and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for a timely, practical webinar that refreshes your advocacy toolkit from the top down. Our expert panel will share real world strategies for building relationships, communicating impact, and engaging decision-makers at every level, grounded in today’s realities and proven practices across the opera community.
Meet Our Panelists
Michael J. Bobbitt: President/CEO, OPERA America
Michael J. Bobbitt joined OPERA America as President and CEO in January 2026. A nationally recognized arts executive, producer, and artist, his career bridges public policy, organizational transformation, and creative practice.
Before OPERA America, Bobbitt served as Executive Director of the Mass Cultural Council (Boston) from 2021–2025, Massachusetts’ state arts agency. As the Commonwealth’s highest-ranking public official for arts and culture, he led strategy, operations, and cross-sector partnerships supporting a $29.7B creative economy. During his tenure, the agency secured $60.1M in COVID relief, increased state appropriations from $18.2M to $26.9M, and helped embed arts and culture in statewide health, education, and economic development policy.Prior to public service, Bobbitt led two producing theaters. As Producing Artistic Director of New Repertory Theatre (2019–2021), he repositioned the organization around inclusion and community engagement while growing audiences, earned revenue, contributed income, and board giving. From 2007–2019, as Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre MTC (Maryland), he drove significant audience growth, quadrupled fundraising, commissioned more than 50 new works, and pioneered sensory-friendly/autism-inclusive performances that became a national model.
As a playwright, director, and choreographer, Bobbitt’s credits include works such as Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, Garfield: The Musical with Cattitude, Jumanji, Make Way for Ducklings, and Monster Mash, the Musical, among others. His work has received multiple Helen Hayes nominations, including for the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical.
Bobbitt studied trumpet and voice in college, later trained in theater (CAP21/NYU Tisch, AMDA) and dance (The Washington Ballet), holds an M.B.A. in arts innovation and a B.A. summa cum laude, and has completed executive education at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and National Arts Strategies. He has taught at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Howard University, George Washington University, and other institutions.
Megan Carpenter: Director of Government Affairs and Civic Practice, OPERA America
Megan Carpenter, Director of Government Affairs and Civic Practice, joined OPERA America in 2021. In addition to managing OPERA America’s national advocacy initiatives, they oversee the LGBTQIA+ Opera Network and the national anti-harassment program, Opera RESPECTS. Megan also serves as the Organizational Green Captain for OPERA America, collaborating with the Broadway Green Alliance.
Tyler McKenzie, Manager of Volunteer Engagement, Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Tyler McKenzie is an opera administrator and tenor dedicated to making opera accessible to all. He currently serves as Vice President of Membership & Outreach for OVI and as Manager of Volunteer Engagement at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Previously, he served on the Board of Directors of the Clarksville Community Concert Association (Clarksville, TN), where he oversaw front-of-house operations, supervised volunteers, and supported marketing and graphic design efforts. Tyler was a founding member of the National Opera Association’s Student Programming Committee and served as the Mid-South Regional Governor. His professional experience also includes stage directing, stage management, set design, vocal coaching, and advertising.
Tyler earned both his Master of Music (2020) and Bachelor of Music (2018) in Vocal Performance from Austin Peay State University and proudly earned his A.F.A from Chattanooga State Community College. During his undergrad, he founded Aspiring Vocal Performers, a student organization focused on increasing students’ access to professional resources and funds for auditions.
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Tyler has performed with Opera Tennessee, the Chattanooga Symphony Chorus, the Nashville Symphony Chorus, and Chattanooga Choral Arts. Outside of his professional work, Tyler enjoys researching historic small-town opera houses, traveling, and hopes to one day visit every Major League Baseball stadium and U.S. National Park.
Want to see recordings of our 2025 sessions, focused on Volunteer Management?
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