Leslie Hoban Blake
Entertainment Writer and VP of Drama Desk


For more than a decade, Leslie (Hoban) Blake has covered both theater and film in print and on the radio, e.g., WFUVfm/NPR, The Hollywood Reporter, Bambill, Back Stage, as well as online, e.g., www.theatermania.com, http://blackfilm.com, http://offoffoff.com. She currently covers page and stage to screen (Page and Stage is just a jazzier way of saying book and play adaptations to the screen and her Column is Page/Stage to Screen) for Theatermania.com. Leslie recently ended a two and a half year stint as the theater critic for WFUVfm, National Public Radio at Fordham University in New York.

The former Contributing Film Editor of the Angelika Film Bill in New York and Film Editor of Flat Iron Magazine, she has been reviewing film for http://offoffoff.com off and on since 2003. A published and produced playwright and theater director - most recently, Artistic Associate at the Blue Heron Arts Center, is presently first Vice President of the Drama Desk, as well as as well as acting Press Liaison for the SDC Callaway Committee and an active member of The Dramatists Guild, www.dramatistsguild.com, and The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. A former actress, Leslie still proudly maintains her Equity card.

To contact Leslie (Hoban) Blake, please email her at lhobanb@rcn.com

Will Maitland Weiss
Executive Director, Arts & Business Council of New York

Since 2005, Will Maitland Weiss has been the Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council of New York, an arts and business partnership association devoted to stimulating alliances benefiting both the arts and business, as well as their communities. Mr. Weiss oversees the New York programs of Business Volunteers for the Arts, the National Arts Marketing Project, Cultural Tourism re-grants, and the Encore Awards to corporate and arts leaders.

Previously, Mr. Weiss served as Director of The Center for Creative Resources, a nonprofit firm providing development, marketing, and management services to small and midsized arts organizations and individual artists' projects as well as continuing to serve on their board. He was the Vice President of Development and Communications for the New York City Center, successfully increasing its annual fundraising and sales income and securing more than $14 million in capital funding. As Deputy Director of Development for the New York City Opera, he annually raised more than $11 million, overseeing his staff of 14. Will was the Managing Director of CSC Repertory, an off-Broadway theater, as well as spending five years with the American Stage Festival. Frequently lecturing on arts administration at Brooklyn College/City University of NY, Brown University, Williams College, where he completed his undergraduate education, Will received his Master in Fine Arts, (MFA) in stage direction from Brandeis University.

The Arts & Business Council of New York

Serving both the arts and the business communities of New York, The Arts & Business Council of New York (ABC/NY) is committed to reducing the distinction between arts and business. Together, arts and business enhance New York’s economic and intellectual growth, continuing to make New York a world-class city. In 2005, merging with the national organization Americans for the Arts, ABC/NY is both a division of Americans for the Arts and still its own, separately incorporated nonprofit.

Americans for the Arts

As the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America, Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.