Director

As Director of 92Y’s Center for Arts Learning & Leadership (CALL), Ava has assembled a dynamic team of arts and education specialists to design and implement 92Y's Creative Youth Development initiatives. Each year, CALL connects thousands of young people across NYC with celebrated writers, musicians, dancers and visual artists from around the world through dynamic, multi-week school-based residencies and events at our historic cultural center. Ava has designed 92Y’s pillar Creative Youth Development programs, including the Teen Producers apprenticeship program and the Concerts Schools Project, which introduces music students at NYC public high schools to the performing artists featured in 92Y’s renowned Concerts Series.

In 2019, she created and produced NYC's first-ever Teen Arts Week, a celebration of youth arts access and engagement for teens featuring free events at 32 citywide and community-based NYC cultural organizations, including Carnegie Hall, Mark Morris Dance Group, Urban Word NYC, Bronx Documentary Center and Snug Harbor Cultural Center.

From 2011-2015, she was a member of the artistic team in 92Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts, where she co-produced two literary exhibitions—Dylan Thomas in America and Love the Words: A 75th-Anniversary Celebration of the Unterberg Poetry Center—and oversaw administration of 92Y’s distinguished Lyrics & Lyricists: American Songbook Series.

Before joining 92Y, she was a researcher and project manager for poet John Ashbery. In 2016, she received a French Voices Award for her translation of David Dumortier’s novel Travesti. Her writing and translation have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Conjunctions and La Revue des lettres modernes.

A proud product of NYC public schools, Ava believes that access to high-quality arts is a right not a privilege—and that the tremendous range of knowledge and skills that people gain through arts education profoundly benefits their intellectual, social and emotional growth. She is thrilled that her elementary and high schools participate in 92Y’s educational programs!

Associate Director

Jennifer Dayton, Associate Director of 92Y’s Center for Arts Learning and Leadership is a graduate from the State University of New York College at Brockport where she studied Business Administration and Dance. Jennifer has worked with the Arts and Cultural Council of Greater Rochester and was an Artist Services Representative at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. In 2014 she joined the Education staff at the Mark Morris Dance Group as the Education Programs Manager; managing and growing 28 community partnerships. Jennifer joined the Center for Arts Learning and Leadership in 2016 and since has created new robust programs in dance and visual art expanding upon the centers vision to introduce students to live professional performances. Aside from her arts administrative work, she has worked as a dance teaching artist and has danced with Bill Evans Dance Company, Nicole Kaplan|Mapping and Justin Bass Dance. Jennifer also currently serves as Development Manager for Vanessa VanWormer Dance, a bi-coastal contemporary dance company presenting a diverse range of repertory, including multi-media works with live music and visual artists.

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Teen Programs Manager

Maya graduated with a B.A. from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. At Gallatin, Maya's concentration in sociology and performance studies focused on The Performance of Social Change: The Dialogue Between Individuals and Collectives. Maya joins 92nd Street Y from The Public Theater, where she assisted the Development team. In addition to her arts administration work, Maya has worked with New York City public schools through service learning courses and an AmeriCorps teaching fellowship. These experiences inspired Maya’s interest in arts education as a tool for personal expression and community engagement — she is thrilled to be supporting the exciting K-12 programming at the Center for Arts Learning & Leadership.

Program Coordinator

Originally from Venezuela, Gerardo Morantes is an arts administrator and content creator. He has an Arts Administration degree from The University of Puerto Rico and a Social Communication degree from the University Rafael Belloso Chacin of Venezuela. His work has focused on program coordination and individual giving for cultural arts organizations, including UpBeat NYC, Museo del Barrio, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Centro de Bellas Artes Maracaibo (Venezuela), and the University of Puerto Rico's Arts Manager graduate program.