Dr. Sonia James-Wilson

Founder and President

Dr. Sonia James-Wilson has enjoyed a long and varied career in urban education and the arts for over 35 years. Her experiences include service as a classroom teacher, school director, college and university professor, researcher, consultant and teaching artist. In 2008, Dr. James-Wilson established Catalyst Research and Development to engage educators in the use of equity-focused, culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy in order to increase student motivation and academic achievement. Over the years as Principal Consultant, her areas of specialization have included program development, teacher leadership, school improvement, redesign and restructuring, strategic planning, program evaluation, and arts education.

As an undergraduate, Dr. James-Wilson double-majored in Music (with a concentration in vocal performance and ethnomusicology), and Early Childhood/Elementary Education. She went on to earn master’s degrees in both Elementary Education and Educational Administration, and she holds a doctorate degree from the University of Toronto in Educational Thought and Policy Studies, with a concentration in educational administration.

Dr. James-Wilson is permanently certified to teach grades 1 to 6 in New York State, and she worked for 7 years as a classroom teacher of children in kindergarten and grade 1 and grades 3–6. Additionally, she has taught creative movement and visual arts to children in grades K–6, and photography to youth in grades 6–8.

As a Program Director, Dr. James-Wilson provided leadership for the Ontario Arts Education Institute, a collaboration between York University in Toronto, the Toronto District School Board, and the Royal Ontario Museum. She has also served as the Director of the Young Musicians Institute, a component of the Gateways Music Festival which is held in Rochester, New York.

As a professional development facilitator, Dr. James-Wilson provided services to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Ifetayo Cultural Arts Facility, Dream Yard Project (all in New York City), and the Rochester office of the National Aesthetic Education Institute. She has also conducted program evaluation and facilitated strategic planning for various arts centers including Dream Yard Project (South Bronx, NY), NYC Kids Project (New York, NY), Brooklyn Information and Culture (BRIC) (Brooklyn, NY), and the Flower City Arts Center, and ROCmusic both in Rochester, New York.

To help inform arts education policy and practice, Dr. James-Wilson served on the Arts in Education Roundtable for the Arts and Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, and as a member of various arts organizations including the National Arts Education Association, the Performing Arts Organizations Network for Education, and the Arts Education Council of Ontario. Currently, she is a board member and Finance Committee Chair for the Gateways Music Festival, which connects and supports professional classical musicians of African descent through an annual festival that includes chamber and full orchestra performances in concert halls, community centers, houses of worship and homeless shelters.

Dr. James-Wilson has continued her work in higher education as a visiting scholar in the School of Education and Social Sciences at the University of Embu in Kenya. She is a lead partner in The ArtLab Project which is a collaboration between Catalyst Research and Development, the University of Embu, and Kangaru District Education Board Primary School, and co-director of the ArtLab Research Consortium. The ArtLab facility provides a space for educators across the region of East Africa to increase their capacity design and implement arts-based competency-based curriculum, and supports empirical research in the area of child psychology in order to inform national educational policy.

Board of Directors

Dr. Lynn Astarita Gatto, Board Secretary

As a thirty-six-year veteran elementary schoolteacher in the Rochester City School District, Dr. Lynn Gatto has been recognized both locally and nationally for her achievements as an outstanding urban educator. Most notably, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the Toyota Tapestry Award, and the Disney American Teacher award. In 2004, she was named the New York State Teacher of the Year, and her innovative teaching practices were the subject of the PBS documentary “A Life Outside.”

Dr. Gatto has edited books, published in both clinical and scholarly journals and developed award-winning classroom materials. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Warner School of Education/University of Rochester and Director of the Early Childhood and Childhood Program in the department of Teaching and Curriculum. As an extension to her directorship, she also co-founded and directed the first Horizons Summer Enrichment affiliate program on a higher education campus for 135 Rochester City School District students in grades K–8.

Ms. Erica Finch, Board Treasurer

A Summa Cum Laude graduate of SUNY Geneseo and a journeyman construction laborer for 16 years, Erica Finch retired in her mid-thirties to start her own home-based business as she shifted to a more meditative lifestyle. Her business is beginning its seventh year of successful, and growing operation, and her personal meditative pursuits have brought her into close affiliation with the Springwater Center for Meditative Inquiry.

Ms. Finch's meditative pursuits have brought into keen focus the malleability of identity, and the ways in which it can be molded and shaped by our actions, attitudes and experiences. Though she almost never experienced the arts as a child, exposure later in life has unlocked doors to new worlds for Ms. Finch. Her firsthand experiences have contributed to her strong belief that the arts can nurture and promote the development of identities that are not fixed or static, but able to adapt in ways that foster positive personal and community growth. As result of her study of psychology and her broader life experiences, Ms. Finch believes that, with a few basic tools, all people can come to recognize the fluid nature of identity development, and learn to skillfully navigate the social influences that can either harm or empower. As a member of the ArtID International board, Ms. Finch is excited about helping to provide opportunities that foster growth and creativity for children and young people, especially those with limited access to the arts.

Programming Assistants

Ms. Josemarie Nyagah, Kenyan Assistant

Josemarie Nyagah is an experienced photographer and filmmaker who has earned a degree in Cinematography from the AFDA Film School in South Africa, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Africa Nazarene University in Kenya. She is a native of Embu, Kenya, and fluent in both Kiswahili and English. Ms. Nyagah’s work in the community has included programs that have trained youth in filmmaking as a way to explore and strengthen their talents, and she is currently documenting the histories, traditions and cultures of the Aembu and Kirinyaga communities through interviews with senior citizens from both counties.

Liliana a Secas, Mexican Assistant

Liliana a Secas completed her studies in photography studies at Georgian College in Ontario, Canada, and Escuela Activa de Fotografía in Mexico City, where she majored in film and analog printing techniques. In 2018, her work was selected for the first edition of “JPG Book” (Spain), which featured emergent and contemporary photographers, and in 2020, she participated in “BADA Mx” during Mexico City’s Art Week.

Ms. Secas currently works as a photographer and photo content reviewer in Mexico City, and has received several commissions for portraits, architectural photography, video, and photo restoration. She also works on her personal projects, and continuously exhibits her work at art galleries and cultural events in Mexico.