November 16, 2023 By South Shore Conservatory
South Shore Conservatory (SSC) welcomed Dr. Joshua Bennett, Mia Antonia, and Dan Palmer to its Board of Trustees at its Annual Meeting on November 14 in Duxbury.
Dr. Bennett, a Braintree resident, is Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT, and former Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He is the author of “The Sobbing School” (Penguin, 2016), “Being Property Once Myself” (Harvard University Press, 2020), “Owed” (Penguin, 2020), “The Study of Human Life” (Penguin, 2022) and “Spoken Word: A Cultural History” (Knopf, 2023).
First introduced to SSC when searching for a Creative Arts Therapy program for his son August Galileo, Dr. Bennett premiered a new poem at SSC’s “An Evening with Creative Arts Therapies” event in September 2022. His interest in SSC is a direct extension of his life as a father, his 14-year-career as an arts educator, and his commitment to creating opportunities for more dynamic, inclusive arts programming here in Massachusetts.
Antonia, a Duxbury resident, is owner and Chief Financial Officer at JLC-Tech LLC, a commercial architectural lighting manufacturer. She has been an entrepreneur since she opened her first business in 1998 in Florence, Italy. After living in Italy for more than a decade, Antonia and her family moved to Duxbury, MA in 2010 where they began their business. Her involvement with South Shore Conservatory began in 2011 when her two oldest daughters joined SSC Children’s Choir and then continued to private instrument instruction and vocal lessons. Mia and her husband Silvio Porciatti became Conservatory Community Council members in 2019, and still serve today. Antonia is a volunteer for the Pembroke High School DECA program, on the advisory committee for South Shore Vo-Tech High School, and a trustee at the Inly School.
Palmer, a Boston resident, is Director, Account Manager at S&P Global. Dan represents the third generation in a musical family that is deeply connected to SSC. He has a strong affinity for the arts, having attended numerous concerts – including many Evenings Under the Stars concerts. Palmer has always had an interest in becoming involved in nonprofits, having volunteered for both the Boys and Girls Club of Boston and SquashBusters, a sports-based youth development program that uses a combination of squash and fitness, academic enrichment, community service and mentoring to improve the lives of Boston, Lawrence and Providence youth. Palmer is interested in leveraging his business background to help SSC with fundraising and development.
SSC President Robert Cinnante said, “I am excited to welcome such a diverse group of individuals to our Board of Trustees. Each of them is dedicated to making South Shore Conservatory an even more vibrant arts community for South Shore residents, and their combined talents and energy will strengthen our foundation and ensure a bright future”
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