Lizzie Emmons

The Jackson Arts Council is very pleased to introduce Lizzie Emmons as their new Executive Director. Emmons will start in her new role at the Jackson Arts Council on Monday, August 2nd.

Emmons is a passionate advocate for the arts with prior experience in arts administration, graphic design, education, therapy, and both music performance and visual art. In her current role as Programs and External Operations Coordinator for the Department of Music at the University of Tennessee at Martin, she oversees all marketing, communications and event coordination for the department. She is involved with various arts advocacy initiatives throughout West Tennessee. She is currently the Advocacy Coordinator for Weakley Arts Can and serves on the board of the Northwest Tennessee Arts Center. She has presented at many conferences on the benefits of the arts including the National Association for Multicultural Education’s Tennessee conference, the Tennessee Disabilities Mega Conference, UT Martin’s ARTStanding and, later this summer, at the Tennessee Arts Academy.

Emmons has a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Master of Science in Education, both from the University of Tennessee at Martin, and is pursuing a certificate in Arts Management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While obtaining her master’s degree, Emmons served as an intern at the STAR Center in Jackson, TN where she was able to combine her arts and therapy background to work with clients. After graduation, she was able to apply these same skills to provide support to grieving families as a Bereavement Coordinator for Heartland Hospice in Perrysburg, OH.

Emmons is a native West Tennessean from Dyersburg, TN. She became a musician at an early age and, prior to attending college, played clarinet in both the Jackson Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Dyersburg Community Orchestra. Emmons is passionate about giving back to her community and assisting with creating equal opportunities and access to the arts for all people.

Emmons will be relocating to the Jackson area with her husband, Jerry Emmons, who is also a musician and a percussion instructor for Union City High School and the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Ted Austin, President of the Jackson Arts Council Board of Directors commented: “We are very excited to welcome Lizzie into her new role as Executive Director and look forward to both her and the Jackson Arts Council enjoying great success as we look to the future!”