Our Team
Natalie Callahan
Department Assistant
She/her/hers
(412) 201-7405
Natalie has been in the role of Department Assistant at Arts Ed Collaborative since June 2025. Her work focuses on helping the department run smoothly in terms of daily operations, programming, and planning initiatives. Prior to joining AEC, Natalie conducted a Fulbright arts research project in Varanasi, India. Her research aimed to uplift the Banarasi weaving community in Varanasi while offering a critique on the inaccessibility of the contemporary art world.
Natalie earned two bachelor’s degrees from Chatham University in 2023, where she studied Arts Management, International Studies, and Women’s Leadership and developed her interests in art, politics, and education. Natalie’s senior thesis examined the connections between gentrification, the criminalization of graffiti, and arts education.
Lauren Deaton
Communications Intern
She/her/hers
Lauren has been in the role of Communications Intern at Arts Ed Collaborative since August 2025. Her work focuses on communications mechanisms including social media, blog posts, newsletters, and website redesign. Prior to joining AEC, Lauren worked with the Literacy and Learning Lab through the Office of Child Development at the University of Pittsburgh. This research, which she is still a part of, focuses on representation in picture books as well as the interaction between text and illustration.
Lauren is a current senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying English Literature, Media and Professional Communications, and Film, she is also a part of the Honors College and a 2025 Pitt Humanities Center Undergraduate Fellow. She is passionate about blending creative practices in her academic work, especially creative nonfiction and collage.
Emma Hoppough
Evaluation Intern
She/her/hers
Emma has been in the role of Evaluation Intern at Arts Ed Collaborative since October 2025. Her work focuses on assisting with content and design of evaluation reports and supporting arts education evaluation projects and planning. Emma is currently a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is working toward a Master of Arts Management. Prior to this, Emma worked in programming and editorial roles at arts and education nonprofits in her home state, California. She is passionate about the therapeutic and social-emotional benefits of artmaking and hopes to be a champion for arts programming both personally and professionally.
Matt Sikora
Director of Evaluation and Planning
He/him/his
(313) 316-0085
Matt joined Arts Ed Collaborative in 2013 as the organization’s first internal program evaluator. As the director of evaluation and planning, he leads assessment of AEC’s programmatic offerings and other information-gathering activities—including artlook® SWPA and the use of Salesforce for data management—in support of informed planning and decision making. Additionally, Matt provides professional evaluation consulting services to schools and arts and culture organizations to conduct evaluation, research, and planning projects in collaboration with their staff. He is committed to presenting data in formats that are easy to interpret and apply.
Matt has more than twenty years of experience as an art museum professional, working in publications, education, and evaluation. Prior to joining AEC, he served as the director of evaluation at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He is a current member of the American Evaluation Association and a former member of the board of directors for the Visitor Studies Association. Matt holds a BA in English from Kalamazoo College and an MEd in instructional design from Wayne State University.
Yael Silk
Executive Director
She/her/hers
(412) 201-7431
Yael Silk has been at Arts Ed Collaborative since April 2018. As Executive Director, Yael facilitates professional learning and evaluates programs while advocating for culturally responsive practices. She is passionate about ensuring that all children in our region benefit from powerful, personally relevant arts learning opportunities. Prior to her role at AEC, she worked as an arts education consultant on projects to strengthen arts education offerings with school districts and arts organizations across the country.
Yael earned an EdM in Arts Education from Harvard University and a BA in Music Composition from Barnard College. She lives in Squirrel Hill with her two sons where they enjoy cooking, hiking, and generally goofing off together.
Nancy Xiao
Data Assistant
She/her/hers
Nancy joined Arts Ed Collaborative as the organization’s first Data Assistant in 2024. Her work focuses on collecting, organizing, and analyzing data to better understand the region’s arts education ecosystem. She started at AEC as an evaluation assistant intern, creating custom data visualizations for internal and external evaluation reports. She has worked as a project consultant with Sharing Our Story to analyze survey responses from a community event showcasing immigrant and refugee stories. She has a passion for leveraging her data skills for a positive social impact.
Governance
Arts Ed Collaborative (AEC) is an independent project of Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA), one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh (CMP).
AEC operates as an independent project of CMOA under its own distinct mission. AEC is operationally distinct from CMOA, employing dedicated staff and operating a separate organizational budget. AEC fundraises independently from other CMP fundraising efforts and, while accessing some institutional resources at CMP, has developed an independent sustainability plan. Work at AEC is guided by an advisory committee that remains separate from CMOA and CMP.
Young Audiences Arts for Learning Network
Arts Ed Collaborative is a local affiliate of the national Young Audiences Arts for Learning (YA) network. Founded in 1952, the mission of YA is to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. The network is made up of local affiliated nonprofits that collectively impact over 5 million young people each year. YA works collaboratively to advance arts in education through advocacy, communications, fundraising, program development, professional learning, and other support.