Passionately inspired by the unique and powerful ability of the arts to deepen societal and personal development while building stronger, healthier communities, Aubree Weiley has spent 25 years championing artistic engagement. Domestically and internationally, she has been a scholar, educator, and leader in community-based arts programs. Her work focuses on the positive effects of the arts on access and equity measures, public health initiatives, workforce development programs, societal growth, and economic mobility.

Currently, Weiley serves as the Director of Bridges From School to Work in Chicago, an organization dedicated to helping young people find work and thrive in their professional careers. As a recent contributor to The Lewis Prize for Music’s Producing Well-Being Report, which examines the dynamic interplay between creative youth development and workforce development, Weiley has further promoted the intersectionality of artistic disciplines and successful creative career opportunities.

In her prior role as Peabody’s manager of community partnerships, Weiley cultivated and managed several artistic career-building programs in collaboration with hospitals, schools, community centers, advocacy organizations, continuing care retirement communities, and civic institutions. During her residencies as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lesotho, a New England Conservatory Sistema Fellow in Venezuela, Brazil, and Peru, and through her tenure at the tuition-free People’s Music School in Chicago, she actively shaped community arts programs and amplified their significant social impact.

Weiley is a member of the Access Contemporary Music board of directors and has previously served as a board member of the Sunlight African Community Center and the Chicago Consortium of Community Music Schools. She is a grant reviewer for several foundations, and this year, she celebrates a decade as a university instructor.

With deep gratitude for the educational community that inspired her, she is a proud graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts, Northwestern University, and the New England Conservatory.