About our team

Betsy Podsiadlo is a composer-performer, producer, educator, and nonprofit administrator based in Richmond, VA. The throughline of her varying artistic practices is her passion for living artists, creating opportunities for artists, and a deep connection to nature.

Betsy’s creative journey runs in the family. Her mother is a singer, author, teacher, chef, vintage collector, visual artist, and so much more. Her father, an engineer, hiker, biker, supporter of the arts, and former theater kid. Betsy grew up in San Diego, CA and spent her summers in West Virginia with her mom’s side of the family. From an early age Betsy was known to be unable to keep herself from singing and she got her start harmonizing with her mother during nightly lullabies. At 4 she began violin lessons, at 10 voice, and throughout her childhood she performed in orchestras, theater productions, choirs, opera scenes, and with various bands. Her passion for music and performance art was only rivaled by her love for fashion and fashion writing. 

Betsy earned her Bachelor of Music in Voice from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. During her time there she performed and toured as a member of the Westminster Choir, sang with the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and performed 5 roles with Westminster Opera Theater. Betsy attended the New School’s Mannes School of Music for her Master’s in Voice. At Mannes, Betsy worked as a Research Assistant for Dr. Tanya Kalmanovitch, focusing on Entrepreneurial Musicianship and researching philosophies and practical tools to teach artists about sustainable careers in their field. 

In 2022, Betsy explored her passion for producing further through Beth Morrison Projects’ Producer Academy and subsequently was awarded the 2023 Mellon Producing Fellowship. Through this fellowship, Betsy worked alongside Beth and the BMP team to produce new operas around the country and abroad. Betsy had her New York City producing debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater as the Associate Producer for Huang Ruo’s Angel Island directed by Matthew Ozawa. 

Betsy’s composing practice is relatively new to the public, as she began premiering her music in 2022 after writing for many years in secret. In 2023, acclaimed soprano Ariadne Greif commissioned her to adapt her existing piece, Lux Aeterna, to be accompanied by a fixed media track. Ariadne premiered the new Lux Aeterna with Fixed Media on New York City’s classical music station, WQXR in February 2023. Betsy’s upcoming projects include a collaboration with West Virginia University’s Graduate String Quartet celebrating the roads of rural West Virginia with a new suite for strings in conjunction with video footage by Tom Jakob, a commission for a new song from the Central Virginia Chamber Music Society, and continued work on her upcoming electro-acoustic folk album. 

Betsy teaches voice, violin, and music theater privately and at Salisbury Music Academy in Midlothian, Virginia. She also leads community sings at Quarry Community Center that remove the pressure of performance and focus on empowering women and non-binary people to embrace their voices without judgment. 

Betsy’s greatest hope is that Art Grove can be a way to remove boundaries between artists, a sustainable career, and a happy life. She advocates for better conditions and pay for musicians and performers, advises artists on strategy and negotiations, and volunteers her producing and administrative services to various community organizations in Richmond. On her days off, you can find Betsy rummaging through bins at the thrift store, playing with the band Brookhouse, or exploring Richmond with her partner Tom and her adorable puppy Otter!

Tom Jakob is a Virginia-based journalist, photographer, writer, urban planner, and community builder. He manages the editorial and web solutions of Art Grove Newsletter. His bylines include Richmond Magazine, WTVR-CBS6, Homeroom Virginia, After The Storm Magazine, The Commonwealth Times, and Homes.com.

Tom’s journey as an artist begins further back than he can remember. Born in the far northwestern boonies of New Jersey, he moved to his true home of Williamsburg, Virginia in 2006 with his family. Growing up in a town with such a rich amount and prominent display of history left Tom with an intense fascination with American and world history. Much of his work as an artist and journalist is heavily based on how history continues to affect (and in some cases haunt) the modern world.

Writing has always been something Tom is fond of. Diagnosed as dyslexic far too late, Tom overcame this early challenge mostly thanks to the help of a few teachers along the way, especially Pat Chapel, Mike Hurley, James Pritchett, Susan Smith, and Harvey Stone. From their encouragement of his love for both creating and absorbing stories, Tom learned to love writing essays about the books he had to read in school while other students bemoaned them. Poems and short stories were another way Tom found an early connection to his passion for writing. But perhaps most important was the time he spent with some of his best friends, Cameron, Julian, and Matt, writing screenplays that would never see the light of day.

In high school, Tom enrolled in a photography class that changed the course of his life. By the end of the semester, this previously alien practice was one he was excelling at, resulting in his artwork being selected among thousands of other students across Virginia to be displayed in a competition at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News. Since then, Tom’s camera has stayed by his side, frequently colliding with his other passions.

Journalism was a passion Tom discovered when preparing to graduate high school, as former president Donald Trump began his infamous rise to power. The political climate at the time galvanized Tom to explore and talk about the innumerable problems he was starting to become aware of as he grew closer to adulthood. At Virginia Commonwealth University, Tom dipped his toes into journalism as a student reporter. 

During that time, Tom engaged with a whole host of political and non-political experiences, such as histories of Richmond’s renowned collection of public murals, news articles about COVID-19 vaccination sites, profiles of new restaurants, coverage of Black Lives Matter protests, and investigative pieces about tragedies within the VCU Greek Life community. Over time, Tom began to realize that the consistent theme in his writing, no matter the topic, was helping his community. 

In 2021, Tom moved to New York City, where he discovered yet another deep-seated passion: Urban Planning. Having always been drawn to how things connect (from Lego pieces to historical events 200 years apart), Tom’s time in New York was largely spent researching topics of urban planning, particularly land use and the privatization of public rights and assets. This body of research is now being applied to an upcoming book project that combines his writings about urban design and land use with his body of related photography work.

Today, Tom lives in Richmond and would no longer consider himself a reporter. Although many guiding principles of journalism still sit at the heart of his projects and interests, Tom’s work is now more advocacy-based, hoping to help build and design stronger communities through direct action and creative solutions. You’re most likely to find him aimlessly wandering through any one of Richmond’s many 7-Elevens or beautiful parks, often with his dog, Otter, his partner, Betsy, and a poorly-maintained beard.

Sarah J. Gill is a nonfiction writer and poet currently working in the fragrance industry. She is an avid baker and a proud member of a nonperforming choir. She is tall, beautiful, and easily overwhelmed. If you like her work, please kindly keep it to yourself as she can not bear the weight of perception. She lives in San Antonio, Texas with her cat, Guinevere.

Sarah's Website

A classically trained singer with both traditional and experimental training in theatre, Sarah Daniels is a performing artist who can comfortably jump into any project in the musical and theatrical realms. Sarah has a particular passion for contemporary opera and experimental theatre, and with these foci she has been creating theatre as a singer, actor, writer, and producer in New York City for over a decade. 

Sarah's Website

YOHJI CANTAR DAQUIO – arrived in America from the Philippines in 2013. Singing has defined her life since she was a toddler.  She has had roles in operas and sung in many voice recitals and competitions. This year, she won the silver prize for the Euterpe Music Awards in Berlin, Germany and The Amadeus International Music Awards in Vienna, Austria. This September, she will be premiering a new Opera as The Nightingale in “Song of the Nightingale”, by Tien and Despain commissioned by OnSite Opera in New York City performing at the Brooklyn Commons, Manhattan West, and Brookfield Place. She debuted as The Queen of the Night from “Der Zauberflöte” by Mozart with Mannes Opera. This Summer, she sang Marguerite from “Faust” by Gounod and as the titular role in “ThaÏs” by Massenet as a young artist with CLA. In May, She performed in the ensemble for the production of "Il Tabarro" by Puccini at South Street Seaport Museum in New York. She was also invited to sing a concert for Polish Artist, Janusz Kapusta, and reviews from Poland Daily News and Nowy Dzennik News. 

In 2022, she won first prize for the Century Opera Aria competition and at the Lucine Amara Art Song Competition in New York City. Ms. Daquio was recently a soprano soloist with Encore Opera. Ms. Daquio presented a recital "Music in the Garden: Encore Concert" in partnership with Mile of History Association and Providence Preservation Society. She is now finishing her Master’s degree at Mannes School of Music under the tutelage of Mr. Arthur Levy.

Ms. Daquio is also a proud Schmidt Young Artist and to be in the board of directors for an up-and-coming opera company called "Aria Opera" ​in the New England Region. 

Yohji's website

A.G. Perez is a composer, arranger, and educator based in Boston and Houston. Perez is interested in writing and producing works that explore origins, narratives, and contemporary objects. To learn more, follow @agp.wav on Instagram and check out agperezmusic.squarespace.com.

Daniel Rosenberg is a famous jewish American operatic tenor, composer and goof whose opinions are more important than yours. Daniel grew up in Arizona where he sang with the Tucson Arizona Boys’ Chorus, where he trick rodeo roped while singing country music. Daniel listens exclusively to christian rock, messes around on Max msp and attempts to convert people to veganism by the most militant means possible. He is also gay. Daniel is also the man behind the GR@MMY award winning glitch pop microstar Nepo Baby <3. To learn more please visit double u double u double u dot P-E-T-A dot com. (http://www.peta.com)

Kendra Wieneke is an artist, fundraiser and coach for individual artists on getting started and getting over barriers with fundraisers and offer free consultations. 

She can be contacted at kendra.wieneke@gmail.com or on Linkedin