Team Bios

Jonathan Bloom, Sr.

Co-Director / New Orleans Music Education Director

Jonathan has been a champion for music education in New Orleans public schools since 1981, providing essential leadership to further the tradition of musical excellence in the city. In his 38-year teaching career, Jonathan directed music programs at schools including Carter G. Woodson Jr. High, McCarty Middle, Gregory Junior High, Fannie C. Williams Middle School, Phillips Jr. High and Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary. For 20 years he was coordinator for the OPSB Jazz Outreach Program, hosting over 100 workshops featuring NEA Jazz Masters like Danny Barker, Ellis Marsalis, Jr., Benny Golson, and Ron Carter. Through the Evolution of Jazz Series he developed, and as a founding staff member of the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, he presented and conducted workshops with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Kidd Jordan and Alvin Batiste. Jonathan previously coordinated programs for the Thelonious Monk Institute at Loyola University, and has served on the faculty of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp for 29 years. He holds a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Southern University. Jonathan served on the Founding Task Force for Artist Corps, and upon retirement from teaching in 2019, stepped in as Co-Director – providing direct support to K-12 teachers and administrators in all public schools as New Orleans Music Education Director.

Sonya Robinson

Artist Corps Co-Director / Managing Director

Sonya has 34 years’ experience in the field of music education and arts learning, creating programs for educational, nonprofit, and corporate audiences. She began her career as an educator at Glen Oaks Middle School in Baton Rouge, LA, then as a teaching artist and arts learning strategist, she went on to implement residencies, professional development series, and consultancies in over 50 public schools, colleges, universities, and community settings – for organizations including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Institute, National A+ Schools Consortium, Mississippi Arts Commission, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Symphony Space, Ballet Hispanico, New Orleans Jazz Museum and KID smART. In 2017 ans 2019, Sonya served as Co-Director of the NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop for School Teachers, New Orleans: Music Culture and Civil Rights through the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University. As Founding Director of Artist Corps New Orleans in 2009, she facilitated the work of a 25-member Community Task Force of school and district leaders, artists, educators, community organizations, and regional foundations, to develop a strategy for strengthening music education through service in New Orleans public schools. Sonya now serves as Co-Director with esteemed educator and Founding Task Force member, Jonathan Bloom, Sr., as Artist Corps celebrates 15 years of service to the field of music education in New Orleans.