Professors

Justin Newberger

Director of the College Park Youth Orchestra

Justin Newberger is the Director of the College Park Youth Orchestra, for musicians from Prince Georges County and the Greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. He is a York County, PA native who studied violin under Kathleen Yeater.  He grew up as a musician in the York Junior and Youth Symphonies attending Susquehannock HS.  He holds […]

Melissa Sites

CPAE Executive Director

Melissa is passionate about incorporating the arts in everyday life. As a working musician, Sites teaches and performs in and around Greenbelt and College Park. Sites is also a writer, working in poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and currently reports for the Greenbelt News Review.  Since coming to work for College Park Arts Exchange in 2005, […]

Richard Biffl

CPAE President

Cindy Richbourg Xander

Cindy, a lifelong resident of College Park, is married to musician Kurt Gibbons. She runs the Wreath workshops for CPAE. Outside of CPAE, she is a Dental Hygienist and a former Girl Scout Leader. She loves to cook, dance, travel, and spend time with her grandchildren.

Claudia Chudacoff

Director - College Park Youth Orchestra Chamber Ensemble

Ms. Chudacoff just completed her third one-year full-time contract as a member of the violin section of the National Symphony Orchestra. She is the concertmaster of both the National Gallery Orchestra and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and in 2015 retired from her position as concertmaster of the U.S. Marine Band’s White House Chamber Orchestra, in […]

Allison Hughes

CPAE Treasurer | Director - College Park Chorale

Allison Hughes is a singer, director, and teacher based in College Park, MD. She is the music director for the College Park Chorale, an adult community chorus, directs staged productions of youth and adult community musical theater, and also leads the fun and unusual (un)choir, a pop-up community sing. She is a member of the […]

Laura Lising

Director - College Park Homeschooling Arts Club | Co-Director - College Park Youth Players

Laura has been running the Arts Club and co-directing the Summer Musical for 6 years now, which allows her to combine her love for the arts with her love for creating spaces where children and families can build community while the children engage in fun and challenging art experiences in a supportive environment.

Eric Maring, “Mr. M”

CPAE Board Member, Community Music Coordinator | Director - College Park Youth Music Traditions

Eric Maring, known to his young students as “Mr. M”, is an early childhood music specialist, a performing songwriter, a dance caller, and a multi-instrumentalist. He has traveled far and wide in his musical pursuits – from his home in College Park, MD to Spain, India, Rwanda, and Peru – studying with virtuosos and singing […]

Birgit Meade

CPAE Secretary

Birgit is a long-time resident of College Park, mother of two now grown children, who loves the City’s sense of community and commitment to art and culture. She joined CPAE’s Board in the early 2000s where she was active in a number of different roles and helped guide and grow programs for children such as […]

Janis Oppelt

CPAE Board Member

In addition to being a professional writer (soon to be retired from technical writing and finally embarking on what she wants to write), Janis is very active in two groups who focus on local environmental issues. For the Prince George’s group of the Sierra Club, she is still an active volunteer after a four-year stint […]