About Kutsinhira

Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Center was founded in 1990 as a non-profit school dedicated to studying, teaching and sharing the music of Zimbabwe.
The core purposes of Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Center are:
- Teaching and sharing the music of Zimbabwe by providing classes, workshops, performances and lectures
- Community outreach by providing musical and cultural arts instruction and performance to its local and extended community
- Providing humanitarian relief to disadvantaged communities in Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Community Development Project

Kutsinhira operates as a 501(c)3 non-profit, and is largely volunteer- run and financially self-funded. An administratively involved Board of Directors meets on a quarterly basis.

The logo for Kutsinhira Center is the traditional Zimbabwean instrument called an mbira held in a gourd resonator. The Shona word kutsinhira refers to a musical part on a mbira that responds to the main line of a song (kushaura). Taken together, they are a metaphor for the idea that a note struck in Zimbabwe reverberates with us here in the United States.
Leadership
Gary Spalter – Executive Director
Sue Dickman – Education Director
Karen Howe – Facilities Manager
Craig LaFollette – Instruments Manager
Gary Spalter – Performance Coordinator
Teachers
Caleb Donahue
Maggie Donahue
Gary Spalter
Wanda Walker
Bud Cohen (former)
Chris Halaska (former)
Joel Lindstrom (former)
Marilyn Mohr (former)
Jake Roberts (former)
Mandy Walker-LaFollette (former)
Board
Nancy Novitski – President
Marilyn Mangus – Secretary
Dennis Urso – Treasurer
Marilyn Kolodziejczyk – Zimbabwe Liaison
Chris Donahue
Maggie Donahue (Director Emeritus)
Erin Ely
Andrea Olson
Betsy Priddle
Lynne Swift