About Us

“Every city has at least one. Everybody knows at least one. They’re the dynamic players who bring your hometown scene to life and make it what it is—and you’re just certain that if everyone everywhere knew about them, they’d be world-famous.

World, meet Sarah Bob…she’s been That Player in Boston. The one who not only advocates for new music, but also makes it happen. The one who plays the local composers not only because they’re local, but because they’re damn well worth playing…Sarah Bob—she’s a superstar. Spread the word.”
—Steve Smith of National Sawdust, September 2019

Pianist Sarah Bob, considered a “trailblazer when it comes to championing the works of modern composers and combining art media in the process…,” is the Founding Artistic Director of the New Gallery Concert Series. She is devoted to commissioning and uniting all types of new music and contemporary visual art with their creators, thus making the New Gallery Concert Series eclectic, thought provoking, and fun.

From her work as a concert pianist to the creation of “The Nasty Cooperative,” from giving students private piano lessons to teaching graduate study courses as faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, the goal, her strong suit, is to introduce music, art, and community in a loving, inclusive and intoxicating way.

For more information on her career, accolades and concert schedule, please go to www.sarahbob.net.

Jen Doyle started playing piano at a very young age and was the first-chair flutist in her junior high and high school in Connecticut. Sadly, her talents did not quite make the jump beyond high school; she did, however, have the honor of being the (then-)youngest Drum Major in Lancer history and by the end of her three years in that position, could execute a butt flop with the best of them. It is also thanks to her that the Waterford HS marching band’s drum major podium is the highest in the land as it was built specifically so that the percussion line could actually see her from the field as she is not what you would call tall.

A Boston, MA, resident since the mid-1990s, Jen has a Master of Science in Library and Information Science and, in addition to her work as a librarian, and has worked as a conference and events planner as well as an administrator for communication, curriculum, and enrollment in both preschool and higher education environments. (Some might say that there is very little difference between the two; Jen has no comment regarding whether she is one of the “some.”)

Her background includes serving as President of the Presentation School Foundation Board of Directors for several years and—to round everything out—she is the published author of ten novel/las in the genres of romance and urban fantasy. She is now the owner and principal of JDI Phase 2 Consulting, a boutique firm that allows her to pursue her professional passions of operations and project management, systems implementation and administration, prospect research, and large-scale event planning.

A Cambridge native and professional Storyteller, Doria Hughes performs individualized programs of folktales from around the world, for dynamic performance in classrooms, book stores, breweries, festivals, libraries, museums, childcare centers, water treatment facilities and private parties. Doria’s style of performance is “dynamic”: she generates a range of creative sound effects and uses her whole body to tell stories—and she encourages audience participation!

Doria is also the Archivist and Collection Manager for the Rosemarie Beck Foundation. Based in lower Manhattan, the RBF seeks to honor, promote and celebrate the values, ideals, artwork and pedagogy of the artist and teacher Rosemarie Beck (1923–2003), whose multifaceted work explores a broad range of narratives drawn from literature and mythology.

The RBF provides housing, care and exhibition of Beck’s artworks, which include abstract and figurative oil paintings, brilliantly embroidered textiles, splendid watercolors and smaller sketches. Doria’s work as Archivist encompasses the digitization and annotation of Beck’s journals and correspondence, as well as her artwork. The RBF’s vibrant Collection can be viewed at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/doria-hughes

Emily Arkin is a musician, artist, and arts administrator specializing in digital content, strategy, and marketing. She has been: a founding organizer of the Girls Rock Campaign Boston (music, mentoring, social justice nonprofit); Marketing & Communications Director at Longy School of Music (conservatory centering social change); Managing Editor for Digital Projects at Harvard University Press; co-founder of the Bazaar Bizarre craft fair; Voter Outreach Director of Indivisible Somerville, and Chair of the Board of the Somerville Arts Council.

A long-time fixture in the Boston rock scene, she’s played in Animal Hospital Ensemble (guitar & violin, experimental, 360-degree surround-sound), Shepherdess (baritone guitar, “a speaker-melting mix of stoner-pop and slacker-psych that shifts gears at the drop of the hat.”—Boston Globe), The Operators (guitar, indie-rock), and is currently active with Harsh Foxing (guitar, post-punk) and Julee Cruise Director (mellotron vibes, all femme/non-binary Twin Peaks tribute band). She creates video, art, and design for many music projects and is half of Identical Cousins Productions, who mount blockbuster immersive / multimedia live and online events.

As a NewGal board member, she’s thrilled to champion a visionary, community-building, and inclusive forum for new music and art.

Erin Shoudy Meyer is thrilled to be on the Board of New Gallery Concert Series! A life-long student of music and the arts, she is excited to be a part of this unique community, a member since 2017 and a patron for much longer.

With a background in higher education administration, Erin has most recently served as President of the Board for her sons’ nursery school and is currently serving as a Co-Chair of her sons’ school PTO. As a New Gal Board Member, Erin hopes to utilize social media to further promote and expose New Gal to a greater audience.

Michelle Schapiro (she/her) is a photographic artist based in Boston, Massachusetts whose work focuses primarily on queerness, family, and liminal ways of being. She has been a past NewGal featured visual artist and is excited to now be a part of the other side of the NewGal’s workings as well. Michelle photography utilizes lens-based media to make pictures that bring to life narratives about the beauty and necessity of queer life and community. Family, both given and chosen, are strong themes in her work, as well as highlighting the importance of queer and trans visibility—both artist and subjects are able to see and be seen. This is the most basic goal of queer liberation—to lift up LGBTQ voices and acknowledge that we exist in individual, collective, and vital ways.

https://michelleschapiro.work/