Soprano and arts administrator Caitleen Kahn is the Executive Director and co-founder of LYNX Project, a nonprofit amplifying diverse voices and connecting communities through art song. She has spearheaded LYNX’s initiatives in performance and arts education, including the Amplify Series, a collaboration between the autism community and classical composers, and Composition of a City, a songwriting curriculum bridging hip hop and art song. Under her leadership, the Amplify Series initiative has commissioned over four hours of new art song from fifteen composers. In addition to building innovative arts programming with LYNX, Caitleen is a passionate advocate for equity in musical education. She has received the Catherine Filene Shouse Fellowship for her work with Musicambia, an organization creating music conservatories in the United States prison system, and was a 2016 Byron Fellow. Caitleen was the 2020 Eastman/ArtistShare grant recipient for the LYNX’s debut album beautiful small things, and was selected to be a member of the 2022 YNPN Leadership Institute. She is a sought-after presenter and clinician whose recent engagements have included the Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, University of Illinois, Ohio University, and Ball State University. Outside of arts administration, Caitleen finds joy performing and sharing her love of music as a private teacher.

“Eastman provided an incredible place for me to grow as a musician and explore arts administration and leadership in a way I hadn’t previously considered. It truly changed my career trajectory, and I am fortunate to be able to trace so many of the opportunities and experiences I’ve had thus far back to my days at Eastman. I’m grateful for everything I learned in the Vocal Performance and Arts Leadership programs, but when I think about the best and most impactful part of the Eastman experience, it was definitely the people. Eastman fosters a special community of passionate, thoughtful, and intelligent musical citizens, who inspired me then and continue to inspire me today.”