Music Changes Lives!

Denise Kinney is the founder and Director of Music and Mindfulness, a summer learning program for musically advanced high school students from underserved backgrounds. It is a one of a kind 10 day immersive overnight experience hosted at Graves Mountain Farm and Lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The program provides students expanded music education, self growth opportunities and a pathway toward professional music careers.
 
Most recently Denise stepped down from a 15-year tenure in not-for-profit leadership. In 2005 she succeeded her mother, Welthie Fitzgerald, the founder and Executive Director of Musicopia, an arts focused Philadelphia based charity. Under her leadership, Musicopia thrived, growing to annually serve over 12,000 students from low-income backgrounds, offering over 2,000 outreach programs. In 2011 Dancing Classrooms Philly, a small 501C3, joined the family and became a legal affiliate of Musicopia. Dancing Classrooms Philly’s mission promotes social emotional learning through ballroom dance. For the next decade, under her leadership as Executive Director both charities grew and flourished.
 
Denise is also a Registered Nurse and holds a Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Widener University and a Masters from Villanova University. She has worked as a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator and a Surveyor of facilities for the Commission of Rehabilitation. Over the course of her career Denise has held several senior executive leadership roles in healthcare, including hospitals, acute rehabilitation and long term care.
 
Personally Denise is a passionate advocate for those who are the most vulnerable, especially children and animals. She has been a foster mom, is an avid equestrian and an amateur violinist.