-Charles Letourneau, former Vice President at IMG Artists, and Principal at Charles Letourneau LLC
Arts28 is a boutique artist management and consulting firm, catering to the world's finest performing and visual artists. Founded in 2016 by Katherine Womer Benjamin, Arts28 was created in response to the evolving trends in the arts world. Arts28 employs creative and unique strategies to attract new audiences and produce art of the highest caliber. Arts28 takes a flexible approach to artist management, personalizing every experience to best meet or exceed each client's career objectives.
Founder and Managing Director of Arts28, Katherine Womer Benjamin has been working with the world's finest performing and visual artists, as well as arts presenting organizations for over twenty years. Ms. Womer Benjamin's clients are regularly engaged by world class performing and visual arts institutions, such as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, and the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, and are featured in highly regarded arts and mainstream media outlets, such as The New York Times, The Strad, and Smithsonian Magazine.
Ms. Womer Benjamin began her career with the Cleveland Orchestra, as the artist driver for the Blossom Music Festival. She went on to hold positions in box office and VIP relations with both ArtsBoston and Friends of the Arts in Oyster Bay, New York, before joining the Special Projects Division at IMG Artists at the invitation of legendary impresario, Edna Landau. During her tenure at IMG, Ms. Womer Benjamin was on the founding team of Festival del Sole (now Festival Napa Valley); she managed the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy; she produced Thomas Hampson's inaugural Song of America tour, the LeAnn RimesWhat A Wonderful World holiday tour, and the Sretensky Monastery Choir tour to commemorate the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church. Under the guidance of Charles Letourneau, Ms. Womer Benjamin worked on the management teams for acclaimed artists such as pianist Charles Wadsworth, the Eroica Trio, Time for Three, and violinist and composer Mark O'Connor.
Prior to founding Arts28, Ms. Womer Benjamin ran the business of renowned photographer, J Henry Fair, securing Mr. Fair's reputation as one of the foremost environmental photographers of our day. Ms. Womer Benjamin is responsible for arranging Mr. Fair's first-ever photo spreads in National Geographic Magazine, TIME Magazine, and MUSEUM Magazine; Ms. Womer Benjamin brokered the deal on Mr. Fair's first book, "The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis", with powerHouse Books; she arranged features in prime media outlets, such as the TODAY Show and CNN; and, she negotiated Mr. Fair's first-ever national representation by a gallery (Gerald Peters Gallery NY), as well as his first-ever European representation by a gallery in Amsterdam (Eduard Planting Gallery).
Ms. Womer Benjamin has been involved in the performing arts since she was a child. She began studying piano at age 4, and added flute and voice a few years later. She continued her voice studies in the Preparatory Division at Cleveland Institute of Music during high school, and then at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in opera performance, graduating cum laude. Ms. Womer Benjamin has been fortunate to work with an impressive list of renowned voice teachers, coaches, and conductors, including Dr. Susan Ormont, Dr. Carolyn Guzski, Frederica von Stade, Dr. Ann Howard Jones, Claudia Catania, Katherine Olsen, and Dr. Brian DeMaris.