Staff & Board

Inspired by Earshot’s distinctive programming while volunteering for its 1990 festival, John Gilbreath’s ongoing immersion into the Earshot Jazz organization’s incredible output and success has generated international recognition and profound community connections. His deep dive into Seattle’s legendary music scene generates ever expanding waves of opportunity through education, audience development, and artist-support initiatives; years of monthly publications; and the legacy of nearly 3,000 concert programs, including 33 years of Seattle’s major annual jazz festival. John Gilbreath has also broadcast for 25+ years on both KEXP and KBCS radio, curated a jazz collection for a regional library system, and programed several other festivals and jazz series in the region. And he is an active student of stone sculpture.

Since 2005, Karen Caropepe has been the mechanics behind the scenes; administering grants, keeping the books, raising funds, handling memberships, selling tickets, supporting productions, coordinating volunteers, creating and organizing publications, getting the word out through marketing and publicity, mentoring interns, and training and supporting staff. If something needs to be done, she does it. Caropepe relishes her opportunity to directly help artists and bring attention to their work. Caropepe’s dedication to arts education led her to join the founding board of Jazz Night School 2012. She served as an officer, including two years as president until 2016. Currently, Caropepe serves as Treasurer on the South Hudson Music Project board. Caropepe graduated with a BA from Texas A&M University.

Lucienne Aggarwal is excited to support a vibrant jazz community in her role with Earshot Jazz. She joined Earshot Jazz in April 2018 and helps manage the office along with marketing, database management, website and social media organization, fundraising, maintaining artist contracts, managing the magazine archives project, handling box office at concerts, as well as organizing the digital publishing of the monthly Earshot Jazz magazine. Lucienne Aggarwal, passionate about supporting the local arts community, has volunteered for various Seattle arts organizations. She researched and wrote articles for the theater review website, Drama in the Hood and for two literary organizations: Hugo House and Seattle Arts & Lectures. Her poetry has been published in Spindrift arts magazine. In 2017, she graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in English and Creative Writing.

After moving to Seattle in 2014, Rayna has dedicated herself to serving Seattle’s youth & arts scene and is forever in awe/gratitude for the communities she’s found within them. She is a graduate of the University of Washington and was named The Washington Art Education Association’s 2018 Outstanding New Art Educator of the Year. She’s presented nationally on the following topics: Questioning the Progress: Millennial Women Discuss Gender, Racial Equity, and Inclusivity (American Alliance of Museums) and Career Days: The Un-Sugar-Coated Version of Working in Art Museums (National Art Education Association). Rayna currently serves on KEXP’s Community Advisory Board, Seattle Music Commission’s Youth + Community Committee, and the Seattle Jazz Fellowship Board.

Halynn is an event producer, writer, and small business owner who has served on Pacific Northwest artist relations teams for AEG (The Showbox, Summer Meltdown), STG (THING Festival), The Triple Door, and Earshot Jazz. Now in her sixth year producing Earshot Jazz Festival, she celebrates the opportunity to steward jazz as a black American art form in Seattle, the unceded land of the Duwamish and Coast Salish Peoples, who were the original stewards of the land, and acknowledges this work comes second to stewarding the present lives of Black America. She considers her background as a journalist, once an editor of Kenyan news startup Habari Kilifi, foundational to her role as a communicator of creator’s stories.