Staff & faculty

A proud alum of AFA herself, Amanda Heathco manages the planning and implementation of AFA’s programs including the Summer Music Festival and Chamber Music Academy, coordinating student recruiting, auditions and enrollment, curriculum, Faculty Artists, and program development.

Amanda’s time as an AFA student led her to pursue a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance at the University of Houston, where she studied with Dr. Anne Leek. During her college summers, Amanda returned to AFA as an Alumni Intern, helping shape the Alumni Intern program into a robust arts administration training ground that provides participants with real-world, valuable experiences.

Since joining the AFA staff in 2005, Amanda has been instrumental in expanding the breadth of AFA and its administrative backbone, working to make AFA even more accessible and inclusive, building an experience-changing online student and parent system, and helping to shape AFA’s voice through its parent, student, and community-facing materials as well as managing many aspects of AFA’s programs. She has served as a representative of AFA to ArtsConnect Houston and has been directly involved in many of AFA’s unique collaborations with Houston’s major arts organizations.

Amanda’s family includes her husband George, a guitarist, educator and composer, her daughter Ella, and cats Stripe and Dash. Amanda volunteers with Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council, serving as troop leader, advisor to a Girl Advisory Board, and co-managing product sales for about 70 troops. When she is not working or volunteering, she enjoys game nights with family, practicing calligraphy, doing jigsaw puzzles, and drinking iced coffee.

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