David Simmons: FOUNDER, Executive Director, TEACHING ARTIST
David Simmons
An honors graduate of the University of Montana School of Music with additional musical training in Vienna Austria, David’s diverse career as an educator, performer, producer, recording artist, inspirational speaker, worship leader and mental health advocate has taken him to all 50 states, 19 countries and 4 continents. He has served as Education Director and Teaching Artist for Arizona Broadway Theater, Fort Peck Montana Fine Arts Council, Desert Foothills Theater, and as a Teaching Artist for Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center, AZ Child’s Play Theater, Scottsdale Desert Stages Theater, Wyoming Council on The Arts, and the Missoula Children’s Theater's International Residencies. Additional teaching experience includes residencies with the University of Montana (Missoula, MT), Casper College (Casper, WY) and Estrella Mountain Community College. David also currently serves on the Arizona Department of Education's Round-table Advisory Committee for Arts Education and the ADE SEL-Arts Crossing Guard Cohort developing SEL-Arts curriculum for K-12 teachers throughout the state.
David's work for social justice through music, theater, education and community organizing came naturally. He grew up in a family of arts educators and pacifist/activists. His own work in engaging the arts and education as tools of activism includes work as an Actor, Musician, Director, Playwright, Composer, Event Organizer and Educator working for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Pluralism, LGBTQ/Gender Rights, Mental Health Equity, Diversity in Casting and Community Building. His professional affiliations in this work include The Mixed Blood Theater, Penumbra Theater, Minnesota Opera, SteppingStone Theater for Youth Development, The Peaceful Love Warriors, Fort Peck Montana Arts Council, Arizona Broadway Theater and, of course, The UBU Project.
David has performed live with Alice Cooper, Bob Hope, The USO and members of REO Speedwagon, A-ha, Tower of Power and Sly and the Family Stone. In addition he has appeared as a featured soloist with The Phoenix Symphony, The Schubert Kirche Orchester (Vienna), and the Vancouver BC Symphony Orchestra. He also the honor of serving as Music Director, Bassist and featured soloist on tour with Motown Recording Artists: The Drifters.
In addition, David is a thriving survivor of his own suicide attempts, is a grateful, recovering alcoholic with over 29 years sober, experienced bullying and lives with the managed mental health diagnoses of major depressive disorder recurrent, PTSD and free-floating anxiety. This, in addition to his professional training and ongoing partnership with experts in childhood trauma and K-12 education, helps David bring a unique and hope-filled perspective and dedication to his work with The UBU Project's Social/Emotional Arts Integration and Diversity Equity & Inclusion Residencies. Whether in a classroom, coffee shop, rock club, worship space or classical concert hall, David brings a wealth of experience, energy and encouragement to every stage, school or project he encounters.
David has one adult son, Niko (currently living in Minneapolis, MN) and splits his time between homes in the Phoenix West Valley and Sac County, Iowa with his true love Tamara.
Deepest love and gratitude to TJT
Contact David: info@ubuproject.org
KIM ZINEVICH: Director of Operations
Kim Zinevich
The UBU Project is honored and excited to have Kim Zinevich as part of our UBU team! Kim comes to us as a consultant by way of S&Z Professional Services, LLC.
Kim is a Singer & Songwriter for the Phoenix-based band, The Bellwethers, and Co-Founder & CEO of SZR Music Group, an independent record label she launched with her husband in 2015.
In January 2021, she took advantage of an early retirement opportunity from her “day job” as a Technology Delivery Leader in the Payments Industry to pursue several creative and philanthropic projects. She brings 30+ years of corporate experience to the UBU Project, including: Technology Delivery & Service Management, Executive Administration, Strategic Partnerships, Business Operations, and Outsourced Services Implementation. She is also a commissioned Notary for the State of Arizona.
Kim has a long-time passion for helping non-profit organizations raise funds through entertainment-based events. Over the past 25 years, she has worked with a number of local organizations including: The United Way, The Harmon Killebrew Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Southwest Kids Cancer Foundation, Musicians United & KWSS Radio.
I Support The UBU Project Because:
As a mother of two boys, I’ve spent countless hours volunteering in classrooms and mentoring children. I have also been affected by suicide on a personal level, so helping children find ways to deal with their challenges and teaching them how to channel stress is incredibly important to me. The mission of the UBU Project perfectly aligns with where my heart is… children and music.
Contact Kim: ubuproject.ops@gmail.com
Maggie Waller: Research associate, TEACHING ARTIST
Maggie Waller
The UBU Project is honored and excited to have Maggie Waller as part of our ever-evolving UBU team! Maggie will be expanding the UBU presence in the Washington DC area districts and schools as well as in the classrooms as a Teaching Artist with her curriculum of movement and dance based upon the UBU Treasure Chest of Hope | Resilience | Self-Compassion | Empathy.
Maggie Waller is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Heavily involved in the local hip hop community, she pulls from various dance forms, such as Waacking, House, Locking, Breaking, Hip Hop, Postmodern Contemporary, and Tap in her performance work, choreography, and freestyle/battle practice.
She is a graduate of Arizona State University, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, a Minor in Justice Studies, and two Certificates in Arts Entrepreneurship and Socially-Engaged Practice in Design and the Arts.
Maggie is interested in the intersection between arts and activism and in the power of dance to heal, empower, and connect individuals and communities. She recently premiered her first self-produced work, "Reclamation", an evening-length community jam and production. This work explored why women apologize, the ways in which this apology affects how women treat, view, and navigate their bodies in space, and how dance can be the mechanism by which women individually and collectively find joy, power, and liberation.
Maggie is a Fulbright Summer Institute Participant, a recipient of the Joan Frazer Memorial Award for Judaism and the Arts, and a published writer in the National Dance Education Organization’s Journal of Dance Education in Practice. She is a current company member with Rennie Harris Puremovement, a professional street dance theater company sharing Hip-hop dance & culture on national and international platforms through artistic work, lecture demonstrations, and discussions.
Maggie currently lives in Washington, D.C., writing, teaching, and making.
I Support The UBU Project Because:
I believe that the arts are not only the key to developing a sacred, empowered relationship with ourselves but that they are also the deepest mechanism for fostering empathy and human connection with others. Dance has been my safe space for as long as I can remember. When I needed to process emotions, express a thought, tell a story, or even get out of my own head, movement gave me an embodied toolbox to do just that. It has also allowed me to physically move through the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others, breaking the barrier of difference and fostering a deeper understanding of who others really are & what they are going through.
The arts allow us to see and be seen, to hear and be heard, to feel and be felt. I believe that when we gift children and young adults with these tools, we set the stage for a kinder, more compassionate world free of isolation, discrimination, bullying, intolerance, and hopelessness...where we know, deep down, that we are not alone. I am grateful to work with an organization that is doing this necessary work.
Contact Maggie: mwaller.ubuproject@gmail.com
David Simmons: On-Stage
Kim Zinevich: On-Stage
Maggie Waller: In-Motion