Our People
Navin Chettri
Manager, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival & ACMS; Lecturer of Music; Artistic Director of World Music Celebration
Vanessa Sielert
Professor of Music; Education Advisor, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival
Vern Sielert
Professor, Trumpet and Director of Jazz Studies, Artistic Director: Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival
Monica Evans is the Music Events Operations Coordinator at the Lionel Hampton School of Music. She supports the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and Auditorium Chamber Music Series through event planning and coordinating, marketing, data management, and providing general production assistance. Her background includes structural engineering, humanitarian projects, and musical theatre.
Monica received her Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Art and Architecture from the University of Idaho in 2018. As a student, she played an integral role in the U of I chapter of Engineers Without Borders - including facilitating the group’s transition to their own student-led non-profit organization, the Humanitarian Engineering Corps. She served in officer positions for four years, planned and coordinated events, designed the new logo, and traveled twice to Bolivia as part of the construction team for a sanitary water project in a remote Andean community.
Evans continued her engineering career at Keller Associates in Clarkston, WA. She gained experience managing projects and performing structural analysis and design for municipal and private clients. She also served on multiple committees focused on mentoring, development, DE&I, and event planning. Monica passed the Professional Engineering exam in structural engineering in the fall of 2021.
In her spare time, Monica enjoys taking part in local musical theatre productions. Her previous credits include “Amélie” (Amélie) at the University of Idaho; the Lewiston Civic Theatre's "School of Rock” (Rosalie Mullins), “Grease" (Sandy), “Elf the Musical” (Jovie), and "Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella" (Cinderella); and “Guys & Dolls" (Adelaide), "Company" (Jenny), and "She Loves Me" (Ilona Ritter) at the Regional Theatre of the Palouse. She has also been on production teams in many capacities including marketing, fundraising, stage managing, and costuming. She continues to volunteer hundreds of hours in community theatre each year and studies voice with Christian Reed.
In 2023, Monica returned to her alma mater to join the LHSOM team. She lives in Moscow, Idaho with her husband and collaborative pianist, Stuart.