Musicopia has named Kate Lombardi as its permanent President and Chief Executive Officer, announced June 23. The appointment confirms the Philadelphia arts education nonprofit’s leadership as it enters a new chapter following its 2026 merger with Musicopia Dance — formerly Dancing Classrooms Philly — and the simultaneous launch of a new website at musicopia.org. Lombardi had been serving as Interim CEO since May 1, 2026.

What Musicopia Is Now

Founded in 1974, Musicopia now reaches over 25,000 students annually across Greater Philadelphia through school-based music and dance education, an afterschool string orchestra, afterschool drumlines, the Walter R. Garrison Arts Leadership Academy, a ballroom dance academy, community arts programming, the Philadelphia Lullaby Project, and a Gift of Music instrument donation program. The merger with Dancing Classrooms Philly — the ballroom dance curriculum familiar to Philadelphia schools for two decades — brought dance formally into the portfolio and is why Musicopia’s programming now spans two disciplines rather than one. Since its founding the organization has reached nearly half a million young people across the region.

In conjunction with the CEO announcement, Musicopia is also launching a new website at musicopia.org, developed in partnership with Philadelphia design firm Creative Repute. The site reflects the organization’s unified post-merger identity and makes it easier for families, supporters, and partners to connect with its programs and mission.

Who Kate Lombardi Is

Kate Lombardi’s path to the CEO role is not a conventional nonprofit executive trajectory. She started with these organizations as a Dancing Classrooms Philly Teaching Artist — on the floor with students — before moving through roles as Musicopia Drumlines Manager, DCP Managing and Artistic Director, Senior Director of Philanthropy and Community, and most recently Senior Director of Strategy, Operations, and People for both organizations. More than 15 years, every layer of the work.

Kate Lombardi holds a BFA from the University of the Arts and certificates from Bryn Mawr College’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute, Boston University’s Professional Fundraising program, and the Arts + Business Council for Greater Philadelphia’s Designing Leadership program. She is also a current performing company member with Dancefusion and SHARP Dance Companies in Philadelphia — she reconstructs historical modern dance works and explores new choreography by local artists — which means she is simultaneously the executive director of a dance education organization and an active working dancer in the city it serves. “It is an honor to continue serving Musicopia in this role,” she said.

Kate Lombardi takes permanent leadership of an organization that has spent 50 years putting instruments and dance floors in front of Philadelphia children who might not otherwise have had either. The merger with Dancing Classrooms Philly deepens that commitment. What Musicopia is now — music and dance, 25,000 students a year, one leader who came up through the classroom and still performs — is worth paying attention to.

About Post Author

Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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