Joan Zaretti received her Doctorate and Master of Arts in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington and Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Since 2006, she has taught courses in world music, anthropology and humanities at Bryant University, served as a faculty mentor in the IDEA program, and developed and lead a world music workshop series for K-12 teachers on campus. She has served on grant review panels for the RI State Council on the Arts, Southern New England Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, and U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement. Prior to her work in Rhode Island, she was manager of Secondary School and World Music Programs at Carnegie Hall in New York City.