Mary Lee Partington weaves multiple strands into the fabric of her service to New Urban Arts. Decades of work in the arts and humanities are defined by roles that she embraced as a secondary English educator, as a singer and songwriter, and as a consulting arts administrator. In her teaching, Partington celebrated literature as a gateway to student creativity. Her classroom was part of the setting for Coming of Age, a portrait of high school life by G. Wayne Miller, published by Random House, followed by a Learning Channel documentary School Stories: Class Act. Mary Lee’s music collaborations saw several recordings, with Passage to New England still receiving airplay and offering a portrait of her work in song and story. Her current artistic partners include National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow Kevin Doyle and nationally recognized guitarist/producer Ed Sweeney. Mary Lee is grateful to share the NUA stage with a devoted Board of Directors, an extraordinary staff, and a studio filled with amazing students who remind her that a lifetime’s creative practice begins with the “young at art.”