Women Inspiring Nevada: Melanie Jupp, Vice President of Education and Outreach, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts

Melanie Jupp, Vice President of Education and Outreach at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, traces her family’s musical heritage back generations. Her great‑grandfather worked as a luthier in Costa Rica, crafting classical guitars that her grandmother later played. Jupp discovered her own place in that lineage through the viola and has since devoted her career to broadening access to arts education and live performance. In her role at the Smith Center, Jupp provides support and strategic oversight for the institution’s education programs. She directly leads the Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards and supervises initiatives aimed at making performances more accessible. Since 2018, the center has offered sensory‑inclusive performances designed to accommodate individuals with sensory sensitivities while leaving the productions unchanged. Jupp has presented the Smith Center’s approach to sensory‑inclusive programming to arts professionals across the United States and abroad, and she recently mentored a UNLV occupational therapy doctoral student researching the topic. Beyond her work at the Smith Center, Jupp serves on the Family Advisory Council for Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, which is slated to become Nevada’s first freestanding children’s hospital.