Welcome to the Board, Amy and Mikel!

We’re pleased to announce the appointment of two more new members to the Unbound Board. Welcome, Amy Wilder and Mikel Fields! As the festival continues to grow, Amy and Mikel will invigorate our mission with their dynamism and fresh ideas. We can’t wait to start working with them!

Amy Wilder holds a BFA in Visual Culture from the University of Central Missouri and a MA in Liberal Arts from St. John's College, Santa Fe. After completing her MA in 2018, Amy spent seven months in Hanoi, Vietnam while remotely editing various books, and tutoring business professionals in advanced English grammar and pronunciation. She then returned to her home state and, in April, took the position of Director of Marketing and Communications at the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, a mid-Missouri cultural institution for nearly 60 years. She previously spent three years writing arts and culture feature stories for the Columbia Daily Tribune, and wrote freelance art criticism for several publications in the Kansas City area prior to that. She has been accepted to the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts' prestigious Open Studio Residency program, was previously a finalist in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom writing competition in New Orleans, and was an assistant teacher of painting and drawing at Interlochen Center for the Arts in 2002. 

Mikel Fields is the owner of Castello Branco Fields LLC, a brand strategy consulting company that manages strategy for personal brands and businesses.  He grew up in Columbia, played basketball at Hickman High School, and received an athletic scholarship from Columbia College where he completed a triple major degree in Sports Management, Business Management, & Marketing.  In his spare time he enjoys socializing with friends and meeting new people, riding his bike on the MKT/Katy trail, watching movies with his wife and daughter, and traveling. Two of his favorite books are The Soul of Leadership, by Deepak Chopra, and, 11 lessons on leadership, by Bill Russell.