Advisory Board
Peter Salett is a Brooklyn based songwriter, composer and activist, who originally hails from Columbia, Maryland.
As a songwriter and composer, his music has been featured in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Wet Hot American Summer, Keeping the Faith, The Ten, Down in the Valley, and Role Models. He has released nine records on his own Dusty Shoes Music label, and performs live at venues throughout New York City.
In addition to a wide-ranging career in music and film, Peter is involved in political action and advocacy. He has co-produced a comedic video with Moveon.org and Funny Or Die which supported the idea of the public option in health care, and starred Will Farrell and Jon Hamm. Peter is on the Board of the OLP Foundation and is a graduate of Brown University.
Erin Frederick is the Founding Executive Director of The Hometown Project. She is a passionate executive in Arts & Media with a focus on Nonprofit management. Erin's work has always had a central focus in social action and advocacy. She began her career in New York City in theater working alongside Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project on the acclaimed play and subsequent film The Laramie Project. She spent several years working with emerging, established and acclaimed playwrights, actors and directors at New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), a dynamic off-Broadway theater company in the East Village.
With meaningful relationships built in the theatre community, Erin went on to work at HBO in their Santa Monica offices sharpening her technical storytelling skills in production and post production. Continuing to build on management and supporting new voices, Erin spent several years at the Sundance Institute working directly with the esteemed Board of Trustees and Founder & President Robert Redford, spending months at a time working with artists in the mountains of Utah.
In each role, Erin has been surrounded by some of the most influential voices of our time, helping share their craft with not only a wider audience but the next generation of artists.
After moving back to the east coast, she was the National Development Director at Outward Bound USA after previously holding the position of Director of Events & Membership at The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan, where she produced 4-8 events weekly, and significantly increased revenue year over year.
She is proud to have taken the leap of faith to build The Hometown Project from the ground up. With seven election cycles under her belt, she’s used her strengths and relationships across industries to harness creative voices and connect artists and change makers to communities and hometowns each year.
program Director
amy diprima
Amy is a Producer and Production Manager working primarily on commercials and short form content. She has also enjoyed being a part of various documentaries, feature films, and music videos. Amy is proud of the production teams she has assembled throughout the years. Her favorite aspects of production are teamwork, the dedication of crew members and the sense of community. In addition to production, Amy engages in her community through volunteer work. This has included work with Sweet Hope Chicago, Children's Memorial Hospital, her local PTA and various political campaigns. Amy admires the hard work and heart that local candidates put into their campaigns and their communities. Now in her sixth year as Program Director, Amy loves making connections and lending support to these candidates through her work at The Hometown Project.
Amy originally hails from the Chicago area and has called many places home including Delaware, Boston, New York City, and currently Montclair, New Jersey.
Hometown Team 2024/2025
Grants Manager: Sofia Crouch
Head Writer: Grace Critchfield
Writers: Alexis Buryk, Alison Leiby, Ariel Bronw, Ashlee Romain, Beau Cribbs, Julia Moser, Laura Manino, Miyoki Walker, Morgan Barnes-Whitehead, Nate Fridson, Rob Kutner and Sarah Morales
Social Media: Sam Congdon
Digital Distribution: Colin Delany, Jared Kamrass
Graphic Designers: Sam Congdon, Dylan Sheridan, and Kimmy Tsai.
Programming Interns: Mya Thomas, Maria Gustitus, Atticus Frank
Video Editors: Nathan Barrios, Ariel Brown, Justin Cannon, and Natalie Holt
Web: Rachel Rosenthal, Let’s Make a Website!
HOMETOWN Energizers
Hometown Energizers are well known cultural leaders (artists, actors, athletes) who volunteer their time to participate in local politics and initiatives in their Hometown. Whether in person at a community event or online through heightened visibility on social media, the engagement of Energizers provides an expanded platform for local voices to be heard and inspires a more active, engaged, educated electorate.
