Fine Arts

MATT NYGREN

Matt Nygren is the Fine Arts Department Chair Brentwood Academy. While serving in this role, he also is the assistant band director, AV tech, and BA’s resident boomerang guru. Mr. Nygren holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Trumpet and Jazz Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to teaching, he has acted in a professional capacity as a trumpet player and arranger working with The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Ojays, Brenda Lee, Franki Valli, The Mavericks, The Richmond Symphony, The Great American Music Ensemble, and more.

Mr. Nygren loves working at Brentwood Academy because of the faculty’s commitment to know each student. “When you put that in the framework of being ministerial we’re changing lives. This gift of music from God is probably one of his most profound gifts to mankind, an element of natural revelation. I love to be part of this God-centered mission, specifically being able to teach band, getting to share God’s profound gift of music with our students in this Christ-centered setting.” 

MARK WOODWARD

Mark Woodward graduated with Honors from Belmont University, having studied composition, arranging, and music technology as a piano principal with a secondary in voice.

He has toured nationally and internationally, playing keyboard and singing background vocals with Christian artists and bands Jeff Deyo, After Edmund, MikesChair, Chris McClarney, and others.

Before coming to BA, he was the Music and Drama Director at Montessori Academy, where he served for 14 years, teaching General Music, directing choirs, and producing the annual school musical.

He is the author and composer of Maria Montessori: The Musical, which has been performed at schools across the United States and worldwide on four continents.

Mr. Woodward enjoys teaching and hopes to honor God and inspire young people through music.

DAVID WISE

David Wise is a 25-year recording studio veteran. As a resident of Orlando, Florida, for over 10 years and now Nashville, TN, for over 10 years, he has spent most of his time in the recording studio. Mr. Wise began his career as a session singer and vocal arranger and has sung on projects for Celine Dion, One Republic, Steve Green, Blake Shelton, Lady A, Dolly Parton, and countless others. During the start of his career, he worked for The Walt Disney Co., singing with the Voices of Liberty and in the studio throughout the years. You can actually hear Mr. Wise featured on the longest-running fireworks show at Magic Kingdom, “Wishes."

Over the past 10 years, Mr. Wise has done more producing and has arrangements published with Word Music, Brentwood Benson, Lifeway, and JW Pepper. He has produced music for SeaWorld, Hershey Park, MSC Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Azamara Cruise Lines, The Nashville Christmas Parade, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and many more. Currently, he and his writing partner, Jeremy Johnson are in the process of mounting their originally written Broadway-style musical, “Esther: The Heart of a Queen." Mr. Wise and Mr. Johnson recently won the Paris Film Festival Award for Best Original Song “Something to Say” from the independent film Into the Spotlight. He truly loves BA and is so grateful to work with the amazing Academy Singers!

JEFFREY SCOT WILLS

Jeffrey Scot Wills is the Lead Band Director at Brentwood Academy, where he also teaches woodwind, and directs the Comtemporary Music Ensemble (Rock Band) and Jazz Band. Mr. Wills holds a master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is passionate about teaching, not only music but life skills as well. He views his teaching post at BA as ministry work with his students.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Wills has worked with Donna Summer, Take 6, Englebert Humperdink, T. Graham Brown, and many more. While his primary instrument is the saxophone, he plays nearly every musical instrument out there. Mr. Wills has written and produced 15 albums of his own in a wide variety of musical styles and you can hear him featured on many more. 

RICK PALMITER

Rick is a low brass instructor at Brentwood Academy. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from George Peabody College for Teachers and a Master of Music Education from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Mr. Palmiter has been pursuing his calling of teaching students band instruments for over 50 years. Outside of the classroom, he has spent much time traveling with the Continental Orchestra and other performance groups seeing the world and playing for many different cultures and people. He loves working at Brentwood Academy because of the environment and the sectional approach to teaching band. Mr. Palmiter says, “Acknowledging Jesus in the classroom is the most important thing we’re doing here; music is secondary to our relationship with the Lord.”

JOE SMYTH

Mr. Smyth is a percussion instructor at Brentwood Academy. He holds a Master of Music in Composition and Percussion Performance from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the Berklee College of Music. Mr. Smyth is a founding member and has been with the country group Sawyer Brown for 45 years, earning numerous ACM, AMA, CMA, CMT, TNN, and Grammy awards and nominations.

He is also recognized as the longest continuously signed (to a major record label) country drummer in Nashville history. Mr. Smyth has played with Sawyer Brown and the Nashville Symphony in all 50 states (including two performances at Carnegie Hall) and seven countries around the world. He loves working at Brentwood Academy, where everyone focuses on educating and raising amazing young people. Under his teaching, all students gain experience across the entire percussion family (30+ instruments) rather than specializing in just a few.

AUSTIN GROVES

Austin Groves teaches speech and the elective Bible course Speak Up: Faith and Your Voice at Brentwood Academy. In his almost ten years of coaching competitive speech, he has qualified twenty five different students to the annual National Speech & Debate Association National Tournament in Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Program Oral Interpretation, Informative Speaking, and Persuasive Speaking. Coach Groves knows the life of a high-school speech and debate team member.
 

As a competitor at Blue Springs High School in Missouri, Coach Groves won a national championship and also was named national tournament runner up on the high school national circuit. On the collegiate national level, Coach Groves was able to reach ten final rounds while competing at nationals, was named a national tournament runner up, and earned the title of National Forensics League Champion in 2014 while representing Western Kentucky University.

KELSEY SUMRALL

Kelsey Sumrall is originally from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. She has an undergraduate degree from Harding University in Theatre Education. After teaching at Harding Academy in Searcy, Arkansas she moved to New York City. While in New York, Ms. Sumrall completed a Master’s equivalent program at The Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She has been a part of numerous theater productions both on stage and off. Some of her favorite roles include Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth," Maggie Cutler in "The Man Who Came to Dinner," and Wednesday Addams in "The Addams Family Musical." 

Prior to teaching at Brentwood Academy, Ms. Sumrall led the theatre program at Ravenwood High School for four years. Each musical production there was nominated/awarded Nashville High School Musical Theatre Awards in categories such as Direction, Lighting, Costumes, and more. Ms. Sumrall joined Brentwood Academy as the Theater Director in 2024. She is delighted to be a part of the Brentwood Academy family.

CARI CHEETWOOD

Cari Cheetwood is originally a California native who moved to the Nashville area years ago. She is absolutely thrilled to be part of the Brentwood Academy family. Mrs. Cheetwood graduated with an undergraduate degree as well as a Master of Theatre and Education from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She has been both a teacher and performer in the theater for more than 20 years. Mrs. Cheetwood has performed in hundreds of shows over her career and found her passion in creating choreography for musicals while working in Los Angeles.

Since 2002, Mrs. Cheetwood has been certified as a Dale Carnegie and Associates Trainer where she was recognized as one of the top trainers within her local California organization before she was heralded as #7 of the top 10 trainers worldwide for the Dale Carnegie International Corporation.

JANET LAWS

Janet Laws has been teaching visual art at Brentwood Academy for over 25 years. With a Master of Education from Lipscomb University and a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from the University of Maryland, Mrs. Laws is a dedicated artist and educator who loves sharing her passion for design. She takes every opportunity to impart her experience and enthusiasm for art to others. She enjoys creative problem-solving, presenting projects that drive her students to succeed, and fostering their creativity to aid them in finding their artistic voices. She is proud to have been named both the 2023 Middle Tennessee Region Art Educator of the Year and the 2021 Tennessee Secondary Art Educator of the Year.

Outside the classroom at BA, she is involved with the Tennessee Arts Academy as a long-time participant and academy facilitator. She has spent many summers teaching art camps at Brentwood Academy, Appalachian Center for Craft, O’More School of Design, and the Young Scholars program. Mrs. Laws has served as a board member of the Middle Tennessee Student Art Exhibition for many years, working as both a curator and judge. She has presented art workshops for the TAIS and TAA and serves as an AP Art and Design portfolio reader. When not teaching, this Maryland native loves opportunities to renew her soul with like-minded creatives in art and design workshops experiencing the camaraderie of sharing ideas and insights with other artists and educators.

NAOMI PUGH

Naomi Pugh is a Middle School visual art teacher and has been working at Brentwood Academy for the the better part of a decade. She holds a Master of Art Education from the Art of Education University and a bachelor’s degree in Education from Freed-Hardeman University. Ms. Pugh has been passionately sharing her love of art with the next generation by teaching for more than ten years. She was recently named the May TAA Teacher Hero (2026) by Tennessee Arts Academy in recognition of her outstanding work and achievements as an educator.

When she isn’t inspiring students in the classroom, you can find her championing our studentathletes. Having played soccer at the collegiate level, she has continued her love of the sport by coaching our Middle School girls' soccer and lacrosse teams. 

JIM CHAPMAN

Art teacher and swim coach Jim Chapman has worked at Brentwood Academy for 20 years. Throughout his established career as an educator, Coach Chapman has taught every grade possible (even as an adjunct professor at MTSU) and has received numerous “Teacher of the Year” and “Coach of the Year” awards. Coach Chapman’s students have won various local, regional, and national awards for art, while others have moved into the field of professional artists as photographers, graphic designers, architects, and video game designers. He, himself, is also a professional artist, a “live” wedding painter, and a published illustrator of seven children’s books in print.

But Coach Chapman also has a musical side. He grew up singing gospel music, which led to him winning a Dove Award for writing the “Southern Gospel Song of the Year” in 1991. In the mid-90s, he joined the country group, 4Runner and toured with Tim McGraw, Brooks and Dunn, Kenny Rogers, Kenny Chesney, Reba McIntyre, Faith Hill, Toby Keith, Little Texas, Lee Greenwood, and more. When 4Runner disbanded, Coach Chapman went on the road as a backup singer for Loretta Lynn. He still does session work and sings background vocals with the Grand Ole Opry “Opry Background Singers.”