MEET THE TEAM

Renee has a passion for creating experences in which artists in any field can unleash their full potential that connect their art with an audience that is awaiting to embrace and encourage the talents, skills and abilities they bring to their listening fans across the great state of Kentucky. She is working in concert to engage both those on the stage and in the seats in a way that is both memorable and meaningful.

She believes Listen Locally fosters a collaborative spirit and an avenue in which all of those goals can be fully accomplished by both artist and audience.

1. Owner of Listen Locally LLC

2. President of Collins Consulting Group

3. Executive Director, President of Room 17 Productions

4. Weekly Host - Red Barn Radio

5. Overtones Hosted by Renee Collins and Whitney Acke

6. Founder of the Sara Holroyd Singers

Renee Collins, owner of Listen Locally, LLC is also the President of Collins Consulting Group and the Executive Director/President of Room 17 Productions, a nonprofit organization that promotes music education through storytelling, oral history, live performance and preservation of aging recordings. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky where she attended on a full music scholarship to study piano and music education. Where she performed with the UK Chorus, Choristers and was both an accompanist for the Chorus and rehearsal pianist for the Lexington Philharmonic Concerts. Renee graduated from UK in 1984 with a degree in Music Education and from Xavier University in 1994 with a degree in Executive Human Resource Development.

In 2015, She formed The Sara Holroyd Singers, an a capella choral group that has performed for many at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, the Lexington Music Awards and on KET. Renee is currently a training consultant for The Office of Institutional Diversity at the University of Kentucky and as a consultant for Cook-Ross, Inc, an industry leader in the areas of diversity and inclusion. In 2015, Renee co-produced of “The Tribute to Sara Holroyd Concert” held at the Singletary Center for the Arts. In 2017, she was appointed Chairperson of the University of Kentucky School of Music Alumni Association.

She is the weekly host of Red Barn Radio, and a radio show titled "Overtones Hosted By Renee Collins and Whitney Acke" which airs weekly on WLXU - Lexington Community Radio. She also hosts the weekly Twisted Cork Open Mic, encouraging musicians from across the state of Kentucky to share their gifts and talents in giving audience members an opportunity to “listen locally” each and every week. Renee also encourages people to “listen locally” through storytelling serving as the project manager for several global education initiatives for the University of Kentucky Louie B Nunn Center for Oral History.