The Seacoast Wind Ensemble (SWE), is a community band with approximately 55 members with diverse backgrounds serving New Hampshire, Northern MA, and Southern ME under the direction of Artistic Director, Dr. Mark Stickney, and Assistant Director, Jon Roth. 

Dr. Mark A. Stickney is assistant professor of music and Director of Bands at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He was most recently Director of Bands at Southern Utah University, and has held conducting positions at Oklahoma Panhandle State University and the University of Rhode Island. He has served on the brass faculties of Salve Regina University and the Community College of Rhode Island, where he taught trombone, euphonium and tuba. He has performed with the American Band, Fanfare Brass, The Narragansett Tuba Quartet, and as a member of the Rutgers Wind Ensemble  he has appeared on multiple recordings on the Mark Custom label. He has performed at The Newport Music Festival and throughout Southern New England as a soloist and chamber musician. As a conductor, Dr. Stickney has premiered a number of works. His research on contemporary Swedish wind music has lead to North American premieres of several works by composers Rolf Martinsson, Max Käck, and Ingvar Karkoff, and an article in the WASBE journal. He has conducted the Rutgers Wind Ensemble, Rutgers Symphony Band, Montclair State University Symphonic Band, and the University of Rhode Island Wind Ensemble, as well as many brass, woodwind, and percussion ensembles. He guest conducted the Rutgers Wind Ensemble at their Carnegie Hall debut in 2005. An active clinician, Dr. Stickney has worked with bands in California, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Kansas, Rhode Island, Texas, and Utah. He has done brass clinics with the Ocean State Youth Orchestra, judged the RIMEA Solo and Ensemble Festival, and auditioned low brass for the Five States Honor Band, and the OMEA Intercollegiate Band.

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Dr. Stickney holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where he studied with William Berz. He received his Master of Arts degree in Tuba Performance from Montclair State University and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College. He studied tuba with Gary Buttery, Stephen Johns, and John Jones.