Brian W. Kellum has extensive experience as a string teacher and administrator in public, community, and private settings. He taught strings in St. Louis working with students grades 3-8 in the Ritenour and Parkway school districts, and in Atlanta where he taught middle school strings and general music through 2014. Kellum served on the faculty of Middle Tennessee State University as a Minority Dissertation Fellow. He was the Artistic Director for the Cameron Youth Chamber Orchestra and the founder and Artistic Director of the St. Louis Youth Chamber Ensemble. He was Program Director for MusicWorks!, an El Sistema-inspired program of the Asheville Symphony, served as Director of Orchestral Programs for the Atlanta Music Project, an El Sistema-inspired program, and maintains a private studio of violin and piano students.

Kellum graduated from Duquesne University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education in 2001, and earned a master of Music Education degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 2005. As a doctoral student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant to Dr. Louis Bergonzi in the Music Education Department. His duties included assisting with conducting and string pedagogy courses, supervising student teachers, and teaching undergraduate string pedagogy. Kellum was twice elected to the executive board of the National Black Graduate Student Association serving as Vice President of Administration and Treasurer,

Kellum received the Presser Award to conduct research on Fundamusical Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, and has presented on various topics at the Committee on Inter-Institutional Cooperation Conference, Illinois Music Educators Conference, NBGSA regional and national conferences, MENC Southwest Symposium, and the American String Teachers Association National Conference.