Teaching Artist Roster - Vermont Arts Council

Alexandra Turner

Ceramics/Glass, Visual Arts

Location: Essex Junction
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Washington

Alexandra works in a wide variety of media, including glass, photographic processes, fabric, print, clay, and paint. Her work combines arts integration, Universal Design for Learning, mindfulness, and collaboration to develop curriculum that engages many types of learners. Her glass fossil residencies combine fused glass art with ecology, integrating science skills such as using hand lenses, microscopes, plant identification, and principles of working with glass.

Education Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Alexandra Turner

Alexis Kamitses

Dance

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Bennington, Chittenden, Essex, Windham

Alexis is a dance and movement educator and performer living in Burlington and teaching at Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans. Alexis has a bachelor’s degree in biology, environmental studies, and dance from Oberlin College as well as a master’s in teaching from The University of Vermont. She is currently working toward a master’s in dance at Montclair State University.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Camps
Private lessons
Adult Workshops

More about Alexis Kamitses

Alia Thabit

Dance

Location: Saint Johnsbury

Alia is a dancer and choreographer of Lebanese and Palestinian descent who incorporates traditional and contemporary influences, colorful costumes, and dynamic music to present a wide range of Middle Eastern dance styles (also known as raqs sharqi, danse orientale, baladi, or belly dance).

More about Alia Thabit

Ashley Hensel-Browning/Dance with Ashley

Community/Social Engagement, Dance

Location: Weathersfield
Counties Served: All

Ashley Hensel-Browning is a choreographer, dancer, teaching artist and community artist. She is primarily interested in developing co-created choreography with different populations of people. Ashley has had experience in intergenerational dance projects, performing arts in prisons, and community center classes. She has taught in camps, libraries, schools, and affordable housing developments.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Dance With Ashley

Barbara Paulson

Community/Social Engagement, Puppetry

Location: Randolph
Counties Served: All

Barbara is a touring marionette puppeteer and teaching artist who partners with organizations to help participants tell their personal story through the voice of puppetry. As co-creator of the No Strings Marionette Company, Barbara knows bravery, flexibility, tenacity, and fun are essential to her creative process and encourages students to fearlessly examine the cycle of creation and revision as they make meaningful connections to original and inspired work.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Barbara Paulson

Brendan Taaffe

Dance, Music

Location: Brattleboro

Man of many hats, Brendan Taaffe is a musician, dance caller, and crankie artist who loves working with students to have fun and create community with traditional New England community dance and, more recently, creating “crankies” (scrolling paper images that accompany songs or stories) as group projects. Brendan has been working as an artist in schools for many years, and is comfortable engaging kids from kindergarten through high school with music and dance and stories.

More about Brendan Taaffe

Burlington Taiko (Stuart Patton)

Dance, Music

Location: Burlington

With the power of an elemental force of nature, men and women play with the passion of complete abandon, fully committing their bodies and spirits to the beautiful, precise choreography and powerful, surging rhythms expressed by taiko.

More about Burlington Taiko

Cai Xi

Community/Social Engagement, Visual Arts

Location: Brattleboro
Counties Served: Windham

Cai Xi is a painter, tai chi master, chef, and art and language instructor. Cai offers a variety of residencies and workshops in traditional Chinese brush, ink painting and calligraphy, hands-on book making, plein-air drawing, wellness, and cooking. She was awarded a Vermont Community Foundation Grant to engage students in art and poetry inspired by Chinese characters. She says: “Everyone is born an artist. Art is everywhere. Learning through art, we achieve and enrich our lives.”

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Cai Xi

Cardboard Teck Instantute (Ben t. Matchstick)

Maker/STEAM

Location: Montpelier

Ben is a designer, puppeteer, and the creative behind Cardboard Teck Instantute. He is also one of the inventors of the PinBox 3000, a cardboard tabletop customizable pinball kit.

More about Cardboard Teck Instantute

Christine Mix

Storytelling, Visual Arts

Location: Weston
Counties Served: Addison, Bennington, Chittenden, Essex, Rutland, Windham, Windsor

Christine Mix is a published children’s illustrator/author, PAL Member of SCBWI, and a member of CBIG-NYC. She is also a teaching artist in schools and camps, introducing illustration and cartooning to youth.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Private lessons
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops
Library and Community Programs
Non-Profits

More about Christine Mix

Circus Smirkus

Circus Arts

Location: Greensboro
Counties Served: All

Circus Smirkus is Vermont’s own award-winning international youth circus. Since 1987, they have promoted the skills, culture, and traditions of the traveling circus, inspiring youth to engage in life-changing adventures in the circus arts. The Ringmaster Residency Program brings the joy of circus into schools, camps, and other youth organizations while teaching and developing social and emotional learning. Professionally trained residency artists provide expert instruction in body movement, juggling, diabolo, flower sticks, plate spinning, balance exercises, human pyramids, and more. These activities have been observed to support building life skills such as resilience, self-confidence, collaboration, teamwork, and creativity for students of all ages.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Adult Workshops

More about Circus Smirkus

Courtney Reckord

Maker/STEAM, Visual Arts

Location: South Burlington

Courtney is an arts educator with a decade of experience teaching a wide variety of visual arts. Her specialties include arts integration, social issues and STEAM, as well as projects that involve the community, school community, and beyond. She has a background is in science that she believes to be a natural fit with art. Her previous experience as both educator in residence and as maker in residence at the Generator maker space gives her firsthand experience with teaching the tools of technology, and with designing units that are project-based, meaningful, and relevant.

More about Courtney Reckord

Dan Gottsegen

Visual Arts

Location: Hartland
Counties Served: Orange, Rutland, Windham, Windsor

Dan Gottsegen lives and works in rural Vermont; he has been an Arts Council Teaching Artist for over ten years. His work is influenced by wilderness wanderings and meditations and he often derives images from video that he shoots. Recently he was selected from artists across the country to be the single Artist in Residence in 2017 at the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. In 2016 he completed a two-month artist residency at Stiwdeo Maelor in Corris, Wales, U.K. He has a B.A. from Brown University, and an M.F.A. in painting from California College of the Arts.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Enrichment (single day)

More about Dan Gottsegen

Elissa Campbell

Visual Arts

Location: Montpelier
Counties Served: Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Rutland, Washington, Windsor

In a studio in beautiful Montpelier, you will find Elissa hand binding journals, photo albums, and guest books using traditional bookbinding techniques. She offers a range of bookbinding workshops appropriate for either students or teachers. She has worked in both traditional and nontraditional educational settings, art centers, community festivals, and online. Her training as an art therapist has given her invaluable tools that she uses when teaching and workshops are easily adapted to make them accessible to a variety of populations.

Educational Settings:

Private lessons
Adult Workshops

More about Blue Roof Designs

Erik Nielsen

Music

Location: Brookfield
Counties Served: All

Erik is an experienced teacher/mentor in composition. He has been a senior mentor with Music-COMP, a program that helps young people create their own music, since 2003.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
Camps
Private lessons
Adult Workshops

More about Erik Nielsen

Evan Premo

Community/Social Engagement, Music

Location: Marshfield
Counties Served: Chittenden, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Washington

Evan is a double bassist, composer, and teaching artist as well as an active chamber musician who performs regularly with Ensemble ACJW at Carnegie Hall in New York City and internationally. He has performed concerti with numerous orchestras including the 2009 world premiere of his own double concerto for violin and double bass with Andrés Cárdenes and the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Evan has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician numerous times on National Public Radio shows “Performance Today” and “From the Top.”

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Evan Premo

Evie Lovett

Media/Photography

Location: Putney

Evie is an artist and photographer. Much of her work has been in the area of documentary portraiture. Photographing people has been a way to connect with, hope to understand, and share the experiences of others.

More about Evie Lovett

Ferene Paris Meyer

Storytelling

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Chittenden

All Heart Inspirations creates heart-centered spaces, helping youth develop the ability to share their story and understand the power of their voice. All Heart Inspirations has worked with many schools and programs at all grade levels. Within these offerings, student stories and voices have been lifted up, and teachers and staff have learned how to empower youth from all backgrounds through storytelling. All Heart’s founder, Ferene Paris Meyer, is unapologetically living out loud as a Black femme artist, spreading messages of love, empathy, healing, gratitude, and liberation. She has performed on various stages and venues. Her teaching pedagogy is grounded in student empowerment, and she believes in a collaborative process with educators.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs

More about Ferene Paris Meyer

Fuá Nascimento

Dance, Music

Location: South Burlington
Counties Served: All

Fuá shares with energy and enthusiasm his wealth of knowledge around the fascinating art of Capoeira. In his master classes or visiting artist residencies, he invites students, staff, teachers, and all community members to step out of their comfort zone and embark on a cultural journey. This immersion is done through Capoeira’s traditional music, movement, and emphasizing these key principles: faith, positivity, respect, bravery and “I don’t know it.” (vs. “I can’t do it.”)

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Adult Workshops

More about Fuá Nascimento

Geof Hewitt

Literature and Poetry, Storytelling

Location: Calais
Counties Served: All

Geof is the author of four books of poems and Vermont’s reigning poetry slam champion. He offers readings of his poems, serves as slammaster/host for school and community-wide poetry slams, and leads writing workshops for all ages above third grade.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Geof Hewitt

Ida Mae Specker

Cultural Heritage, Music

Location: Dorset
Counties Served: Addison, Bennington, Rutland, Windsor

Ida Mae Specker grew up in a musical household learning by ear and performing in a family band. This same natural, unselfconscious immersion model has defined Ida Mae’s teaching style as an independent music educator since 2009. Ida Mae’s children and adult folk music and song writing workshops offer a fun age-appropriate space to build life-long confidence in your natural music making abilities. From founding two folk music centers, running after-school programs, giving fiddle lessons, facilitating workshops at schools, libraries, events and festivals, to teaching folk-singing classes, Ida Mae is always working to increase the accessibility and visibility of music wherever life takes her. Her original curriculum empowers community members of all ages and ability levels to connect to their musical roots.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs

More about Ida Mae Specker

Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum Theater

Cultural Heritage, Dance, Music

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: All

Vermont’s premier West African dance and drum theater, founded in 1993, is a nonprofit educational and performance ensemble based in Burlington. This large multicultural ensemble offers traditional rhythms and dances from Guinea, Senegal, and Mali, West Africa.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum Theatre

Jen Berger/At the Root

Community/Social Engagement, Visual Arts

Location: Winooski
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Washington

Jen Berger works as an interdisciplinary, community, and socially engaged artist and educator. Jen uses street, stage and guerilla theater; visual arts; painting; printmaking; installation and dialogue to raise awareness of social issues that affect us all. Along with individually designed projects, Jen creates community engagement opportunities through her studio work at At the Root. She is currently a full-time lecturer at the University of Vermont.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Jen Berger

John Hadden

Theater

Location: Londonderry

John was born in Berlin and spent his childhood overseas. He is a founding member of Shakespeare & Company, co-founder of Counterpoint Theater, artistic director of the Hubbard Hall Theater Company, and associate artist with We Players.

More about John Hadden

Jon Gailmore

Community/Social Engagement, Music

Location: Elmore
Counties Served: All

Jon uses songwriting to help children of all ages discover themselves, their uniqueness, and the innate poetic and musical talents which are rampant in every young human. Jon facilitates each group he works with to create songs with original lyrics and melody. Jon finds that lessons in language—such as similes, metaphors, meter, or rhythm—present themselves throughout the process. A culminating, live, gala performance takes place; the fledgling songwriters have total creative control and ownership of their magnificent work.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Jon Gailmor

Judy Dow

Cultural Heritage, Visual Arts

Location: Essex Junction

Judy is an Abenaki educator who teaches science, history, and math through art. In the recent past, she worked with Gedakina and the University of New Hampshire through a National Science Foundation grant documenting sustainable land use practices with Indigenous youth in New England.

More about Judy Dow

A woman with pale skin and dark hair sitting among a group of children, her hand touching her heart.

Kailie Larkin

Multidisciplinary, Theater

Location: Thetford
Counties Served: Orange, Washington, Windham, Windsor

Kailie Larkin is a teacher and artist who cultivates process-based creative environments for individual and collective growth. Her expertise includes improvisation, devising, Shakespeare, clowning, mask, shadow cinema, Bunraku puppetry, filmmaking, and stop motion animation. She is interested in exploring the different mediums by which we tell stories and in empowering students to find new skills of how they express, create, refine, share, and honor. She has a Masters in Theater Education from City College of NY, is a member of The Royal Frog Ballet, and directed the Chelsea Funnery Shakespeare Intensive for 14 years. She has worked with students and teachers as a teaching artist, residency coordinator, professional development leader, and full time theater teacher.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs

More about Kailie Larkin

Karen Amirault

Community/Social Engagement, Dance

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: All

Karen is well known for her extensive work with children and communities as a touring artist, artist-in-residence, choreographer and educator for over forty years. She holds a B.A. from Middlebury College and has received numerous awards from the Vermont Arts Council as well as the Governor’s Award for Arts in Education. Dance for and with others, she teaches, is a lesson in self-esteem and group dynamics. Paula Routly of Seven Days wrote “Amirault…has singlehandedly turned more people on to dance…than any other choreographer in Vermont.” The Karen Amirault Dance Company & KIDZ performs a high-energy repertoire of jazz and tap styles including Latin, African, hip hop, vaudeville, swing and Broadway.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Karen Amirault

Kristen M. Watson

Media/Photography, Visual Arts

Location: Colchester
Counties Served: Chittenden

Kristen loves to teach all kinds of art and has experience teaching book arts, altered books, hand-built and wheel-thrown ceramics, digital stop motion animation and claymation, digital and analog (darkroom) photography, and 3D sculpture and assemblage.

Educational Settings:

Camps
Private lessons
Adult Workshops

More about Kristen M. Watson

Kyle Saulnier

Music

Location: Monkton
Counties Served: All

Kyle Saulnier is a dynamic ensemble clinician and composer specializing in Jazz and Contemporary music. His high-energy approach and expertise can address the technique of performance, confidence in improvisation, and a wide scope of other topics in most contemporary genres. He is a highly-acclaimed composer whose works are an intense blend of jazz, modern classical, and rock music styles.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Collegiate Faculty

More about Kyle Saulnier

A woman with pale skinj and blonde, shoulder-length hair wearing green, seen from the waist up and holding a wooden case in front of her.

Lauren Larken Scuderi

Community/Social Engagement, Multidisciplinary, Music, Storytelling, Theater

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Chittenden

Larken is a singer, educator and environmental justice activist. She is known for her creative leadership with helping people of all ages and abilities find and share their authentic voices and ideas. She owns Heart Song LLC, an aerial healing arts experience studio in Burlington, VT. As one of the co-founding teaching artists of Very Merry Theatre’s, Waterway Stage, she has helped to reach school classrooms and community groups over the past eight years to share creative problem solving around water quality and pressing local environmental issues.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops
Inclusive Arts

More about Lauren Larken Scuderi

Linda Whelihan

Multidisciplinary

Location: Brattleboro
Counties Served: All

Linda has a special knack for providing workshops that tap into each individual’s creativity. She excels at integrating the arts into the classroom curriculum and designs engaging, art-full activities that reinforce learning while building community. She specializes in creative recycling, puppet and bookmaking, and large-scale mural and mosaic projects.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Linda Whelihan

A woman with pale skin and short dark hair seen from the neck up, smiling off camera.

Lorien Leyden

Visual Arts

Location: South Burlington
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Washington

Lorien has taught art to all ages and believes that everyone is an artist. She teaches in local schools as well as at her home studio, Deane Street Studio, in all types of media. Lorien is known for inspiring her students to create, make mistakes, learn, persevere, and keep creating. She loves teaching classes of all sizes; large, small, and individual.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs

More about Lorien Leyden

Lucie deLaBruere (Create-Make-Learn)

Maker/STEAM, Multidisciplinary

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orleans, Washington

Lucie deLaBruere specializes in the integration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) with Inquiry and Language arts. She co-designs experiences with teachers and students that bring joy to learning through creative, hands-on, minds-on, hard fun. Her mobile maker space is filled with supplies and tools that range from 3D printers, laser and vinyl cutters, cardboard creation tools, electronic circuit boards, robots, and more. Lucie’s custom designed project-based learning experiences have included projects like a student created arcade room with an Earth Day theme called Escape from Extinction, to beautiful laser-cut journals and identity artifacts, to musical instruments invented from recycled materials, code, and circuits.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)

More about Lucie deLaBruere

Three adults and three children posed in a standing pyramid, with groups of people mingling around them and bare trees behind.

Marci Diamond (Diamond Family Circus)

Circus Arts, Theater

Location: Morgan
Counties Served: Caledonia, Essex, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington

Marci Diamond is an NEK-based teaching artist, actor, circus performer, and movement specialist. She co-founded Diamond Family Circus with her daughter to cultivate youth empowerment. They teach, perform, consult, and choreograph across the globe. Marci is a SAG-AFTRA and AEA actor, circus artist, intimacy choreographer, and arts consultant. She served as National Sexual Violence Resource Center Advisory Council Chair, and her work is consent-forward and trauma-informed. She was a certified high school teacher, trained in circus arts therapy, and has experience providing adaptive programming for all ages and abilities. She enjoys collaborating with schools and organizations to design custom performances, workshops and theatrical services.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Early Childhood
Creative Aging

More about Marci Diamond

Marv Klassen-Landis

Literature and Poetry, Storytelling

Location: Windsor
Counties Served: All

Marv Klassen-Landis tells stories, performs poetry and leads written and spoken word residencies and workshops, as well as one-to-one coaching.Marv is a poet, storyteller and theatre artist who was the founding creative writer at Dartmouth Health’s Arts and Humanities Program from 2009-2023.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Camps
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops
Healthcare settings

More about Marv Klassen-Landis

Matthew LaRocca

Music

Location: Burlington

Matt is a composer, conductor and educator. He is on the composition and theory faculty at the University of Vermont and is the artistic director of the Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra. Matt is also the executive director of Music-COMP, an organization that teaches composition to students throughout the country and facilitates live performances of their music by professional musicians. Committed to new music and innovation, Matt is the chair of creative projects and artistic curator for the Vermont Symphony.

More about Matt LaRocca

Meredith Holch

Media/Photography, Puppetry

Location: East Hardwick

Meredith is a stop-motion animation artist, puppeteer, and crankie-picture-show maker specializing in socially relevant themes. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in film/video from Bard College. Meredith has over fifteen years’ experience teaching stop-motion animation and puppetry at elementary through college levels. Her workshops are easily incorporated into K-12 curriculum and promote communication skills, collaboration, patience, and self-esteem. Students engage quickly with the hands-on approach. Workshops culminate in short animated videos, performances, or giant puppet parades. Music and sounds play an integral role.

More about Meredith Holch

Michael Caduto

Music, Storytelling

Location: Reading
Counties Served: All

Michael uses story, song, dance, instruments and a cast of humorous and dramatic characters to present dynamic and powerful performances for all ages. He is known as much for his entertaining, humorous and poignant programs for children, as for his award-winning children’s books, including the Keepers of the Earth® series. His presentations focus on Earth stewardship, cultural diversity, indigenous peoples, science and the arts. More about Michael Caduto

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Adult Workshops
State Parks
Nature Centers
Museums
Conference Keynotes

More about Michael Caduto

Michael Kin

Visual Arts

Location: Middlebury
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Washington, Windsor

Michael Kin is a visual artist, illustrator, muralist, and educator. His colorful and playful illustrations and his work as an educator are informed by his experiences as a naturalist educator for the Audubon Society and as the Art Director of Aqua Vitea Kombucha. Michael is most interested in the open ended storytelling capabilities of illustration and painting and the benefits of imaginative play.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)

More about Michael Kin

Michele Choiniere

Cultural Heritage, Music

Location: Shelburne
Counties Served: All

Michele is an award-winning Smithsonian Folkways recording artist with a radiant, compelling voice. Her music and artistry capture a delicate sensibility, overlaying a raw authenticity. Her concerts transport audiences to another time of wistful cafe-cabaret culture, with riveting rhythmic melodies or a wistful lament, which stay with you long after the concert has ended. Born into a musical Franco-American family in northern Vermont, Michele began performing traditional Franco-American music at an early age with her father Fabio, an accomplished harmonica player.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Michele Choiniere

Miriam Block

Textile

Location: Starksboro

Miriam is a teaching artist with a background in textile design and weaving. Her goal is to gently guide children in the creative process as they explore new materials, carefully observe, problem solve, discover, and make their own connections.

More about Miriam Block

Mollie Burke

Multidisciplinary, Visual Arts

Location: Brattleboro
Counties Served: Bennington, Rutland, Windham, Windsor

Mollie has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College, with extensive experience teaching in public and private schools. She is founder and director of Art in the Neighborhood, an organization that provides tuition-free visual art classes to children in low-income housing communities. She also serves in the Vermont Legislature, representing the town of Brattleboro.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Mollie Burke

Muddy Creek Pottery (Heather Stearns)

Ceramics/Glass

Location: Wolcott

Heather is the founder and owner of Muddy Creek Pottery in North Wolcott. She has been working in clay since 1991 and teaching since 1993 in numerous capacities. Heather learned to make pots at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.

More about Heather Stearns

Five white ceramic dishes arranged behind five smaller white ceramic dishes, all with bands of color at the base.

Pamela Wilson

Ceramics/Glass, Textile

Location: Barre
Counties Served: Caledonia, Chittenden, Lamoille, Orange, Washington

Pamela Wilson is a contemporary artist trained in traditional fine craft techniques. She has taught pottery, sculpting, spinning, weaving, bookmaking, paper marbling and stitching in a variety of community and school settings. Trained as a psychotherapist, she spent more than 20 years in counseling and family support services. She enjoys working with individuals, teachers, or program administrators to explore the use of handwork, expressive arts, and object-making to achieve specific goals.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs

More about Pamela Wilson

Rachel Sargent Mirus

Maker/STEAM, Visual Arts

Location: Duxbury
Counties Served: Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Lamoille, Orange, Washington

Rachel is a nature illustrator who uses art to teach life sciences. She has a background in biology and has worked in research labs and museums across the country; currently, she is a practicing artist as well as a freelance nature writer and illustrator. She believes that drawing is always about looking deeper and learning more about a subject.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Adult Workshops

More about Rachel Sargent Mirus

Rebecca Mack

Music, Visual Arts

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Chittenden

Rebecca is a composer who specializes in voice, harp and drums. As a teaching artist, Mack works with adults and children, with a special focus on early education.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Adult Workshops

More about Rebecca Mack

Rebecca Schwarz

Community/Social Engagement, Visual Arts

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Washington

Rebecca connects people of all ages and abilities with visual art making. Working with a wide range of visual art materials and techniques including found materials, drawing, mosaics and sometimes artivism, art + activism for increasing agency, communication, and community.

Education Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Rebecca Schwarz

Rick Agran

Literature and Poetry, Media/Photography

Location: Worcester
Counties Served: Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington

For the last two decades, Rick made his way in the world as writer, poet and image maker, college professor, photographer, radio producer, humanist and educator, social justice advocate, multimedia journalist, and arts reporter specializing in fine art and theatre. Rick’s work encompasses the fine and literary arts, language and literature, history and culture, and the interpretation of the fine and performing arts.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Adult Workshops
Libraries
Community radio

More about Rick Agran

Sandglass Theater

Puppetry

Location: Putney
Counties Served: All

Sandglass Theater is driven by a dedication to artistic excellence in the productions of the core ensemble and by a spirit of inclusivity in the presentation of diverse guest artists and community events.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Camps
Adult Workshops

More about Sandglass Theater

Sarah Frechette

Puppetry

Location: South Hero
Counties Served: All

Sarah Frechette is a touring puppeteer, arts educator, and stop-motion animation fabricator. She has over twenty years’ experience teaching the various forms of puppetry to all ages. Sarah has toured internationally as both PuppetKabob and Night Shade, with an original repertoire of shows. She is the producer and hostess of Vermont’s first ever Creemee Dreemee Puppet Slam!

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
Private lessons
Adult Workshops

More about Sarah Frechette

A man with dark skin wearing a black and red, white-maned headdress, seen from the shoulders up.

Sayon Camara Drumming

Cultural Heritage, Music

Location: Bath, Maine
Counties Served: All

Sayon Camara is an exemplary djembe player, musician, performer and teacher. Operating with boundless joy and a deep respect for the music he stewards, he has an intimate knowledge of the traditional music of his people, the Malinke, of Guinea, West Africa. He delivers a tone that is as clear as a bell with an impeccable sense of time. Sayon’s programs are designed for all audiences, to increase cultural awareness through music (drumming), language (song) and movement (rhythm and dance). Students and audiences connect with the drum, themselves and each other as community, while learning or experiencing the traditional music of the village.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops
Senior Centers

More about Sayon Camara

Steve Ferraris

Cultural Heritage, Music

Location: Norwich
Counties Served: All

Steve is a percussionist trained in West African hand-drumming with 30 years of experience presenting Arts-in-Education residencies. Drumming for Success is an engaging hand-drumming experience with social-emotional skills (SEL) development embedded in the drumming curriculum. Steve’s residency programs are known for energizing and galvanizing the entire school community during and after the culminating performances.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Adult Workshops

More about Steve Ferraris

Strong Coffee Stage (Bronwyn Sims)

Theater

Location: Brattleboro

Strong Coffee Stage is a professional physical theater company that combines movement, music, vulnerability, virtuosity, and humor to engage its audiences.

More about Strong Coffee Stage

Susan Haefner

Theater

Location: Chester
Counties Served: Bennington, Chittenden, Rutland, Windham, Windsor

Susan Haefner is an actor, director, choreographer, educator, and owner of Little Yellow House Studio, an educational and solo performance studio. She is a Broadway veteran (State Fair, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and 42^nd Street Revival), and is now proud to call Vermont home. As a teaching artist, Susan works with schools and theaters across the state such as Maple Street School, Rutland High School, Castleton University, Northern Stage and Weston Playhouse.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Private lessons
Adult Workshops

More about Susan Haefner

A woman in black and yellow stands between two people on a stage, her hands on their shoulders.

Susan Palmer

Theater

Location: South Burlington
Counties Served: Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille

Susan has worked as an actor, theater director, and teaching artist locally and abroad for the last 17 years. She currently teaches improvisation at the University of Vermont, and is a teaching artist at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Susan Palmer

Susan Rosano

Multidisciplinary, Visual Arts

Location: Brattleboro
Counties Served: Bennington, Rutland, Windham, Windsor

Susan has been a master teaching artist for the past 15 years, bringing visual and expressive arts projects to schools, libraries, hospitals, museums and other venues for people of all ages, from Pre-K to senior citizens.

Educational Settings:

Private lessons
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Susan Rosano

An adult stands in the background while students in foreground dance in a colorful classroom.

Susanna Olson

Storytelling, Theater

Location: Essex Junction
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Washington

Susanna Olson is a theater arts integration teaching artist with 17+ years experience providing direct service to children and professional development for teachers across VT. She has extensive expertise in PreK-4th grade classrooms. Recently, she’s focused on expanding pre-literacy capacity in PreK students through the use of joyful, dynamic, tried-and-true drama routines enhanced with research-based oral language strategies. She believes positive human interactions to be essential to any impactful learning community and prioritizes that in every aspect of her teaching and collaborations.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
Early Childhood

More about Susanna Olson

Swing Peepers

Music

Location: Starksboro

The Swing Peepers, a vocal-harmony and multi-instrument duo, perform inventive, earth-friendly, and interactive songs and stories. The Swing Peepers are lively, improvisational, and endearingly goofy.

More about the Swing Peepers

Trish Denton

Multidisciplinary, Storytelling

Location: Burlington
Counties Served: Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille

Originally from Detroit, Trish is fascinated by cultural expression born from extremes. She put herself through school as a street performer, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Goddard College. She went on to receive an advanced degree from Dartmouth College. Trish designs and directs stage productions for theater, dance, and music; crafts folktales and story-based works; and produces community productions. With her freelance practice In Tandem Arts, she works with museums, schools, and other cultural institutions to produce interdisciplinary projects with a pedagogical twist.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Adult Workshops

More about Trish Denton

Troy Wunderle

Circus Arts, Theater

Location: Rockingham
Counties Served: All

Troy Wunderle is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of art, and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. For the past twenty-six years, he has toured throughout the United States as a freelance performer and employee of Vermont’s own Circus Smirkus. His antics have been featured on the Disney channel, The Today Show, Martha Stewart, Chronicle, Fetch, Fox and Friends and Americas Funniest Home Videos. Troy is the founder of Wunderle’s Big Top Adventures, an interactive circus arts organization. He spent 6 years as Director of Clowning for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Troy is the 2022 recipient of the American Circus Educators Excellence in Circus Education Award.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Camps
Private lessons
Early Childhood
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Troy Wunderle

Verandah Porche

Literature and Poetry

Location: Guilford
Counties Served: All

Verandah works with the nonprofit Art in the Neighborhood, an after-school arts program with children who live in public housing. She has presented poetry for Vermont Humanities’ Poetry in the Woods project and offered an online workshop called “Poetry Without Tears” for them. Verandah has done online workshops for the Rural Assembly. She created an interdisciplinary residency for previously unhoused people at Great River Terrace in Brattleboro. She continues to write and create poems with community elders.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)
Afterschool programs
Private lessons
Creative Aging
Adult Workshops

More about Verandah Porche

YES! Theater (Brent and Maya McCoy)

Circus Arts, Theater

Location: Greensboro Bend
Counties Served: All

Vermont-based vaudevillians Brent and Maya are professional variety entertainers who perform and teach their unique brand of physical comedy all around the world. In YES! Theater residencies, students learn new ways to communicate, imagine, problem-solve, and support one another as they create their own comedy and learn a broad range of circus skills.

Educational Settings:

K-12 School Residencies (multi-day)
K-12 School Enrichment (single day)

More about YES! Theater