Ramon Abad (he/his) is a Filipino American puppeteer, artist, and teacher. Since the mid 90s to present day he has written puppet plays, hand-made puppets and performed solo shows throughout the Bay Area, the US and the UK. Since the beginning of 2021, Ramon has been a resident artist of Balay Kreative Studio: a collective of Filipinx American artists based in SOMA Pilipinas, a downtown San Francisco neighborhood designated as a Filipino cultural district.
Ramon was a company member of Larry Reed’s ShadowLight Productions as a puppeteer and maker and was in a show that toured in the Jim Henson International Puppetry Festival. He was performer, director and writer in the Filipino American sketch comedy troupe tongue in A mood. He has collaborated with many art and theater organizations on puppetry projects at Bindlestiff Studio, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SOMArts Cultural Center and the Children’s Creativity Museum.
He has directed live, in-person stage and on-line productions using modern puppetry. Ramon has led residencies and workshops that engage young children, college students and professional adults in exploring a variety of puppetry mediums.
www.ramon-puppetry.com

Jeanette Au was raised in New York and trained in visual arts at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts—also known as the Fame school. She holds a BFA in interdisciplinary studies from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA in knitwear design from the Academy of Art University. Ms. Au’s work blurs and transgresses the boundaries between fashion and art, exploring cross-cultural dialogues and liminal space. Her knitwear collection has been presented at New York Fashion Week, and she has taught undergraduate fashion courses at Academy of Art University and offers textile art instruction throughout the Bay Area. As an educator, she shares inspiration, process, and an exploration of material and techniques in order to discover—and to delight—in the unexpected.

Sophia Alawi won the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress – Musical in 2019 for Groundhog Day The Musical at San Francisco Playhouse and was named one of “five standout performances” in 2019 by the Houston Chronicle for the role of Wendla in Spring Awakening. Her regional credits include Twelfth Night and In the Heights (Playhouse on Park). New York credits include Fat Kid Rules the World (Clurman Theatre) and Emerson Loses Her Miand (Hudson Guild Theater). Ms. Alawi earned a BFA from Rider University and also studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and The Barrow Group in New York. She is a screenwriter producing and crowdfunding her first film.

Charlotte Horst Baldiviez is a New York based actor, dancer, and choreographer. She studied performing arts and social justice at the University of San Francisco with emphasis in both theater and dance and at Pacific Conservatory Theater (PCPA) in the two-year Professional Actor Training Program. Ms. Baldiviez’s love of theater and performance knows no bounds; she enjoys the work of William Shakespeare as much as Andrew Llyod Webber’s Cats as much as anything Dimitris Papaioannou can think up. She also is a co-founding member and artist director of `{`unsuper`}`vised children dance company, a bi-coastal interdisciplinary dance company. Recent theatrical credits include Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves (#13), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck), Peter Pan (ensemble/dance captain).

The investigative nature of Agelio Batle’s work may stem from his background in the sciences, as his BA from UC Santa Barbara is in Biology. Not wishing to pursue a career in science, Mr. Batle returned to his lifelong interest in art and earned an MFA from California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA), graduating with High Distinction honors. Batle’s artwork includes stage design, art installation, performance art, drawing, and sculpture, and has been shown in museums and galleries across the United States—including the American Craft Museum in New York, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Mr. Batle’s work is in the collections of Nelson Mandela, President Bill Clinton, George Lucas, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, among others.

Keta Bill received her BA in theater and music from Western Illinois University. A performer and studio vocalist in the Bay Area for more than thirty years—with such bands as the Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, and shows such as “Teatro Zinzanni,”—she continues to record for commercials, film, and CD projects. Ms. Bill teaches singing and chorus for Brisbane Dance Workshop, ODC, and Spindrift School of Performing Arts and offers private piano and guitar lessons. She has worked in early childhood music and movement for more than twenty years, and teaches at various preschools as well as the Blue Bear School of Music.

Noah Bossert is a passionate music educator, pianist, and vocal coach hailing from Madison, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison with an undergraduate degree in Music Education and graduate degree in Education Policy and Analysis. Focusing on access to music education-for-all is his top priority as an educator and advocate. He started his teaching career as a high school choir and general music teacher in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, he provided musical opportunities to all students through accompanying and arranging for the choirs, leading hip-hop cyphers in the general music classroom, and music directing/keyboard conducting multiple different shows produced by the high school theater company (“Tuck Everlasting,” “Fly by Night,” and “High School Musical the Musical”). Upon moving to the Bay Area, Mr. Bossert began performing all-request shows at dueling piano clubs such as Johnny Foley's, as well as solo piano bars such as Martuni's. As a musical director, he continues to direct shows at San Francisco University High School (“Merrily We Roll Along”) while teaching vocal arts and songwriting as a music faculty member, and works as with local theaters such as SFBATCO (“I, Too, Sing America”) and 142 Throckmorton Theater (“A Chorus Line,” “Fiddler on the Roof”).

Patric Cashman’s method of teaching aims to attain qualitative results rather than quantitative ones. Quality rather than quantity with a goal to deepen the students’ awareness of their inherent potential and ability. With time, students begin to realize that all movement has potential and can be incorporated, they become more confident to trust their own movement impulses and, consequently, contribute them to the class. As a teacher Mr. Cashman believes that every student has the potential to create and express, sometimes they just need guidance to allow it to blossom.

Mr. Cashman teaches urban/contemporary dance, along with a hybrid of hip-hop street-styled dance techniques. Using music/audio soundscapes for inspiration, I expand student engagement using a variety of methodologies, games, and exercises from Contemporary/Modern dance techniques (e.g use of breath to assist fall and recovery based on Martha Graham’s work). I find this widens students’ exposure to different dance forms, while not limiting them to any particular style, and allowing each student to find their own place of connection to movement within a wider spectrum of dance making possibilities. Dance allows me to learn more about myself in ways other methods don’t and hope that students will discover something new about themselves and their potential through this guided process.

Yari Cervas (all pronouns) is a theater director, teaching artist, and somatic worker exploring artistic expression through intuitive movement, music, poetry, illustration, and meditation. They are inspired by yet untold stories steeped in restorative justice, cultural memory, queerness, and trauma recovery. As a developer of new plays they can be found nurturing young playwrights, devising site specific theatre, and creating docuplays in collaboration with local community. Inspired by a lack of Filipino voices in San Diego theatre they founded MaArte Theatre Collective and as the artistic director produced and directed nearly two dozen plays by emerging Pilipinx playwrights. MaArte’s work established Yari as a lauded director for the original docuplay The Fire in Me (Award of Recognition from the State Legislature of California) and the original one-woman show Your Best American Girl (Best of the Fest, Critics’ Pick, and Cultural Exchange awards.) Previously, they were also honored by the first ever Double Indy Award for performance as Dido in Dido Queen of Carthage and direction of the world premiere of Tar and Feather. Yari has had the pleasure of collaborating with organizations such as Amigos Del Rep, Asian Story Theatre, Blindspot Collective, Cygnet Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, People of Interest, the San Diego Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, TuYo Theatre, The Old Globe, MOXIE Theatre, and Westmont Festival Theatre. They are most proud of their November 2019 docudrama, You’re Safe Here, produced in partnership with Allain Francisco M.D. with support from the UCSD School of Medicine to foster empathy for the experience of patients navigating their relationships with mental health care providers. As the creator of Practical Somatics, Yari teaches body-based meditations, especially for QTBIPOC, to empower them to overcome trauma in their daily lives. Yari believes that by practicing breathing, intuitive movement, and compassionate self-awareness individuals are better positioned to heal their relationships with themselves and their wider communities. yaricervas.com

Wanda Chan is a Bay Area artist. She received her undergraduate degree in Art History from Barnard College in 1997 and a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 2002. Her early interest in cultural motifs led her to investigate the nature of identity and perspective, shifting her focus to “style” as a motivation. After freelancing in Los Angeles under fashion directors and wardrobe stylists, she returned to the Bay Area to share her production skills with the emerging Oakland School for the Arts. Teaching art history and stagecraft unlocked for her a five-year conceptual preoccupation with an alter-ego persona, as a result she stopped identifying as the Japanese character she had developed. In the years since she has had a successful career as a visual merchandiser for luxury brands. The production of meaning in a consumer culture continues to be central to her work.

Erin Coyne is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Originally from the Chicago area, Ms. Coyne graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Masters in Education, BA in Dance and BS in Elementary Education. While at the U, she performed works by Maurya Kerr, Justin Jones, and repertoire of Martha Graham, while studying under the instruction of renowned artists Toni Pierce-Sands, Erin Thompson, Carl Flink, and Ananya Chatterjea. Her choreography has been presented at various venues in Minneapolis, Chicago, and the Bay Area. As a teacher, she has taught in an elementary education setting as a 4th grade teacher, as well as at many dance studios around the Midwest and on the West Coast. Most recently, she collaborated with a local music artist to create a dance film for a self-produced virtual dance event, which went on to become an award winner in the San Francisco Indie Short Film Festival.

Ruby Day has a BA in Musical Theatre from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She lived and worked in New York for three years, performing all over, most notably as part of the National Touring Company of Annie, as Star to Be. She moved back to the Bay Area, her hometown, to star in Beach Blanket Babylon as Snow White, until the show closed in 2019.
In her off hours, Ruby attended the Clown Conservatory of SF to broaden her emotional range and sharpen her skills in physical comedy. Represented by STARS talent agency, she has worked in commercials and voiceover. Ms. Day has been teaching acting, singing, and voiceover throughout the Bay Area.

Danny Duncan has served as Director of the San Francisco Arts Education Players since its inception. He wrote the libretti and song lyrics for eight SFArtsED Event of the Year performances and created three original musicals for the SFArtsED Players.

A native San Franciscan, Mr. Duncan has worked in the Bay Area most of his life, including as Founder and Artistic Director of Duncan & Company, which toured the West Coast for seven years. Mr. Duncan's writing career began in 1969 with Uhuruh, which appeared Off Broadway in New York at the City Center Theatre. Since then, he has authored and produced eight original musicals, including Billie’s Song—winner of six Bay Area Critic Awards, including Best Musical of 1982.

Mr. Duncan is also the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for his choreography for the TheatreWorks production of RAISIN—a musical adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry play—as well as the Dean Goodman Choice Award for outstanding achievement in theatre. Mr. Duncan has served as Artistic Director for the Mayor's Summer Youth Program (Bayview Hunter's Point) and for United Projects, an arts organization that trains young people in the performing arts. Mr. Duncan has taught at American Conservatory Theater and was a longtime member of the faculty of the Oakland School of the Arts, where he also directed their main stage musical.

Laura Ellis is a member of faculty of the Theater and Dance department at Cal State University East Bay, for whom she has choreographed numerous productions. With colleague Kimiko Guthrie she co-directed and co-choreographed A Chorus Line—which garnered critical praise and was the catalyst for CSUEB’s Musical Theater program. Ms. Ellis has also staged productions for Open Opera, Festival Opera, George Coates Performance Group, Douglass Morrison Theater, and Theatre Rhinoceros. A principal dancer with Dimensions Dance Theater, she has appeared in works by Emily Keeler, Donald McKayle, Garth Fagan, Deborah Vaughan, Joan Lazarus, Anne Bluethenthal, Kim Epifano, and Robert Moses; and is co-founder of the award-winning Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now. In the summer of 2017 Ms. Ellis was a co-choreographer of Ragtime—a co-production of SFArtsED and the SF Bay Area Theatre Company performed at the Nourse Theater.

Before moving to the Bay Area in 2012, Zoe Farmer spent twelve years teaching at a diverse public school in London. A practicing artist since 2007, Ms. Farmer has shown her work in both London and San Francisco and earned an MFA in Fine Sculpture at California College of the Arts. Ms. Farmer’s art practice is interdisciplinary, and she works with a range of materials in both conventional and unconventional ways. A scuba diver with a life-long interest and investment in marine biology and a strong belief in our connection to the ocean, Ms. Farmer’s work seeks to explore the instability created when social constructs influence the fabrication of scientific truth. Ultimately, the social constructions of our society become conspicuous and limiting against the adaptable, fluid bodies of the animals and organisms that she observes.

Mr. Flavoni is a young conductor serving as an Assistant Conductor of San Francisco Symphony and the Lakes Area Music Festival. He has been mentored by several luminaries of classical music, including Manfred Honeck, James Levine, Michael Morgan, Christian Reif, and Kent Nagano, and has assisted such notable conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Ton Koopman, and Marek Janowski. In the field of opera, he has worked as assistant conductor on numerous works, including The Rake’s Progress with the Lakes Area Music Festival, Die Walküre with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Simone Young, and Barber’s Vanessa with West Edge Opera. He has served as Music Director of the critically acclaimed Abraham in Flames, a 2019 opera by Niloufar Talebi and Aleksandra Vrebalov featuring the Young Women’s Choral Project of San Francisco and alumni of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program.
An ardent advocate for inspiring music performance in the younger generations, he has served on the faculty of San Francisco Conservatory of Music as Music Director of Pre-College Opera and Musical Theatre. Mr. Flavoni formerly served as a research fellow in music and philosophy at the Zephyr Institute at Stanford University. He has also spoken on the topics of music, politics, and social justice in the 4D Mentor Talk Series with the Khadem Foundation. He attended the University of California, Berkeley as a Regents and Chancellor's Scholar on full academic scholarship, studying conducting under David Milnes and Marika Kuzma, harpsichord under Davitt Moroney, composition under Franck Bedrossian, and musicology under Richard Taruskin. While at Berkeley, he served as music director of the UC Berkeley Opera Ensemble, including a production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, which won the 2015 Eisner Prize. He later went on to attend the University of Michigan.

Monica Portugues Frangoul is a teaching artist, holistic movement healer, and dancer, emphasizing her art in contemporary-ballet and modern dance. She received her B.A. in Performing Arts and Social Justice-dance and an M.A. Teaching Reading with a bilingual credential in Spanish. Monica has long pursued her passion of working with kids and sharing her passion of self-love and expression through movement. After working for SFUSD as a Spanish immersion kindergarten and first grade teacher, she is exploring the art of movement’s power to heal through Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco and is sharing her passion, not only as a teaching artist through SFArtsED in SFUSD schools, but also a dance teacher for the nonprofit Studio 121. She has had the pleasure of working professionally with artists such as Eli Nelson, Amie Dowling, Liv Schaffer, Jennifer Polyocan, Deborah Slater, Eric Garcia, Arletta Anderson, and Adam Smith.

A Bay Area resident since 2015, Samantha Graham is a visual artist and ceramicist. She attended California State University East Bay and holds a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Traditional Art. She produces functional ceramic work out of a community studio in Berkeley, drawing inspiration from the natural world. She is passionate about teaching art to youth through various media and helping to grow confidence in artistic abilities.

Natalie Greene is a performer, teacher, and choreographer who explores both traditional and innovative combinations of dance and theater. She is part of the adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco, where she co-directs the Dance Generators with Amie Dowling. Ms. Greene also teaches through SFArtsED and the ODC School, and has served as Dance Faculty at San Francisco State University. She has performed with Kim Epifano, Deborah Slater, Emily Keeler, Kelly Kemp, Leyya Tawil, and Mary Armentrout, and her choreography has been presented locally at ODC Theater, the Garage, John Sims, Shotwell Studios, and Dance Mission, as well as at venues across the country. Ms. Greene also creates performances with youth, teens, seniors, incarcerated adults, and college students, which have been performed in such venues as the Eureka Theater, the de Young Museum, the Marsh, the Fromm Institute, County Jail #8, College of San Mateo, and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts.

Rebecca Herman is a visual artist and art teacher based in San Francisco since 2013. Often working with long-time collaborator Mark Shoffner, she has created sculpture, textiles, mixed-media work, video, performance, and installations. In the past five years, she has focused on making hand-dyed textile works, often culminating in installations or interactive works for the public realm. Recent work has involved a three-month residency at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and sculptures, installations, and videos at Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio in Japan. Public work has included site-specific work created for Golden Gate Park, McCarren Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, Evergreen House at Johns Hopkins University, and the Carving Studio & Sculpture Center in Vermont. Ms. Herman has worked as an art teacher for DeMarillac Academy’s after-school program and held positions with a number of local galleries, nonprofits, and arts institutions, including SFMOMA, Fraenkel Gallery, and McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.

Rodney Earl Jackson, Jr. made his Broadway debut in The Book of Mormon after graduating with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. He was last seen performing in the Temptations musical Ain’t Too Proud, and previously traveling North America in the first national tour of Motown: The Musical. A San Francisco native who was discovered in his public elementary school at age 9 by SFArtsED (Emily Keeler & Danny Duncan), Mr. Jackson continued his theatre and performance education at Rec and Park’s Young People’s Teen Musical Theater Company (Diane Price, Anne Marie Bookwalter & Nicola Bosco-Alvarez) and graduated from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts’ theatre department (Phillip Rayher & Donn Harris). As the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of BATCO, he is a proud art-activist passionate about telling untold stories.

Ms. Kelly-Tuason is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, born and raised in Daly City and the Sunset District. She has been playing the piano for over 30 years for musicals, churches, and choirs, and is pursuing a degree in music and music education. Musicals she's played for include youth productions of Footloose, Les Misèrables, Fame, The Wizard of Oz, Seussical Jr, Godspell Jr, and Newsies; as well as adult productions of The Pajama Game, Chess, Company, Titanic, Wedding Singer, Hairspray, Aida, Once Upon a Mattress, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Fiddler on the Roof. When not playing the piano, you can find her working and studying in the field of public health, training for triathlons, making earrings and documentaries, jamming with her bass-playing husband, and chasing after her 15-month-old son.

Jennifer Kesteloot ran an interior design studio for many years, during which time she fell in love with the tools, materials, and processes used to create the objects that surround us. In 2015 she closed her studio to focus on art full time. In her work, she uses various media to unite and explore Reason & Wonder, science and nature, and man-made objects in combination with and in contrast to elements of the natural world. She is passionate about working with children and teens, encouraging them to work with different tools and materials, and giving them the confidence and familiarity to explore the worlds of art and making.

Elena Kobylina received an MFA in Acting from The Actors Studio Drama School in New York City, where she was mentored by the world-renowned acting coaches Susan Aston and Jacqueline Knapp. Life in New York was the essential school for developing her creative pursuit. More than anything, the creative quest has brought Ms. Kobylina to work with youth in nonprofit environments. She is inspired by the work of Bell Hooks and her pedagogy based on compassion and deep listening to students' needs.
Ms. Kobylina recently received a “Guaranteed Income for Artists” grant, having been chosen out of 22,000 applicants. In film, her professional highlight was working alongside Kate Winslet and Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs, directed by the Oscar-winner Danny Boyle. She enjoys big, bold characters in comedy, and in-depth characters in drama. www.elenakobylina.com

G. Scott Lacy has directed more than 150 productions for such companies as the Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse, the Lamb’s Players Theatre, the Musical Theatre Guild of Los Angeles, Diversionary Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Diablo Theatre Company, 42nd Street Moon, San Diego Repertory Theatre, San Diego Opera, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Malashock Dance Company, and many others. Mr. Lacy was also honored with a 2009 Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical Direction for his work on Dames At Sea at NCTC.

Mr. Lacy has had the honor of working with some of the theater’s finest directors, including Des McAnuff, Michael Greif, Neel Keller, Peter Schneider, Les Waters, and Regina Taylor. A sought-after vocal coach, he has worked with Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Golden Globe- Award-winning performers and his younger students have attended such prestigious universities as NYU, Harvard, Carnegie Melon, North Carolina School of the Arts, UCSD, UCLA, and Sarah Lawrence. Also a celebrated cabaret performer, Mr. Lacy is the creator and founding partner of Society Cabaret in San Francisco.

John Lehrack (MA, BM) has served as musical director for dozens of theater productions in the Bay Area, Seattle, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Miami, and New York. He is an avid fan of all types of theatrical performances, both on- and off-stage. Some favorite roles include the Padre (Man of La Mancha) Ferrando (Cosi fan Tutti), and Shallow (Plump Jack, the opera.) Mr. Lehrack has been an arts educator for more than 30 years and has worked with students from age 3 to over 80. As an educator, he has taught piano, voice, choral music, music theory, music appreciation, and musical theatre. He loves to teach and recognizes that every student learns differently and always seeks to modify his methods to suit the needs of each pupil. Mr. Lehrack is also a solo performer, composer, and arranger. He is producing a series of educational music videos on YouTube called the Magic of Music and is composing a work about gun violence.

Sydney Lozier is a professional performing artist and educator working to promote art as a cognitive and reflective tool in educational settings. She attended University of San Francisco, where she received her Bachelor’s from USF in Performing Arts and Social Justice, as well as a Master’s of the Arts in Teaching and a Multiple Subjects teaching credential from the state of California. As an active teacher in the bay area since 2014, she has partnered with several outstanding arts education organizations, including Lines Ballet, Creative Arts Charter School, Hillcrest Elementary, Lone Mountain Children’s Center, San Bruno County Jail, San Francisco Waldorf High School, and her alma mater, USF. sydneylozier.com.

Anthony Maglio is a Bay Area-based actor and performer. He studied theater at Chapman University and graduated with a B.F.A in Theatre Performance. He is represented by Johnson Talent and has worked professionally in both regional theater and commercial work. He fell in love with the arts at a young age and his passion for film, TV, and theater have no bounds. He is excited to share his passion for the arts with SFArtsED students. Some of his favorite past roles include Kenickie in Grease with by the Bay, Kodaly in She Loves Me with the Mountain Play Association and Kevin/Ensemble in Follies with San Francisco Playhouse.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Rachel Major is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ms. Major lived and worked in Paris for two years before moving to San Francisco in 1994 and receiving an MFA from Mills College. In her work, which has been shown in France, Canada, and the United States, Ms. Major investigates our complex and often fraught relationship with food using a variety of media—including sculpture, painting, and photography. She has been making art with children for more than ten years, and enjoys connecting art with science and working collaboratively with open-ended materials—exploring everything from airplanes to zoetropes.

Tom Mayock, brings the dance arts to thousands of children annually in the form of standards-based curriculum in elementary schools. With his unique K-5th grade curriculum of Jazz, Creative Moment, and student generated-composition, he helps students to be better critical, collaborative, and creative thinkers. He is the co-artistic director and choreographer of The World Dance Festival and the Classroom Connections Festival. He has been an Artist Mentor with SFArtsED for more than a decade. Mr. Mayock has attended Cornish College of the Arts, and performed, choreographed, and taught professionally in Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Alaska, the Bay Area, and Washington DC.

Mallory McDaniel graduated from the California College of the Arts, receiving her BFA in Fashion Design. While at CCA she won a competition for sustainable fashion design sponsored by the prominent San Francisco nonprofit, ReMake. This led to her being the center of a documentary produced in Sri Lanka where she was introduced to the many issues surrounding the pipeline of overseas garment production.

Before fashion Ms. McDaniel studied film and taught at the multimedia youth nonprofit, Spy Hop in Salt Lake City. While there she completed three documentaries, one winning her a Student Emmy. She has a special love for the medium of stop-motion film due to its detailed hand-crafted artistry. She has worked with all ages, from teaching art to toddlers (working on fine motor skills and early childhood development), to 3-month summer intensives, creating 20-minute film projects with high school students. Her interest in art started from a young age, as she began to gather and combine a variety of artistic materials, styles and techniques and remains passionate about creativity, playful exploration, sustainability, and up-cycling, a focus that she applies with great excitement in all areas of her life.

Peter Meredith is a pianist, choir conductor, singer, and music educator who enjoys helping people of all ages experience the joy of making music. He is currently finishing his Master’s of Music Education at Holy Names University, where he studies vocal pedagogy and the Kodály method. He works as a director and accompanist for Ragazzi Boys Chorus in Redwood City, and as a piano instructor at Spindrift School of Performing Arts. He is the music director at College Heights Church in San Mateo, First Congregational Church of Redwood City, and Mission Bay Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. He also performs regularly as a jazz and salsa musician, leading the Golden Gate Jazz Trio and playing with several Bay Area salsa bands.

Mariella Morales attended the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, where she was introduced to Dunham Technique and African Haitian dance. Ms. Morales received an A.A in Dance from City College of San Francisco, a B.A. in Dance from San Francisco State University and an M.S. in Kinesiology at SFSU. Ms. Morales is also a Certified Dunham Technique instructor and teaches African-Haitian, African-Brazilian, Dunham Technique, Salsa, Yoga, Zumba and Hip Hop. Ms. Morales has taught at Chabot College, City College of San Francisco, San Jose State University, and Escola de Danca da Fundacao Cultural do Estado de Bahia. She is Co-Artistic Director of Alafia Dance Ensemble, which sshowcase the beauty of African Haitian dance and culture, was founded by Valerie Watson, whom Ms. Morales acknowledge as the most influential woman in her life.

Melinda Neal-Cofresi is a BFA candidate in dance at Saint Mary’s College. She trained at the Oakland Ballet Academy under Ronn Guidi and studied locally at Shawl Anderson and the San Francisco Dance Center. She is certified to teach ballet by the Dance Masters of America, and has performed with Simply Pasquale, Napoles Ballet Theatre, California Ballet, Udance Electra, New Trails Dance Theatre, Oakland Ballet Academy, and Solano Civic Ballet. Ms Neal-Cofresi is the Artistic Director and Choreographer for Halal Ballet Theatre, a non-profit youth ballet company and also teaches for Dance Network.

Ms. Nureyev's body of work resides in the intersection between art, design and craft. Her entry point into these disciplines is typically textile-based, materials driven, hands-on, and coupled with an emphasis on artistic inquiry and collaboration.

Ms. Nureyev has designed costumes for film, musical theatre, dance, and performance art; and has worked with fellow artists to create fiber-based elements, structures, and garments for gallery projects and set design. She is the co-founder of the collaborative design studio Stella Fluorescent, which works with natural dyers, wood artisans, metal smiths, and painters to create sustainably created collections that are sold in fashion boutiques and design stores. She also leads summer youth programs that explore the nature of fashion as identity, and regularly collaborates with artists residing in San Quentin Prison. An active SFArtsED Artist-in-Residence in the public schools, Ms. Nureyev also sits on the SFArtsED Board of Directors.

Richard Olsen is an artist, writer, and art educator. He has taught art education at the San Francisco Art Institute, and was also the head of the art department at Gateway High School in San Francisco. Mr. Olsen has curated many shows with the San Francisco Arts Education Project, including at the Rena Bransten Gallery, Southern Exposure Gallery, the SF Arts Commission Gallery, and SFMoMA.

Mr. Olsen also curated the wildly successful INTERNATIONAL ORANGE: The Bridge Re-imagined at the Mills Building (and in 75 “bridge” galleries around San Francisco). At SFArtsED, his students’ work has won a number of awards—including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s “Best of Design” award (with a subsequent exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.). He has lectured on art and education at UC Berkeley, SF State, the College of Notre Dame, SFMoMA, and other institutions. Mr. Olsen received his BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Laura Pacchini is a painter and designer and an MFA candidate at the San Francisco Art Institute. Borrowing from her experience as an art director in print and photography, she creates paintings that are evocative of the world in which she raises her young son—adding and deleting images and information much as one might do in the process of educating a child. Her work is an effort to express her role as a parent—in love with her child, yet mindful of the world in which he was born and his privileged position as a white male.

Erik Parra is a San Francisco-based visual artist and educator who holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including Brazil, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and New York. Locally, Mr. Parra’s work has been exhibited at Southern Exposure, The Headlands Center for the Arts, The Berkeley Art Center, Johansson Projects, and Eleanor Harwood Gallery. In addition to having over 15 years experience working as a teaching artist he lectures extensively at universities and colleges including at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, North Seattle College, Hastings College in Nebraska, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, and the California College of the Arts.

Acting professionally since age 9, Brennan Pickman-Thoon attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, receiving a BFA in drama and a BA in English. Through NYU, he studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and has performed locally with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Marin Shakespeare Company, Marin Theater Company, and New Conservatory Theatre Center. Mr. Pickman-Thoon was the resident drama teacher at Venitia Valley Elementary and co-taught theater at Richmond College Prep. He toured middle and high schools with NCTC’s OutSpoken, a play about teens and identity, facilitating talkbacks and learning moments for young audiences across the Bay Area. He also teaches summer Shakespeare intensives with Marin Shakespeare Company.

Michael Schroeder received his Bachelor's degree from Indiana University and his Master's degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with David Conte and Conrad Susa. He was a professor at the Conservatory from 1999 to 2014, where he taught musicianship and music theory. He sang several seasons with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under Vance George. He has served as music director of the Lawrence Pech Dance Company and more recently with the Boxcar Theatre’s The Speakeasy. Michael teaches piano and ukulele.

Tom Shaw is a singer-pianist with extensive musical theater experience as a music director, accompanist, and actor. He has also composed music and acted for television and film. His jazz trio, the Tom Shaw Trio, performs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and is often engaged to accompany other vocalists, cabaret performances, musical theater productions, and shows, and can be seen regularly performing in San Francisco at Martuni's—among other venues.

Mark Shoffner is a visual artist and author/illustrator of children’s books. His most recent book, The Witches of Glen Park, is a mysterious tale set in San Francisco written for middle-grade readers. It follows four other books created by the author using a range of illustration techniques including watercolor, pen and ink, and photomontage. Mr. Shoffner received his MFA from Queens College, City University of New York in 2000 and has been based in San Francisco since 2013, where he often works on visual arts projects with long-time collaborator Rebecca Herman. Their textile and installation work was exhibited at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, the San José Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and Tenjinyama Art Studio in Sapporo, Japan. He loves to foster creativity and an exploration of various art and writing techniques.

Alpha Oumar “Bongo” Sidibe is a traditional drummer from Conakry, Guinea in West Africa. He is musical director of Duniya Dance and Drum Company. Mr. Sidibe studied with Master Drummer Mamady Keita at his school, Tam Tam Mandigue, Guinea, and participated in his workshops in Conakry and Balandougou, Mamady’s village. He performed with Ballet Jah Karlo in Dakar, Senegal, and recorded the CD “N’dguel Fall” and toured with Orchestre Baye Fall. Before leaving Guinea, he was co-director of Balandougou Kan, a group of traditional percussionists and dancers. Since arriving in the U.S., Mr. Sidibe has performed with Rhythm Village, Joan Baez, Mickey Hart, the Grateful Dead, and Black Nature from the Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars. He is also a singer and percussionist with Dogon Lights band and a teaching artist.

Gary Stanford Jr. is a San Francisco native who graduated from San Jose State in Computer Engineering and has worked for and done high tech, Communications, Sports gaming, retail, and online business. He retired from tech after 20 years in 2019 and took his software development, QA automation, project management, and process management skills into the performing arts sector. As a performing artist, he has been involved with singing, dancing, and acting since childhood. He spent his youth with P.S. Performance, a Bay Area performing arts company that primarily performed for senior/retirement homes and hospitals as well as competed in California State Talent Competitions. As an adult artist, he has been involved in Bay Area musical theater, appearing in over 80 musicals with various theater companies as an actor, director and choreographer. Since 2019 he has been president of the board of the North California Arts Collective and is also on the board of directors with Throckmorton Theater (Mill Valley), Z-Space Theater (San Francisco), Woodside Community Theater, and Hillbarn Theater (Foster City).

Samantha Stone received her BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan. Upon graduating, she continued her dance studies in Brazil, Mexico and Europe as well as in the Bay Area, focusing on Axis Syllabus Dance. Most recently, she participated at the Luna Dance Institute, where she further trained in the field of children's dance education. She has had the pleasure of working with choreographers Kathleen Hermsdorf, Bianca Cabrera, Rosemary Hannon, Ashley Trottier, Aura Fischbeck, and Leyya Tawil. Ms. Stone is a co-founder of Viv dance company and her work has been shown in several local theaters, although she prefers enchanting the homes, galleries, and shops around her with movement and design. She engages in teaching, choreographing, and performing on both sides of the San Francisco Bay, always advocating for arts awareness and opportunities for all.

Trish Tillman served as the Director of Artistic Learning at California Shakespeare Theater for five years. She has been a working actor, improviser, and theater arts teacher for 25 years, and holds an MA in Dramatic Performance and Teaching Theater from Antioch University and a BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. Ms. Tillman has created artist teaching training programs for both classroom teachers and college education students, and has brought the world of Shakespeare to thousands of children through numerous productions and classes. She is the founder of two improvisational theater companies in San Francisco and is currently a staff and ensemble member of Un-Scripted Theater.

Lilli Wosk is a vocal coach and music director. She teaches on the voice faculty at NYU Tisch’s Experimental Theater Wing and maintains a private voice studio focusing on rep, audition prep, and technique. She has toured nationally and internationally as the conductor of Broadway's Waitress (2017-19) and HAIR (2013). Regionally, she has served as music director at Transcendence Theater Company in Sonoma, Berklee College of Music, and SFArtsED. She has master’s level training in Speech Pathology and Voice Therapy. In her free time, Lilli and her husband write and perform family-friendly music with their duo Peanut Butter Jams www.pbjams.fun

Jamie Yuen-Shore is a proud alumna of the first generation of SFArtsED Players. In addition to SFArtsED, she has taught musical theater and theater education with the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, the Fulbright Program in Montevideo, Uruguay, Aim High, and where she teaches at San Francisco Day School. She serves on the board of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO), where most recently she co-created and directed I, Too, Sing America (Othello Jefferson). She has previously choreographed with SFArtsED for Building Broadway, Carnival, Ragtime, Seussical™, and West Side Story.

Jesus Zamarron has more than ten years experience teaching art in after-school programs at Holy Name School and Mission Dolores Academy. He graduated with an MA in Art Education from the Academy of Art in 2013, and holds a BFA from Complutense University in Madrid and a Pedagogical Adaptation Certificate (CAP) from University of Almeria, Spain.