Tuesday, June 16th - Wednesday, June 18th, 2015

Featured Speakers and Workshop Leaders

Deb Brzoska is a national leader in arts education who presents professional development for teachers and teaching artists across the country on behalf of The John F. KennedyCenter for the Performing Arts. Deb also serves as Implementation Specialist for the Presidents Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Turnaround Arts Schools nationally.A former dancer and teacher, she was also the founding principal of The Vancouver Schoolof Arts & Academics, the award winning arts-based public school in Washington State.

Rachel Carnes is the founder of Sparkplug Dance Educational Resources, a Eugene, Oregon non-profit organization, dedidcated to making learning fun for everyone through dance. Sparkplug Dance has provided direct services in early childhood arts education, K-8 arts integration in the schools, and teacher training, working with the Oregon Department of Education, Springfield Public Schools, and Oregon Music Educators Association, and many other partners. Rachel holds an undergraduate degree in dance theater from Reed College.

Glenis Redmond is an award-winning performance poet, praise poet, teacher, and writer based in South Carolina. Glenis has been published in numerous literary journals and hasauthored several full-length books. As a performer, she placed in the top ten twice in the National Individual Slam Championships. She performs for audiences of all ages in venuesranging from top performing arts centers to juvenile detention centers. As a teacher, Glenis Redmond is part of the national touring roster for the Kennedy Centers Partnership in Education Teacher Training. She helps professional and amateur wrtiters from 9-90 find theirown poetic voice.

Aaron Nigel Smiths mission is to connect and empower children, families and communitiesthrough music. As a performer, he has produced several nationally recognized childrens albums, and is a former cast member of the PBS Kids show, Between the Lions. Aaron is a founder of FUNdaments of Music and Movement, an arts program that has served over 100early education centers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston. He is also founder of One World Chorus, an non-profit providing music programs to children in Portland,Los Angeles, New York, Kenya and Jamaica.