Sitka Fine Arts Camp Faculty - 2022
Arranged in alphabetical order by last name. Click picture for full biography.
Hannah Gossett has set up bases in dance communities all over the country including Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Seattle and New York City. She began her training in all styles at age 10 and has been creating her own art since age 15. As a commercial dancer and choreographer, her credits include, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Ricky Martin, Kimberly Cole, Herb Alpert, Beacon, T Mobile, Sonos Speakers and Amazon, to name a few. In 2015, she created her own training company, The Westsiders, based in Seattle, Washington. The Westsiders has recently expanded, now holding weekend intensives throughout the country known as The Westsiders Camp. Gossett is a dedicated faculty member for the national dance convention, Artists Simply Human and continues to freelance at studios, camps and intensives all around the country.
For more information visit Hannah's website.
Hannah will be teaching Dance Jam, Hip Hop, and Modern Dance at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Hannah's website.
Hannah will be teaching Dance Jam, Hip Hop, and Modern Dance at Middle School Camp.
Alex Hahn is a multi-award winning saxophonist and composer based in Los Angeles, California. Still early in his career, Hahn has had the opportunity to perform with many renowned artists such as Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Rod Stewart, The Grammy Award Winning John Daversa Progressive Big Band, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, John Beasley, Patrice Rushen, and many others. He also recorded on Michael Bublé’s last two Grammy Nominated albums, “Nobody but Me” and “Love.” In addition, Hahn has performed and taught all over the world including the Panama Jazz Festival, Sitka Alaska Jazz Festival, and at International Jazz Day in Havana, Cuba and St. Petersburg, Russia. Hahn is a 6-Time Downbeat Magazine Award Winner, 3-Time Next Generation Jazz Festival Outstanding Soloist, 1st Place Winner in the North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Saxophone Competition, and winner of the 2015 Perform with Mintzer International Saxophone Competition. In 2019, he won 1st Place in the Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition held at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel. In addition to his many awards, Hahn is also very active as a studio musician in Los Angeles, CA. He has recorded alto, tenor, clarinet, and baritone saxophone on commercials for brands such as Disney, Wayfair, and Devoted Care. He can also be heard on movies such as Bad Trip, written and starring comedian Eric Andre, and is a featured soloist on the Eddie Murphy movie Coming 2 America. Lastly, Hahn is featured on screen on the Emmy Award Winning Television show Glee. Hahn completed his second Master of Music degree at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz where he studied with jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Heath, and many more. He also holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California, where he was a graduate student and teaching assistant under Bob Mintzer and Jason Goldman. Hahn graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas in 2014 where he performed/recorded with the 7-Time Grammy Nominated One O’ Clock Lab Band. He is a featured soloist on the Lab 2014 Album. Also during his time at North Texas, Hahn was selected as a member of the Disney All-American College Band. This ensemble consists of the top college musicians from all across the United States. He was also chosen to return as the Teaching Assistant/Student Director the following summer. Hahn has recorded and released four studio albums featuring his original music. His first release, Traveling in 2014, was recorded in Denton, Texas inside his then home. The music focused on creativity, fun grooves, and soulful melodies. In 2017, Hahn released his second album, Emerging. This project featured three horns, rhythm section, and an orchestra. The music blended jazz, pop, classical, and cinematic music. New Flight, his 3rd studio album released in 2019, was a drummer-less ensemble that featured vocalist Michael Mayo and Grammy Award Winning saxophonist Bob Mintzer. His fourth studio album, Second Wind, released in August 2021. Hahn’s original music always focuses on strong sing-able melodies and groove. In addition to his professional performing and recording career, Alex Hahn is an avid educator. He has given master classes, clinics, and has had guest artist appearances at The University of North Texas, Cal Tech University, San Jose State, Saddleback College, as well as a number of high schools and middle schools across the country. Hahn also has a very strong private lesson studio. He has taught students from all over the world including Egypt, South Korea, Australia, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, and New Zealand. His private students have gone on to receive music scholarships at some of the most prestigious schools in the country including the University of Miami, Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, University of Southern California, The University of North Texas, and the James Morrison Academy in Australia to name a few. He currently serves as the Director of Jazz at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Since becoming the director at LACHSA, his students have won countless awards from Downbeat Magazine, Spotlight, and Young Arts. Three of his students have been selected to participate in the Herbie Hancock Institute National Peer-Peer All Star Jazz Septet. This group is hand selected by Dr. JB Dyas, Vice President of Education at the Herbie Hancock Institute, and consists of the top high school musicians from across the country.
Hahn has also released several educational products. These include four different volumes of transcription etudes and the Alex Hahn Saxophone Technique Essentials. His products have been sold in over twenty-five US states and in over twenty countries.
Alex Hahn is an endorsed artist of D’Addario Woodwinds and Andreas Eastman Saxophones, and Key Leaves.
For more information visit Alex's website.
Alex will be teaching Saxophone Technique, Jazz Band, and Jazz Combos at High School Camp.
Hahn has also released several educational products. These include four different volumes of transcription etudes and the Alex Hahn Saxophone Technique Essentials. His products have been sold in over twenty-five US states and in over twenty countries.
Alex Hahn is an endorsed artist of D’Addario Woodwinds and Andreas Eastman Saxophones, and Key Leaves.
For more information visit Alex's website.
Alex will be teaching Saxophone Technique, Jazz Band, and Jazz Combos at High School Camp.
Kendra McKinley is a singer-songwriter whose music bursts with vibrance, sensuality and wit. Her lush blend of chamber pop, jazz, and soul draws from a deep well of inspiration. Whether she’s performing solo with a guitar and loop pedal or dancing with a full live band Kendra’s confident, honeyed voice indulges all who hear it.
For more information visit Kendra's website.
Kendra will be teaching Guitar Technique and Rock Band at High School Camp
For more information visit Kendra's website.
Kendra will be teaching Guitar Technique and Rock Band at High School Camp
Joel Chapman is a conductor, bass-baritone, and songwriter in the Bay Area. He sings professionally with Volti, an SF-based ensemble that performs and animates completely new works, as well as Endersnight, a choir specializing in Renaissance music. A sought-after low bass, Joel has been made appearances with groups peppered throughout the Bay Area, including the San Mateo Masterworks Chorale, Convivium, California Bach Society, and Stanford Chamber Chorale. A composer and songwriter, Joel is co-creator of Gravity, a new musical most recently seen at the 2016 TheatreWorks New Works Festival in Palo Alto. As an educator, he teaches voice privately and works with the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir as a conductor and accompanist. Joel’s new work for TTBB chorus, The Song, poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye, will debut on April 20 with the Fog City Singers. Recent theatrical credits include Sweeney Todd (music director, Judge Turpin), The Last Five Years (music director), Sunday in the Park with George (music director), Company (music director), The Fantasticks (El Gallo), My Fair Lady (music director), and [Title of Show] (music director). Joel is a graduate of Stanford University, where he received his B.A. in Music with honors with focus in vocal performance and conducting. Joel studied with Gregory Wait, Laura Dahl, and Stephen Sano. At Stanford, Joel was a recipient of the Carolyn Applebaum Memorial Prize for his work as a conductor in bringing over fifty students together for his senior recital. He also received the Stanford Chamber Chorale Director’s Choice Award for his leadership and dedication to the group. Joel later received his M.A. in Music, Science, and Technology from Stanford at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), where he studied digital signal processing, recording technologies, and specialized in sound design.
For more information visit Joel's website.
Joel will be teaching Songwriting, Vocal Technique, and Choir at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Joel's website.
Joel will be teaching Songwriting, Vocal Technique, and Choir at Middle School Camp.
Eric Parchen was born and raised in Richland, Washington where he started his musical career playing percussion in many school ensembles. He attended the University of Idaho where he studied with Dan Bukvich and received degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Education. After graduating, he moved to Seattle to start his career as a freelance drummer and instructor. In addition to coaching drumlines and percussion sections at middle and high schools, he also has played with a wide variety of ensembles around Seattle. These include Seattle Seahawks Blue Thunder drumline, Seattle Sounders Sound Wave band, Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra, Rainier Symphony, Seattle Musical Theater, Renton Civic Theater, and various large and small jazz ensembles.
Eric is the Percussion Assistant for Middle and High School Camp and will be assisting in Symphonic Band and Percussion Technique.
Eric is the Percussion Assistant for Middle and High School Camp and will be assisting in Symphonic Band and Percussion Technique.
Alex Abreu is a recent graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Richard Hawkins to earn a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance with a Concentration in Arts Administration and Leadership. During the past school year, Alex remained in Oberlin to work as the Conservatory’s Interim Operations & Ensemble Personnel Manager. He maintains an active performance role in the Cleveland area, having recently played with groups such as the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, Firelands Symphony Orchestra, and Blue Streak Ensemble. Some of his favorite projects undertaken while a student at Oberlin include recording Elizabeth Ogonek’s The Water Cantos and performing as bass clarinet soloist on Michael Frazier’s Panels with the Oberlin Percussion Group. Alex is looking forward to continuing his studies at the Eastman School of Music in the fall.
Alex Abreu is the Clarinet Assistant at Middle and High School Camp and will be teaching Clarinet Technique and assisting in Symphonic Band.
Alex Abreu is the Clarinet Assistant at Middle and High School Camp and will be teaching Clarinet Technique and assisting in Symphonic Band.
Jeni Hacker is an actress, singer, dancer and choreographer based in Miami, Florida. Her work has been seen on multiple stages throughout South Florida. Recent credits at Zoetic Stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts include: Mrs. Lovett - Sweeney Todd (Carbonell winner Best Actress, Musical and Silver Palm Award) Helen - Fun Home (Carbonell winner Best Supporting Actress, Musical), Fosca - Passion (Carbonell winner Best Actress - Musical and Silver Palm Award) and Connie - After (Carbonell winner Best Supporting Actress, Play). Other credits include: Mom - Grindr Mom (Carbonell winner Best Actress, Play) TheatreLab: Anne - Everything is Super Great. Boca West Theater: Evelyn - The Camp (Carbonell Nominee Best Supporting Actress, Play). Actorsʼ Playhouse: Choreographer - Once (Carbonell Nominee Best Choreography), Poppy - Noises Off, Aunt Sheila/Choreographer- It Shoulda Been You, Louise/Eve - Ruthless! The Musical. Other favorites: Our Town - Miami New Drama, Les Miserables - Maltz Jupiter Theater, The Most Happy Fella - Palm Beach Dramaworks.
Jeni will be teaching The Art of Auditioning, Acting I, and Musical Theater at High School Camp.
Jeni will be teaching The Art of Auditioning, Acting I, and Musical Theater at High School Camp.
Katie Orlinsky’s photography tells stories about the everyday lives of people in extreme situations, capturing the intimate moments of daily life behind larger global issues. She has photographed all over the world documenting everything from conflict and social issues to wildlife and sports. For the past six years a large portion of her work has focused on climate change, exploring the transforming relationship between people, animals and the land. Katie is a regular contributor for National Geographic and a member of Prime Collective. Her work is also frequently published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine and Marie Claire, among others. Katie has won numerous awards over the course of her career from institutions such as World Press Photo, The Alexia Foundation, Pictures of the Year International and the Art Director’s Club. She received her BA at Colorado College and a Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. In 2018 she was named the Snedden Chair of Journalism at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she taught photojournalism as a visiting professor.
For more information visit Katie's website.
Katie will be teaching Digital Photography at High School Camp.
For more information visit Katie's website.
Katie will be teaching Digital Photography at High School Camp.
Elizabeth Jean Younce is an award-winning, Los Angeles based, visual artist working primarily in Printmaking and Illustration. Younce received her BFA in Illustration and Printmaking from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in 2015 and her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018. She owns and operates a small business, Mustard Beetle, through which she designs and produces textiles, prints, and goods. Additionally, Younce maintains a fine art Printmaking practice. Specifically, through the mediums of Lithography, she references scientific, medical, and children’s-book illustration, as well as symbology, natural history, wunderkammers, and feminism. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, and private collections.
For more information visit Elizabeth's website.
Elizabeth will be teaching Digital Painting at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Elizabeth's website.
Elizabeth will be teaching Digital Painting at Middle and High School Camp.
Anna Wittstruck joined the University of Puget Sound School of Music in 2017 as Assistant Professor, Director of Orchestra. Before that she spent two years at Stanford University as Acting Assistant Professor, serving as Interim Music Director and Conductor of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Philharmonia. In 2019 she was appointed Music Director of the West Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Wittstruck has conducted concerts across the United States, in Latin America, Europe and in Asia. She has served as a guest conductor with the Harbin Symphony in China and as the 2017 and 2018 Conducting Fellow with the Eastern Sierra Symphony. She conducted concerts at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and Teatro Nacional de Cuba in Havana, where she performed with Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba and the Chamber Orchestra of Havana. In December 2013 she conducted the first-ever symphonic concert on Catalina Island and returned with her touring ensemble the following three seasons. She has conducted concerts at the Rudolfinum in Prague and the Musikzentrum Augarten (home of the Vienna Boys’ Choir) in Vienna, as well as concerts in Berlin, Bad Elster, and Teplice. Wittstruck is also an active orchestral musician whose performances as a cellist span from the Beijing Modern Music Festival to the 2011 YouTube Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Her string quartet gave a concert tour of Thailand sponsored by the Yonok and American-Thai Foundations, in honor of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s sixtieth birthday celebrations. She won a blind audition at the age of fourteen to become the youngest contracted member of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and has participated in orchestra festivals such as Tanglewood, Round Top, and the National Symphony/Kennedy Center Institute. She has appeared as a soloist with the Charlotte and Hendersonville Symphonies, on the Public Radio International show, “From the Top,” and with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Wittstruck appears regularly as a judge and clinician for WorldStrides Heritage Festival. She served on the jury of the 2014 Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Princeton University with certificates in orchestral conducting and creative writing, and her PhD in musicology from Stanford University. While a graduate student, she conducted the Summer Stanford Symphony Orchestra for six consecutive seasons, served as assistant conductor of Stanford’s orchestral studies program, and directed the Stanford Wind Symphony, the Stanford New Ensemble, and the Stanford Chinese Ensemble. She also helped create the Stanford Youth Orchestra, an international program for advanced high school students, and taught courses through Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies. At Princeton, she spent two years as assistant conductor of the Princeton University Orchestra and as associate conductor of the Princeton Sinfonia. Wittstruck has attended the Pierre Monteux School of Conducting in Hancock, Maine, where she studied with Michael Jinbo, and the Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak, where she studied with Kenneth Kiesler. Other conducting teachers include Michael Pratt, Ruth Ochs, Stephen Sano, Jindong Cai, and Edwin Outwater.
Anna will be teaching String Technique, Orchestra, and Chamber Music at High School Camp.
Anna will be teaching String Technique, Orchestra, and Chamber Music at High School Camp.
Pianist Susan Wingrove-Reed enthusiastically embraces any and all opportunities to collaborate with singers and instrumentalists. She plays keyboard with the Anchorage Symphony, is the collaborative pianist with the Alaska Chamber Singers & the annual Alaska All State Choir, performs at the Sitka Summer Music Festival and regularly works with the West, Dimond and Bartlett HS choirs plus countless solo and ensemble festivals/competitions. Susan has been part of the SFAC team since 2011. She has been the resident music educator (pre-concert lectures and program notes) for the Sitka Summer Music Festival and the Anchorage Symphony for over thirty-five years, sharing stories about composers, music and history. A graduate of Indiana University with Piano Performance and MAT degrees, she returned home to Alaska to work with Anchorage Opera and the Alaska Repertory theater. She is a retired choir/drama teacher (Bartlett) and received an Alaska Governor’s Award for her contributions in arts education. When Covid began, she joined the Alaska Black Caucus to further her commitment to anti-racism and concert programming that is inclusive of historically neglected voices and serves on the Justice Committee.
Susan will be a collaborative pianist in vocal classes at Middle and High School Camp.
Susan will be a collaborative pianist in vocal classes at Middle and High School Camp.
Eric Trope is a freelance dancer, choreographer, repetiteur, and teacher. He finished his eighth season with the Miami City Ballet in April of 2021. He previously danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet for four seasons and most recently was a guest artist with BalletX. Eric has danced a vast amount of repertoire including works by Balanchine, Robbins, Forsythe, Ratmansky, Taylor, Kylian, Peck, and many others. Some of his featured roles include Riff in Robbins' West Side Story Suite, Phlegmatic in Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, Johnny in Taylor's Company B, the Paul Taylor solo in Balanchine's Episodes, and “Taylor” in Justin Peck’s Rodeo. Eric has toured extensively including the NY State Theater and NY City Center in NYC, the Music Center and Segerstrom Center in LA, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Eric’s latest choreographic work was seen at the Nantucket Atheneum Dance Festival in July of 2021, after receiving a commission for winning their 2020 “Choreo-contest.” Eric also premiered a piece for the Miami City Ballet School and Apprentice Program for their spring showcase in June of 2021. Earlier that year, Eric premiered Fire and Gold for the Miami City Ballet outdoor pop-up series at the Wynwood Walls. He was also selected to participate in the 2016 Fall Session of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of the New York City Ballet. He also made works for the Mainly Mozart Festival, Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami, Louisiana Delta Ballet, the New World Symphony, and the fundraiser Shut up and Dance. Eric has been a guest teacher at the Rock School for Dance Education, the Finnish National Ballet, Maryland Youth Ballet, Ballet Elite, among many others. In March 2021, Eric began staging Justin Peck’s Heatscape for the Finnish National Ballet; the ballet is set to be performed in Helsinki in September 2022. Finally, Eric is a cofounder of Buddy System, an nonprofit focused on food insecurity that was started in response to the Miami community’s immense need during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
For more information visit Eric's website.
Eric will be teaching Ballet, Intro to Dance, and Dance Composition at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Eric's website.
Eric will be teaching Ballet, Intro to Dance, and Dance Composition at Middle and High School Camp.
Lee Soroko is delighted to have been invited to the Sitka Fine Arts Camp where he is looking forward to sharing his passion for physical storytelling through the illusion of violence. Lee is a recognized Fight Director, Certified Teacher of Stage Combat and a Theatrical Firearms Instructor with the Society of American Fight Directors who earned his MFA from the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Texas. He is also a former National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient for his work in character masks. Lee provides professional fight choreography for theater, opera companies and universities across America and lives is sunny South Florida where he is the Assistant Professor of Movement at Florida Atlantic University.
Lee will be teaching Stage Combat at High School Camp.
Lee will be teaching Stage Combat at High School Camp.
K. April Soroko – Professional Scenic and Costume Designer Ms. Soroko has been a professional scenic and costume designer since 1993. She is currently the Associate Professor of Scenic Design at Florida Atlantic University where she has taught since 2016. Prior to her tenure at FAU, she was the Associate Professor of Scenic Design at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL from 2007-2016. Ms. Soroko is a member of USA Local 829 in both Scenery and Costumes and holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Some of her notable credits are listed below- Off-Broadway: Scenery for Napoleon at New York Musical Festival; Costumes for Mariage Blanc at Playwrights Horizons. Regional: Scenery for Collected Stories, A Long Day’s Journey Into Night and My Old Lady for Palm Beach Dramaworks, Scenery for The Tempest, King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing, Costumes for The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at NC Shakes; Costumes for Manifest at Portland Stage; Costumes for The Cure at Troy at Yale Rep, Scenery for Pump Boys and Dinettes, Scenery and Costumes for Androcles and the Lion, The Last Romance, Talley’s Folly, The Savannah Disputation, Race, The 39 Steps, Costumes for Native Gardens, The Fabulous Lipitones and Beehive: The 60s Musical at Florida Studio theater; Costumes for Man of La Mancha, Dracula, Driving Miss Daisy, Hedda Gabler, Gas Light, Mirandolina, Debunked and Suddenly Last Summer at Triad Stage.
For more information visit April's website.
April will be teaching Building Stage Props: Faux Food, Theater Stage Design, and Theater Costuming: Sketching & Sewing at High School Camp.
For more information visit April's website.
April will be teaching Building Stage Props: Faux Food, Theater Stage Design, and Theater Costuming: Sketching & Sewing at High School Camp.
Leslie Shows is a Los Angeles-based artist whose mixed media paintings explore materiality, abstraction, and representations of nature. She grew up in Juneau, Alaska and has taught art for 12 years. Her work has been exhibited at institutions like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Berkeley Art Museum, and the Anchorage Museum. Recent public commissions include a 35-ft glass artwork for the San Francisco Central Subway and a large-scale lithomosaic for a school in Richmond, CA.
For more information visit Leslie's website.
Leslie will be teaching Painting at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Leslie's website.
Leslie will be teaching Painting at Middle and High School Camp.
Christine Octavia Shaw is a devised theater creator, performer, and educator in Philadelphia. Her work was in residence with Bethany Arts Community in 2020 and 2021 and she is an inaugural artist-in-residence with the Yale University Schwarzman Center for her work on The Wandering. Georgia-born and raised, she attended Yale University where she studied theater and dance. Since then, she has performed and created original works in Chicago (Titus Andronicus - The Home for Wayward Artists), New York (Scorched - The Araca Project), and Philadelphia (The Choice, winner of best work of theater in the 2021 Philly Fringe). Now Philadelphia-based, she received her MFA from the UArts/Pig Iron program in devised theater.
For more information visit Christine's website.
Christine will be teaching Acting and Clown Theater at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Christine's website.
Christine will be teaching Acting and Clown Theater at Middle School Camp.
Geatali Tampy is a versatile and passionate professional dancer from the NJ/NY area, who enjoys performing, learning, and teaching across the world. She has trained in the Indian classical dance style of Bharatanatyam, Bollywood, jazz, ballet, contemporary/modern, hip hop, West African dance, and flamenco, and enjoys choreographing in a style called Indocontemporary Fusion which blends multiple dance styles together. Geatali believes dance is something that can and should be enjoyed by all humans, and loves nothing more than bringing her own love for the art form to other people.
For more information visit Geatali's website.
Geatali will be teaching Dance Jam, Hip Hop Dance, and Modern Dance at High School Camp.
For more information visit Geatali's website.
Geatali will be teaching Dance Jam, Hip Hop Dance, and Modern Dance at High School Camp.
Ben Gordon was born and raised in Sitka. He is a filmmaker and commercial salmon fisherman. He has a BA in Visual Media Arts Production from Emerson College. His short films and music videos have screened in film festivals across the country and are featured on the independent streaming channels Eternal Family TV and NoBudge. He is currently working on an experimental documentary series centering around his experiences working on a salmon fishing boat. He lives in Brooklyn where he makes movies with his friends and hosts a live film screening series featuring contemporary independent filmmakers from all over the world.
For more information visit Ben's website.
Ben will be teaching Filmmaking and Music Video Production at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Ben's website.
Ben will be teaching Filmmaking and Music Video Production at Middle and High School Camp.
Misaki Saito was born in Toyota, Aichi, Japan and began playing the piano at age eight. Dedicated to bringing happiness through music, Dr. Saito performs everywhere from recital halls to vocational aid centers, hospitals, and nursing centers throughout Japan and the United States. Dr. Saito holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at the Thornton School of Music in University of Southern California, where she studied with the eminent pianists Daniel Pollack and Kevin Fitz-Gerald. She also minored in Music Theory, Instrumental Conducting, and Arts Leadership. She attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan from 2007-2010, and then Lynn University Conservatory of Music on full scholarship with Roberta Rust. Her previous teachers include Naoko Watanabe, Michael Coonrod, Thomas Bara. She has performed in master classes with Philippe Entremont, Jon Kimura Parker, Rebecca Penneys, Nicola Melville, John Milbauer, Brian Preston, Thomas Lymenstull, and Robert Palmer, among others. She also was a participant in chamber music master classes with eminent violinists Elmar Oliveira and Midori. She was a winner of the Walenstein Competition in 2013, and was awarded the Best Haydn Performance in the Great Composers Competition in London 2016. Aside from her solo career, she is also active in chamber music, and received USC’s Keyboard Collaborative Award in 2017 for her extensive collaborative services to the school. Dr. Saito is also the founder and artistic director of heARTists, a collaborative platform where survivors of painful experiences join with artists to transform stories of trauma, abuse, and injustice into works of art, compassion, and empowerment. Dr. Saito strives to transform and heal the world through art, and was awarded the $10,000 Artists For World Change Grant Yusaku Maezawa & Mago Nagasaka in May 2021 to further the organization’s mission and vision. Dr. Saito enjoys all types of music. She has recorded for many films, including the Annie Award nominated movie “Nice to Meteor You”, and a Chinese film “Insomnia”, for which she performed Bach’s Goldberg Variations as the film’s main musical theme. She has collaborated with various artists such as Cécilia Tsan and has made many guest appearances on the popular YouTube piano group, Super Piano Brothers. She has performed in Walt Disney Concert Hall, NY Steinway Hall, Japan, China, Thailand, South Korea, Russia and many parts of the world. In addition to playing the piano, Dr. Saito developed a variety of interests such as ballet, figure-ice skating, Japanese traditional dance, travel, musical theater, and sugar-crafting. Dr. Saito also has a huge passion for photography, and is a certified contributor for Getty Images, 1x, Adobe Stock, Shutter Stock and many others. Currently, she serves on the piano faculty at the 88 Keys Music Academy.
For more information visit Misaki's website.
Misaki will be teaching Piano Technique and will be a collaborative pianist in vocal classes at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Misaki's website.
Misaki will be teaching Piano Technique and will be a collaborative pianist in vocal classes at Middle and High School Camp.
Abel Ryan was born in Ketchikan, Alaska in 1978. He was raised in Metlakatla on the Annette Island Reserve in Southeast Alaska. Abel is half Tsimshian, a member of the Metlakatla Indian Community, and a member of the Laxgiboo Clan. In May of 2006 Abel graduated from Sheldon Jackson College with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a minor in Art. In May of 2009 he graduated from University of Alaska Fairbanks with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Native Arts Studio and Printmaking. Abel studied traditional Tsimshian art under master carver Jack Hudson of Metlakatla. He has carved in Metlakatla, Sitka, Juneau, and Fairbanks for over 30 years. Working in the medium of wood and metals, Abel produces masks, bowls, spoons, pipes, ladles, plaques, combs, bracelets, rings, pendants, drums and other hand carved items. He is also proficient in two-dimensional graphic design using Northwest Coast formline art. In June 2013 Abel was invited to an international carving competition in Beijing, China. Abel has taught classes at Sheldon Jackson College and the University of Alaska in Sitka, Juneau, and Fairbanks, Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and the Alaska Native Heritage Foundation in Anchorage as well as done artist demonstrations at the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka, Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Washington DC, and the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, AK. Abel’s work is sold in galleries in Juneau, Fairbanks, Ketchikan, and Sitka. He also has work in private collections.
Abel will be teaching Northwest Coast Carving at Middle and High School Camp.
Abel will be teaching Northwest Coast Carving at Middle and High School Camp.
Cassidy Russell (she/her) has been improvising since middle school (cool!). She performs, teaches, and directs all over Chicago—at Second City, the Annoyance theater, the Revival theater, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago. She has acted in plays, movies, TV shows, and commercials, has been featured at theater festivals internationally, and been interviewed about comedy in print publications and on NPR. Additionally, she has an MFA in Printmaking from Savannah College of Art & Design and shows her visual art nationally. Her teaching philosophy focuses on bringing emotion and vulnerability to the stage, whether you’re doing drama or comedy. Cassidy won a lot of high school theater awards, so she knows what she’s talking about.
For more information visit Cassidy's website.
Cassidy will be teaching Improv and Solo Sketch Comedy at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Cassidy's website.
Cassidy will be teaching Improv and Solo Sketch Comedy at Middle and High School Camp.
Jen Reid is a professional vocalist who lives in Sitka. She has been singing since childhood with her earliest recordings beginning at age two. She got her start singing publicly as a teen where she was 1st chair in SE Alaska honor choirs, Alaska all state choirs, and was invited to sing in a choir touring Europe in the late 1990’s. As an adult she has worked for the past 12 years as a professional rock and roll vocalist. She is also a sound engineer who believes understanding how voice, mic technique, and stage presence come together to create a performing vocalist who is ready for the music world. Jen also works as a 5th grade classroom teacher and loves sharing her love of music with students of all ages.
Jen will be teaching Rock Band and Recording Session at Middle School Camp.
Jen will be teaching Rock Band and Recording Session at Middle School Camp.
Rebecca Poulson is a writer and artist who grew up reading and drawing in Sitka, Alaska. She commercial fished and repaired wooden boats before turning to art full time, earning an MFA from Tyler School of Art in 2000. She is a printmaker and painter, and publishes The Outer Coast, a wall calendar of art and poetry. She has illustrated novels for young readers and memoirs for adults and has work in the Alaska State Museum and other collections. She has been practicing her art in a deep dive into the history of the Sheldon Jackson School and College in the context of Lingit Aaní, through oral history interviews, archival research, video, writing (at sitkaartblog.wordpress.com), presentations, installation, and the collaborative history project Voices of Sheldon Jackson (sjvoices.org). She is the recipient of a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, and of the Alaska State Records Advisory Board Archival Excellence Award for a place-based history curriculum. She is a member of the Alaska Historical Commission and the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society board, and manages historic preservation projects on campus and at the Japonski Island Boathouse. She designs and builds sets, often in collaboration with youth, for theatrical productions and writes and directs radio plays. It is her work with kids in the arts that more than anything has deepened her understanding of what art is and what it can do.
For more information visit Rebecca's website.
Rebecca will be teaching Drawing & Watercolor, Graphic Novel, and Printmaking at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Rebecca's website.
Rebecca will be teaching Drawing & Watercolor, Graphic Novel, and Printmaking at Middle School Camp.
Los Angeles-based artist Luciano Pimienta received his MFA from San Diego State University and his BFA from Alfred University. His work explores the space found in the in-between of cultures and the rich complexity of what it means to be “American.” History, the passing of time, and place are central to his practice, where his work is often inspired by the ephemeral. Current exhibitions include Ways of Knowing at The Institute of Contemporary Art North, San Diego, CA, Descifrando Terrenos at The Wight gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Intervals of Process at Art Produce San Diego, CA, and Concerning of Two at The Front Gallery San Ysidro, CA. Pimienta enjoys gardening and learning from nature.
For more information visit Luciano's website.
Luciano will be teaching Wheel Thrown Pottery and Ceramic Handbuilding at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Luciano's website.
Luciano will be teaching Wheel Thrown Pottery and Ceramic Handbuilding at Middle and High School Camp.
A familiar South Florida presence from performances with Seraphic Fire and the Miami Bach Society, mezzo-soprano Karen Neal enjoys performing consistently with several ensembles throughout South Florida, the San Francisco Bay area, and Alaska. She has performed as guest soloist with the New World Symphony at the 25th Anniversary Gala, the Tropical Baroque Festival, and the Dallas Brass in the United States and including a special performance at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. Most recently, she was a guest soloist with the Conservatory Symphony of Leganés, Spain. Recordings include the songs of Eric Ewazen for Albany Records and songs of modern Latin American composers with NODUS on the Innova label. She has collaborated with members of the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Art Basel Miami, and the Concert des Solistes de l’Acadèmie International d’Etè de Nice, France. Karen holds a Vocal Performance degree from the University of Southern California and awarded fellowships in Tanglewood, Nice, Paris, and the Abbè Royaumont in Asniéres-sur-Oise, France.
Karen will be teaching Start the Day Singing at High School Camp.
Karen will be teaching Start the Day Singing at High School Camp.
As a member of the internationally-celebrated Dallas Brass, Brian Neal has been displaying his talent on the trumpet for decades. His career has taken him to Russia, Europe and across the US, where he has performed at diverse venues—from the grand concert halls of LA and New York to school gymnasiums in small towns across the nation. Known for a singing quality on the trumpet, Neal has shared the stage with members of such prestigious groups as the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony and has served as principal trumpet for the Miami City Ballet. Mr. Neal received his training at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and the University of Miami. During summers, he was a fellow at many of the major music festivals such as Tanglewood, Waterloo, Fountainbleau Conservatory in France, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival performing with the Meridian Arts Ensemble. He has performed with Charles Dutoit, Yoel Levi, John Nelson, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Stanislav Skorbachevsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Leon Fleischer. Brian Neal has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the country from the Monterey Ensemble and the California Symphony to the Florida Philharmonic, Orchestra Miami, Miami Wind Symphony, and the Miami Symphony. Recently, Mr. Neal was invited to perform his composition, “Concertante #1” in Carnegie Hall and with the Escuela-Conservatorio Orquesta Manuel Rodriquez Sales de Leganes, Spain. Mr. Neal and organist, Mr. Thomas Schuster released "Reflections," a solo trumpet and organ CD. The collaboration continues with the newly formed ensemble, “Ethos”, with the addition of voice, cello, and percussion performing his original works and arrangements of ancient and world music. He is an active international clinician and serves as Director of Instrumental Studies and Professor of Trumpet at the Kendall campus of Miami Dade College.
Brian will be teaching BLAST: Brass & Percussion and Magical Musical History Tour at High School Camp.
Brian will be teaching BLAST: Brass & Percussion and Magical Musical History Tour at High School Camp.
Michiko Murakami received her MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2015 and her BA in Studio Art from CSU Los Angeles in 2009. Her work ranges from drawings to ceramic objects and explores the in-between spaces of culture and consciousness, as well as challenging the notions of her own identity and of those projected onto her. She has exhibited nationally, most recently in New York City at the Greenwich House Pottery’s Jane Hartsook Gallery in 2021. Michiko currently teaches ceramics at POT Studios Los Angeles and has taught at CSU Fullerton, Ventura College and East Los Angeles College. As an instructor, she is most excited when she sees students gain self confidence through the process of making. She lives and works in her native city of Los Angeles, CA.
For more information visit Michiko's website.
Michiko will be teaching Wheel Thrown Pottery and Ceramic Handbuilding at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Michiko's website.
Michiko will be teaching Wheel Thrown Pottery and Ceramic Handbuilding at Middle and High School Camp.
Joe Montagna has been playing guitar since 1984 and professionally for over 20 years in various bands. He toured the U.S. in the late 90’s in an authentic KISS tribute band, “Dressed To Kill” playing the part of KISS frontman Paul Stanley, even taking them to Sitka in 2009. By day he is “Mr. Joe” to his Kindergarten P.E. students at Baranof Elementary School here in Sitka, on weekends he is an active founding member of local rock/ funk band ‘SlackTide’, performing everything from the Beatles to Zappa. He loves to improvise on his instrument and jam with new musicians, especially in his newest collaborations in Sitka with the ‘Holland Tunnel Orchestra’. He is a die-hard Mets, Jets, and Knicks fan, born and raised in Queens, NYC. He loves Van Halen and Phish.
Joe will be teaching Guitar Technique, Rock Band, and Recording Session at Middle School Camp.
Joe will be teaching Guitar Technique, Rock Band, and Recording Session at Middle School Camp.
Dr. Stephen Meyer is currently the director of bands and assistant professor of music at Northern Arizona University. He previously served as interim director of bands at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and interim assistant director of bands at the University of South Carolina. As director of bands at Clear Creek High School, the Clear Creek Wind Ensemble was a featured performer at the 2013 Midwest Clinic, was a three-time National Winner in the National Wind Band Honors project, a two-time national finalist for American Prize in Wind Ensemble Performance, and the Grand Champion of the 2013 Dallas Wind Symphony Invitational. Prior to Clear Creek, Dr. Meyer taught at Harrison High School in Cobb County, Georgia, where he assisted with performances at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the Georgia Music Educators Association, and the University of Georgia. As co-director of the marching band, the ensemble was a consistent Bands of America Regional and Super-Regional Finalist, a Bands of America Grand National Finalist in 2007, and a featured ensemble in the 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Dr. Meyer graduated magna cum laude from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a bachelor of music education degree and earned both a master's and a doctorate from the University of Michigan. He is the author of Rehearsing the High School Band, Rehearsing the Marching Band, and Rehearsing the Middle School Band.
Stephen will be teaching Symphonic Band, Instrumental Conducting, and Chamber Music at High School Camp.
Stephen will be teaching Symphonic Band, Instrumental Conducting, and Chamber Music at High School Camp.
Ed Littlefield is a freelance percussionist, educator and composer based out of Seattle, WA. He is Lingít originally from Sitka, Alaska and has released three albums featuring traditional native melodies with the Native Jazz Quartet called “Walking Between Worlds”, “NJQ: Stories” and most recently “NJQ: Southeast: Northwest”. Ed is also involved in composition and sound design for national theaters such as La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Arena Stage.
Ed will be teaching Percussion Technique, Jazz Band, Jazz Combos, and Sonic Boom at Middle and High School Camp.
Ed will be teaching Percussion Technique, Jazz Band, Jazz Combos, and Sonic Boom at Middle and High School Camp.
Junming Lin started acrobatic training and performing in 1987 with the Fujian Arcrobatics Troupe in China at the age of 8. He performed with the troupe all over the world: in Europe, the Arab countries, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean countries, Asia and USA. In his over 30 years with the acrobatics he learned and performed many traditional Chinese acrobatic arts including the Chinese pole, Chinese plate spinning, chair balancing, hoop diving, the Chinese lion dancing, dragon dancing, straps, hand to hand handstand, acro duo, hand juggling, foot juggling, Russian swing, Russian bar, pyramids, unicycle and Ultimate Wheel. His juggling performance was awarded the Silver Lion Prize at the fourth China National Acrobatic Competition in 1995. He also holds the former world record for juggling 12 rings. In 2018 he founded his own Fujian International Acrobatics Arts Center. The program is open to acrobatics students and performers from around the world with the opportunity to train and experience Chinese culture in South China.
For more information visit Lin's website.
Lin will be teaching Acrobatics and Juggling at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Lin's website.
Lin will be teaching Acrobatics and Juggling at Middle School Camp.
Emma Kato is a cellist and music instructor, born and raised in NYC. She started playing the cello at the age of 6 at Third Street Music School, where she studied with Su Hang, Tova Rosenberg, Carolyn Jeselsohn, and Sibylle Johner. Later, she attended Fiorello H. Laguardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, where she continued her musical education. Emma got her Bachelor's degree from Eastman School of Music in 2018, while studying with the prestigious Alan Harris, and received her Masters in 2020 at Manhattan School of Music with Julia Lichten. Emma first started teaching in 2012 at various music camps, such as Third Street Music School, Chamber Music Center, and Kinhaven Music School. She currently works as a music instructor at Brooklyn Waldorf School in New York City and is currently pursuing the Suzuki Teacher Training Program at School for Strings. In 2020 Emma is a grantee of the Chamber Music of America’s Ensemble Forward program with her chamber duo member Eva Ding.
For more information visit the Koe Duo website.
Emma is the Cello Assistant for Middle and High School Camp and will be assisting in Orchestra and String Technique.
For more information visit the Koe Duo website.
Emma is the Cello Assistant for Middle and High School Camp and will be assisting in Orchestra and String Technique.
Born in Colorado, raised in Philadelphia, Brendan Jones attended Columbia and Oxford Universities. He has been a MacDowell Fellow, as well as a resident at the Anderson Center, Caldera, and Ragdale. He worked eleven years as general contractor, starting Greensaw Design & Build, guiding Pennsylvania’s first LEED Platinum reconstruction. He continues to carpenter and commercial fish in Alaska, and also teaches philosophy and creative writing at University of Alaska, Irkutsk Technical University in Russia, and Stanford University, where he was a 2013-15 Wallace Stegner Fellow. He has published work in The New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, GQ, Smithsonian, Patagonia, Ploughshares, Fine Woodworking, National Fisherman, Narratively, The Seattle Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Narrative Magazine, and recorded commentaries for NPR. His novel The Alaskan Laundry, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, won the 2017 Alaskana prize, and was longlisted for the Center of Fiction debut prize. He recently returned from Siberia, where he spent a year with his family as a Fulbright Scholar. His novel Whispering Alaska, published with Penguin/Random House in October 2021, received a starred review from Booklist. He lives in Sitka, with his wife and three daughters.
For more information visit Brendan's website.
Brendan is teaching Into the Wild: Writing in Nature, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel, and Writing: The Art of Building a Scene at Middle School Camp and Writing Your Screenplay and Slam Poetry at High School Camp.
For more information visit Brendan's website.
Brendan is teaching Into the Wild: Writing in Nature, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel, and Writing: The Art of Building a Scene at Middle School Camp and Writing Your Screenplay and Slam Poetry at High School Camp.
Alexis Joy Hagestad (she/her) was born and raised in Montana whereas a child; she thought she lived on half of the earth because the sky was so large. Her heart truly lies in the untouched prairie lands and the snowy peaks of mountains. She frequently finds herself dreaming of the western landscape, a landscape she has spent many years traveling through, photographing its beauty. She is a 2021 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalists and holds a B.F.A from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) where she graduated with honors in 2016. She currently lives and works in Missoula, Montana (the land of the Salish & Kootenai) as a wildland firefighter and photographer.
For more information visit Alexis's website.
Alexis is teaching Digital Photography at Middle School and High School Camp.
For more information visit Alexis's website.
Alexis is teaching Digital Photography at Middle School and High School Camp.
Rhiannon Guevin is the Operations Director for the nationally recognized Sitka Fine Arts Camp (SFAC). In addition to her administrative duties with the camp, which include financial management, program logistics, human resources, and grant writing, Rhiannon teaches voice at SFAC's middle and high school camps and provides vocal coaching for SFAC's Musical Theater Camp. Rhiannon helped to start SFAC's Young Performers Theater program in 2013 and still serves as the program's Music Director during the year. She also teaches private voice lessons to a small studio. Rhiannon has served as an adjudicator for the classical voice sections at Alaska's State Solo and Ensemble Music Festival. Rhiannon graduated summa cum laude from University of Puget Sound’s School of Music, where she received a BM in Vocal Performance with Honors in Music. Operative roles include Miss Titmouse in Too Many Sopranos!, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the China Yunnan Opera Festival, and Zerlina in Juneau Lyric Opera’s production of Don Giovanni. Favorite musical theater roles include Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Cathy Hyatt in The Last Five Years, Woman 1 in Songs for a New World, and Judy Bernly in 9 to 5. Rhiannon has studied voice with Dr. Dawn Padula and Joseph Evans.
For more information visit Rhiannon's website.
Rhiannon is teaching Opera Scenes at High School Camp.
For more information visit Rhiannon's website.
Rhiannon is teaching Opera Scenes at High School Camp.
Corey LaMon Graves is in his fourteenth year of teaching and is opening Tony A. Jackson Middle School in Forney ISD as it's new head director in the Fall of 2021. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Graves served as the head director of Roma Middle School for eleven years. Mr. Graves received his Bachelor of Music Education degree as a summa cum laude graduate from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in 2007. Mr. Graves earned a Master of Music in Euphonium Performance from The Ohio State University (OSU) as a graduate fellow in 2008. Mr. Graves is a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar and the Region XV Middle School Coordinator. Bands under his direction have consistently received superior sweepstakes ratings at UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest, and have also earned high levels of recognition at both the state and national stage, being recognized as a National and Commended Winner in The Foundation for Music Education National Wind Band contest from 2013-2019. The RMS Symphonic Winds have been consistent state finalists in the Texas Music Educators Association Honor Band Competition, being recently honored as the 2020 TMEA CC Honor Band.The RMS Symphonic Winds were also invited to perform at the 70th Annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. The RMS band program is a 2019 recipient of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Silver Cup Award and named a Rio Grande Valley Program of Distinction. Mr. Graves was chosen as Roma ISD’s 2013 Secondary Teacher of the Year and named the Phi Beta Mu Texas Young Bandmaster of the Year in 2017. He is an active clinician, adjudicator, guest euphoniumist, sits on the Board of Directors for the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and maintains professional affiliations with Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, the UIL Prescribed Music List Committee, and Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. Mr. Graves credits his passion for music to his mother, Brenda M. Moore (who is affectionately known as “Mama Graves” by his students), his drive for success to his grandmother, Mrs. Vergie Graves, and his love of education to an incredible list of music educators across the country.
Corey is teaching Brass Technique, Symphonic Band, and Small Ensembles at Middle School Camp.
Corey is teaching Brass Technique, Symphonic Band, and Small Ensembles at Middle School Camp.
Shai Golan is a saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator. Shai has performed with numerous distinguished artists including David Binney, Billy Childs, Walter Smith III, Chris Potter, Nate Wood, Louis Cole, John Daversa, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge, Estelle, and Black Thought. As a touring musician, Shai has performed internationally at music festivals around the world, including Brazil, Ecuador, Canada, China, Thailand, Russia, and numerous countries in Europe. He graduated with a Master’s Degree in Jazz Arts from the Manhattan School of Music in 2017 and with a Bachelor’s Degree from California State University Northridge in 2015. Shai is currently an adjunct professor at CSU Northridge’s jazz department.
Shai is teaching Saxophone Technique, Jazz Band, and Jazz Combos at Middle School Camp.
Shai is teaching Saxophone Technique, Jazz Band, and Jazz Combos at Middle School Camp.
Angel Garcia is an artist based in New York City. Born in Chicago and raised first in Puebla, Mexico and then, Brooklyn, New York. He received his BFA in Illustration from The Fashion Institute of Technology. His practice oscillates between studio painting and murals. Through his studio paintings he reflects on the nuances of his Mexican-American heritage. His work with community murals extends for almost a decade, working with several organizations and institutions including Groundswell, The Queens Museum, and The Fenimore Museum. These projects created murals that are based on the input of participants and serve as a platform for their ideas. While always mindful of the final piece, he places particular emphasis on the process of collaboration. Murals, especially those in public spaces, are powerful to the extent that participants and community members have a chance to explore each others' knowledge and arrive at collective directions.
For more information visit Angel's website.
Angel is teaching Drawing, Painting, and Mural at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Angel's website.
Angel is teaching Drawing, Painting, and Mural at Middle School Camp.
Franz Felkl was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska. He started his violin studies with Guo Hua Xia at age four and continued his studies in high school with Mrs. Linda Rosenthal. Upon his acceptance into the University Alaska of Fairbanks he continued his studies with Dr. Kathleen Butler-Hopkins. Mr. Felkl received a Bachelors in Violin Performance and a Bachelors of Music Education K-12 from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Mr. Felkl collaborated extensively with faculty members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in both chamber music and recitals. He played with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, retained a position as Principal Second Violinist and guest Concertmaster of the Juneau Symphony Orchestra during his undergraduate studies, Principal Second Violin for the Opera Fairbanks Orchestra, and many other ensembles in Alaska. In 2012 he won the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition and had the opportunity to play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the orchestra. As an educator he has worked as a coach in a chamber music setting for young artists, taught at music camps for young musicians, and worked with the Fairbanks Youth Symphony Orchestras. In the fall of 2013 Mr. Felkl worked as a student teaching intern with the Fairbanks Northstar School District as part of his music education studies. He worked with cooperating teachers in the elementary and middle school programs. The following spring he continued to teach within the district as a substitute teacher, primarily focusing on the music classrooms. In the spring of 2016 Mr. Felkl received his Masters of Music in Violin Performance from Lynn University Conservatory of Music where he studied with Mr. Elmar Oliveira. During his time at Lynn he acted as Concertmaster of the Lynn Philharmonia and participated in many different chamber music groups. Recently he has held positions in Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, and the Palm Beach Symphony as well as played in numerous other groups in the South Florida area. From 2016-2019 Mr. Felkl was the Second Violinist in the Amernet String Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University. During his tenure with the quartet he traveled throughout the United States, Mexico, and Middle East. While in the quartet he collaborated with musicians such as Joseph Kalichstein, Cynthia Phelps, Roberto Diaz, and Guillermo Figueroa. At FIU he taught courses as an adjunct faculty and most recently as visiting professor. In addition to his concertizing, Mr. Felkl maintained a full studio at the Palm Beach Suzuki School of Music. Mr. Felkl now lives in Juneau where he is the Concertmaster of the Juneau Symphony, has a studio of private students, is the director of the Juneau Symphony Prelude Orchestra, and is a lead teacher and site coordinator for Juneau Alaska Music Matters (JAMM). JAMM is an El Sistema inspired afterschool program that uses the power and social experience of music for youth to reach their fullest potential and create active and engaged community members. In his spare time, he enjoys being outdoors, fishing, and is an avid runner.
Franz is teaching String Technique, Orchestra, and Small Ensembles at Middle School Camp.
Franz is teaching String Technique, Orchestra, and Small Ensembles at Middle School Camp.
Sam Faustine, a San Francisco born-and-raised musician, performs a wide-variety of genres ranging from Baroque Opera to Modern Musical Theatre. Most recently, he was a member of the first National Tour of Broadway’s A Christmas Carol. He has appeared in Europe, China, and across the US in roles such as Anthony in Sweeney Todd, Tony in West Side Story, Vašek in The Bartered Bride, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Curly in Oklahoma!, and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. Sam is known as an oratorio and concert soloist, and has performed with companies including the San Francisco Symphony, Opera Parallele, West Edge Opera, California Bach Soloists, and San Jose Symphonic Choir. Sam sings with many Sacred Music and Choral ensembles across the country, including Byrd Ensemble, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Gaude, Volti and Cappella SF. Sam received his Master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
For more information visit Sam's website.
Sam is teaching Vocal Technique, Broadway Song Workshop, and Musical Theater at Middle School Camp.
For more information visit Sam's website.
Sam is teaching Vocal Technique, Broadway Song Workshop, and Musical Theater at Middle School Camp.
Often humorously likened to an inflatable tube man onstage because of her enthusiasm, passion, and physicality, all flutist Eva Ding ever wants to do is imbue in her audience the same sense of joy and richness music brings to her. Most recently, Eva returned to her hometown of Auckland and gave the New Zealand premiere of a new, orchestral arrangement of Claude Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Trio”. Her most interesting gig to date, however, has to have been when she was the opening musical number for pro-wrestler, Orange Cassidy, at Independent Wrestling TV’s “Family Reunion” match. Eva made her concerto debut when she was 14 at the Meet in Beijing Festival. In 2017, Eva made her New York concerto debut with the Brooklyn Metro Chamber Orchestra performing Honegger’s “Concerto da Camera”. She was invited back in 2019 to perform the New York premiere of Tailleferre’s “Concertino” for Flute, Piano, and Chamber Orchestra. An avid proponent of highlighting contemporary music, Eva gave the New Zealand premiere performance of “The Golden Flute” Concerto by Chinese-American composer Chen Yi to a full house at the Auckland Town Hall in 2016. During the summer of 2019 Eva was an artist-in-residence with the Caroga Arts Collective and performed alongside soloists from the Metropolitan Opera at the Maverick Concert Series in Upstate New York. Having performed with the United Nations Chamber Music Society, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, and Brooklyn Metro Chamber Orchestra, she is also an accomplished ensemble musician. In recognition of her potential as a performer, she has received accolades and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, New Zealand Symphony, Chamber Music New Zealand, and the Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand. Eva was recognized as Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's 2017 Young Soloist of the Year and is a current fellow of bespoken NYC. Eva is Shanghai-born, Auckland-raised, and New York-based. She received the Manhattan School of Music President’s Scholarship and completed a Master of Music with Robert Langevin, Principal Flute of the New York Philharmonic. Prior to that, she gained her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honors from the University of Auckland, under the tutelage of Professor Uwe Grodd. In her spare time, Eva plays with her poodle Chocco, who adores singing along to her flute practice.
For more information visit Eva's website.
Eva is the Flute Assistant for Middle School and High School Camp and will be teaching Flute Technique and assisting in Symphonic Band.
For more information visit Eva's website.
Eva is the Flute Assistant for Middle School and High School Camp and will be teaching Flute Technique and assisting in Symphonic Band.
Marco d'Ambrosio loves shaping music and sound, especially the kind that enhances the visual arts. Making music that is evocative, enlightening, and entertaining is a natural result of Marco's creative expression. Marco's musical baptism began shortly after moving from Italy to Boston, when at the age of nine he began playing trumpet. "It really all began in Italy," he reminisces, "when my father would take me to festivals in Florence. He would put me on his shoulders so I could watch the bands march by. I remember falling in love with the trumpet, mostly because it was so shiny! It wasn't until we emigrated to the United States that I had a chance to start playing in elementary school" An insatiable appetite for all genres ("My first two albums purchased simultaneously were 'Maurice Andre Plays Baroque Trumpet Concertos' and Aerosmith's 'Toys in the Attic'.") his musical awareness was soon captivated by film music, particularly the classic collaborations of Fellini and Nino Rota and the scores of Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrman and Jerry Goldsmith. This quickly led him to composition, with a special interest in fusing acoustic and electronic textures, which he pursued as a double major of music and engineering at the Hartt School of Music and University of Hartford. Marco has never been unduly influenced by cultural and stylistic constrictions. He is equally adept at playing and creating pieces that reflect classical, jazz, modern and ethnic influences, and he thrives on blurring the lines between them. In many of his scores, you can hear various instruments like didjerido, dumbek and bodhran drums, melodica, and Indian flutes. Waterphones and Theremin along with hand crafted beats and stylized synthetic textures. Many of his compositions also reflect a romantic orchestral lyricism that can no doubt be traced to his summers performing and studying at the University of Siena and touring with the Puccini and International Festival Opera Orchestras. An East Coast transplant and Lucasfilm alum, Marco has made a niche for himself in a studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a composer, sound designer and multi-instrumentalist, he has scored numerous award winning films, documentaries and theatre projects including the anime hit VAMPIRE HUNTER D BLOODLUST, JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURES, FIST OF THE BLUE SKY, HAIKU TUNNEL (Sundance 2001), the Emmy winning BLINK, DOUBLE DARE, and RED DIAPER BABY for the Sundance Channel. Other scores of Marco's have been on projects produced by 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Lucasfilm Ltd., Dreamworks, Pixar, Columbia and HBO. In 2005, he was awarded a film scoring fellowship from the Sundance Institute, and in 2009 he was selected to participate in the BMI Conducting Workshop in Hollywood. You can also hear some of his noted scores in THE RAPE OF EUROPA, winner of the Insight Award for Excellence (co-scored with Ben Decter), winner, 2009 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and ATOMIC MOM, winner, Gold Medal at the Park City Film Festival. Marco has also been responsible for designing much of the dynamic sound and music heard in the iconic THX logo trailer. Most recently, Marco has composed for H.P. Mendoza, Brian Benson, and long-time collaborators Josh and Jacob Kornbluth. Marco has also enjoyed a stint co-arranging and performing with Bob Weir (The Grateful Dead) and co-writing/producing songs with Michael Caranello (Santana) and Neal Schon (Journey). He has also served as a studio conductor for Disney, on the TV series 'Off the Map' and 'Intelligence' working on great LA stages, like Capitol and Warner Bros. and is currently a regular conductor at Skywalker, working on larger scores for video games along with baton duty for other composers on their films. When he's not locked up in his mad sonic laboratory, Marco recharges his creative flow working the land at Valle Verde, the Sonoma County ranch he shares with his wife Terri, son Armando and their dog Diva.
For more information visit Marco's website.
Marco will be teaching Intro to Electronic Music, Film & Media Composition, and Recording Studio at High School Camp.
For more information visit Marco's website.
Marco will be teaching Intro to Electronic Music, Film & Media Composition, and Recording Studio at High School Camp.
Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Liz Clayton Fuller is an accomplished scientific illustrator, fine artist, and educator. She holds a BFA in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design and a certificate in natural science illustration from the University of Washington. She has created and taught field sketching courses for Cornell University, both undergratuate and continuing education. Additionally, Liz has illustrated field guides, created educational outreach materials, and painted visuals for scientific papers for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and beyond. Liz’s scientific illustration work is suffused with her love of nature. Through her illustrations and teaching she strives to provide her community with a new perspective on bird life.
For more information visit Liz's website.
Liz will be teaching Drawing, Drawing & Painting the Natural World, and Field Sketching at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Liz's website.
Liz will be teaching Drawing, Drawing & Painting the Natural World, and Field Sketching at Middle and High School Camp.
Hannah Clark (she/her) is a documentary photographer from Ringgold, Ga. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A in photography and is currently working as a photographer and printer in Savannah, Ga. Hannah uses her photography to explore everyday life and the human condition in Southern Appalachia. Her current work aims to combat cultural stereotypes and how they have come to define the region she calls home.
For more information visit Hannah's website.
Hannah will be teaching Darkroom Photography at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Hannah's website.
Hannah will be teaching Darkroom Photography at Middle and High School Camp.
Originally from Juneau, Elle Campbell (Technical Director) is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University with degrees in technical theater and strategic communication. Her background is mainly in stage management and lighting design, with production experience at the Sitka Performing Arts Center, Perseverance theater, Pacific Lutheran University, and Centerstage theater. Favorite credits include Little Shop Of Horrors (Scenic & Lighting Designer), Into the Woods (Technical Director & Lighting Designer), Constellations (Lighting Designer), and Blood Wedding (Lighting Designer). She is currently the year-round Technical Director for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, producing several shows a season in the Sitka Performing Arts Center and the Odess Theater.
Elle will be teaching Live Event Production at Middle and High School Camp.
Elle will be teaching Live Event Production at Middle and High School Camp.
Amy Butcher is an award-winning essayist and author of Mothertrucker (Little A Books, November 2022), a book that interrogates the realities of female fear, abusive relationships, and America’s quiet epidemic of intimate partner violence set against the geography of remote, northern Alaska. The book earned praise from Publisher’s Weekly, Good Morning America, Booklist, The Chicago Review of Books, Oxford Reviews, Kirkus Reviews, and others, with Kirkus Reviews calling the book "...A sobering reflection on verbal and psychological abuse [that] honors the healing power of female friendship and questions the nature of divinity beyond its constricting patriarchal manifestations,” and Publisher’s Weekly writing, “[Mothertrucker] explores myriad issues with nuance and grace, including Indigenous rights, violence against women, religious hypocrisy, and environmental concerns.” Excerpts of Mothertrucker also won an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, with judges calling the book "well researched," "very well-written," and "a positive antidote to the trauma of violence against women," and in July 2019, Mothertrucker was optioned by Makeready Films for film development with Primetime Emmy-winning Joey Soloway directing and Academy and Golden Globe-winning actress Julianne Moore in a starring role. Her first book, Visiting Hours (Blue Rider Press/Penguin-Random House, 2015), earned starred reviews and praise from The New York Times Sunday Review of Books, NPR, The Star Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and others. Most recently, her January 2019 essay "Flight Path" was awarded grand prize in The Sonora Review's flash prose contest, and her May 2018 essay, "Women These Days," was thrice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and twice nominated for inclusion in the Best American Essays series by the editors at Brevity. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio and the BBC, anthologized in Best Travel Writing 2016, and awarded grand prize in the 2016 Solas Awards' "Best of Travel Writing" series and the 2014 Iowa Review Award as judged by David Shields. Her essays have also been awarded notable distinctions in the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 editions of the Best American Essays series. Additional essays have appeared in Granta, Harper's, The New York Times "Modern Love," The New York Times Sunday Review, The Washington Post, The Denver Post, The Iowa Review, Lit Hub, Guernica, Gulf Coast, Fourth Genre, and Brevity, among others. Her 2016 op-ed, "Emoji Feminism," published in the New York Times Sunday Review, was cited by Google as the inspiration for eleven new professional female-empowered emojis, accepted by the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee in July 2016 and incorporated in January 2017 in all iOS software packaging internationally. Additional writing appears in The Best of Brevity, Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology, The Best Travel Writing 2016, The Soul Of A Great Traveler, Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction, The Best of Vela, and Beautiful Flesh: A Body of Essays. She earned her MFA from the University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program and is the 2012-2013 recipient of Colgate University's Olive B. O'Connor Creative Writing Fellowship in nonfiction, as well as grants and awards from the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Academy of American Poets, the Ohio Arts Council, Word Riot Inc., and the Stanley Foundation for International Research. She is the Director of Creative Writing and an Associate Professor of English at Ohio Wesleyan University and teaches annually at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska. She lives in Ohio with her three rescue dogs, beautiful beasts.
For more information visit Amy's website.
Amy will be teaching Creative Nonfiction Workshop, The Art of Poetry, and Writing the Weird at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Amy's website.
Amy will be teaching Creative Nonfiction Workshop, The Art of Poetry, and Writing the Weird at Middle and High School Camp.
Zeke Blackwell has been involved in over 100 productions as a director, performer, writer, designer, and technician, and has had the joy of making theater in Sitka, Fort Worth, New Haven, New York, and Costa Rica, where he directed the world premiere of the Spanish-language version of Once On This Island! With over a decade of improv comedy experience, he’s performed/taught improv around the country, and most recently at the Boston Comedy Arts Festival and the Wasatch Improv Festival in Salt Lake City. His original play, Still Life, was produced in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Cognitive Science. He served two years on the board of directors for Far Corners Community Musical theater, a non-profit dedicated to providing arts opportunities for underserved youth in isolated regions of the world. Once, he beat-boxed for Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is his 8th season year-round at SFAC as the Young Performers Theater Director.
Zeke will be teaching Shakespeare, Scenes from Plays, and Musical Theater at Middle School Camp and Shakespeare, Acting II, and Directing for the Stage at High School Camp.
Zeke will be teaching Shakespeare, Scenes from Plays, and Musical Theater at Middle School Camp and Shakespeare, Acting II, and Directing for the Stage at High School Camp.
Ryan Beeken serves as Director of Choral Activities at Wichita State University where he conducts the Concert Chorale and Madrigal Singers, teaches graduate and undergraduate choral conducting and literature, and oversees the choral area. He received Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from Drake University and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University. Dr. Beeken's choirs have performed at State, Regional, and National Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and for state and regional NAfME conferences. Beeken is regularly engaged as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. His engagements include over 50 All-States and Honor Choirs in nineteen states, the Czech Republic, Austria, Ireland, Oman, and Estonia, and many invited presentations for symposia across the United States and in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has served on the executive committee of the American Choral Directors Association at both the state and regional level and just completed a term as the President for the D3 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. Prior to his appointment at WSU, Dr. Beeken served as director or choral studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and taught at Michigan State University. While residing in Des Moines, Iowa, Beeken directed the Drake Chorale at Drake University. He also taught elementary, middle school, and high school music for sixteen years, most recently serving as Director of Vocal Music for Waukee Schools in suburban Des Moines where he led a program of over 300 students and twelve ensembles to national distinction.
Ryan will be teaching Vocal Technique, Choir, and Musical Theater at High School Camp.
Ryan will be teaching Vocal Technique, Choir, and Musical Theater at High School Camp.
Born in the UK, Amanda Barragry worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for several publishing houses, newspapers, magazines and public companies after graduating from the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford where she majored in Painting and minored in Art History. After training to be a teacher at the University of Cambridge, Amanda moved to the US and has been teaching in New York since then. Amanda currently teach at Avenues World School in Manhattan.
For more information visit Amanda's website.
Amanda will be teaching Watercolor, Advanced Watercolor, and Graphic Design at High School Camp.
For more information visit Amanda's website.
Amanda will be teaching Watercolor, Advanced Watercolor, and Graphic Design at High School Camp.
Javier Barboza is an award-winning filmmaker, Creative Director, Animator, Educator, His work tackles the complexity of the identity and migration, using surreal, magical realism, narrative and documentary method to engage the audience in an experience best described as visually immersive. He studied at East Los Angeles College, dedicating himself to fine arts, animation and graffiti. He continued his studies at Cal Arts majoring in Character Animation and film video. He received his MFA at U.S.C, School of Cinematic Arts. He was awarded the Princes Grace Film and Special projects grant . Was a Annenberg graduate fellowships at U.S.C. Has showcased at variety of film festivals nationally and internationally. Javier continues to lecture at various Universities nationally and internationally. Has work and freelance, pitched for several clients and studios Netflix, MTV, ACLU, Buck , KCET, Shadow Machine, Telemundo, Univision, PBS, Google, Playboy, Nickelodeon, Sony Animation and Disney. T.V. He is currently experimenting with new ways of telling stories through VR, A.R, projections, installations, performance art, muppets, graffiti and animation. Javier is currently bi coastal based in Los Angeles CA and Boston MA.
For more information visit Javier's website.
Javier will be teaching Animation at Middle and High School Camp.
For more information visit Javier's website.
Javier will be teaching Animation at Middle and High School Camp.