Will Healy

​Will Healy is a composer and pianist based in New York. Noted for his "lushly bluesy" sound and "adroitly blended... textures" (New York Times), he is the artistic director of ShoutHouse, a collective of hip-hop, jazz, and classical musicians. After playing trumpet in an Afrobeat band for a few years, he grew interested in collaborating with performers from many corners of the New York music scene. In addition, he is an accomplished pianist specializing in Bach, with a repertoire that includes the complete Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier. Healy was the recipient of the Richard Rodgers Scholarship at The Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano, Steven Stucky, and Samuel Adler. He has also studied with Kevin Puts, Harold Meltzer, and Richard Wilson.

Recent awards include a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the W.K. Rose Fellowship, a JFund commission from the American Composers Forum, and prizes in the Juilliard and Kaleidoscope Orchestra Composition Competitions. He was the recipient of the Aaron Copland Prize from the Bogliasco Foundation in 2018, and has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, and the L.A. Phil’s National Composers Intensive. Healy’s work has appeared at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Apollo, on the NY Philharmonic’s Biennial series, on "New Sounds" with John Schaefer (WNYC) and "Making Music" (WBAI), and more. He studied piano for many years with Dennis Malone at the Crestwood Music School.

Franco Zacha

​Franco Zacha is an Argentinian illustrator raised in Paraguay, Colombia, and the United States. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Here, he works as a freelance, editorial illustrator for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and online publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and more. Franco is also the art director at Creature Conserve--a non-profit dedicated to bringing artists and scientists together to study, celebrate, and protect wildlife around our planet.

For more information visit Franco's website.

Erin Vonder Haar

​Erin Vonder Haar is a native of Seattle, Washington. She received a BFA in dance from Southern Methodist University. She has performed in works by Summer Rhatigan, Danny Buraczeski, James Barry, Russall Beattie, Bruce Wood, Joshua Peugh, & Desmond Richardson. Erin is the co-founder of Groundworks Dance Company located in Dallas, Texas. Erin has danced for two professional contemporary companies, founded her own dance company, and now lives in LA where she is performing live, dancing in film, and teaching. Erin was featured in the film, “Backcountry Basin” by Joshua Peugh, commissioned by Dance Now NYC which was featured in Forbes magazine. She also choreographed Sydney Cope’s music video “Think I found My Way”. Erin most recently choreographed and danced in a film for sculpture artist, Daniel Winn and performed in 100 live shows in San Francisco with The Empire Strips Back. You may also catch Erin on season 3 of Physical on Apple TV as a ballet dancer. Erin is a certified reiki healer and has recently began combining reiki with movement exploration. She has a passion for sharing her knowledge of the artform and life with dancers of all ages.

Kyle Zeuch

​Dr. Kyle Zeuch serves as Director of Choral Activities and the Co-Chair of the music department at Lebanon Valley College. In addition to conducting the choirs on campus, Zeuch teaches courses on conducting and music education. He holds a bachelor of music in music education degree from Capital University, a master of music in choral conducting from Michigan State University (MSU), and a doctor of musical arts in choral conducting degree also from MSU. Dr. Zeuch’s teaching experience includes Director of Children and Youth Choirs at Michigan State University and the Head Director at Rivera High School in Brownsville, Texas, where he was named the Texas Choral Director Association’s Distinguished Young Director (2010). Zeuch received the Lebanon Valley College Inclusive Excellence Award (2020) and was an American Prize Finalist for the Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting (2022). He is the President-Elect Designate and R&R chair for Community Choirs for ACDA-Pennsylvania. Dr. Zeuch conducts the Harrisburg Choral Society and is an active clinician, presenter, and conductor nationwide. Under his direction, Dr. Zeuch’s choirs have performed at state conferences, throughout Europe, and on the stage of Carnegie Hall.

Bethany Zeuch

​Bethany Zeuch is a music educator and piano accompanist with a Bachelor of Arts in music education degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Bethany has held teaching positions at Stell Middle School in Brownsville, Texas as an assistant choir director, Charlotte High School in Charlotte, Michigan as a choir director, and is currently teaching elementary music in the Lebanon School district in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. While currently pursuing a Masters of Music in choral conducting degree from Messiah University, Mrs. Zeuch is also an active choral accompanist. Her piano accompanying roles have included playing for high school and collegiate choirs, choral reading sessions, honor choirs, festival choirs, vocal solos, pit orchestras, and church choirs. Bethany resides in Cleona, Pennsylvania with her husband, Kyle, and daughter, Harper.

Elizabeth Jean Younce

​Elizabeth Jean Younce (b. 1993 Newport, RI) is a visual artist working primarily in Printmaking and Illustration. Specifically, through the mediums of Lithography and Graphite her work functions as a psychological investigation of the flora and fauna inhabiting our world. While primarily (and proudly) a printmaker, Elizabeth has produced her prints in conjunction with installation, sculpture, bookbinding, found object, drawing, and painting. In addition to her Fine Art studio practice, Elizabeth is also the owner of Mustard Beetle where she sells mainly screenprints, relief prints, and giclée prints, on paper and on fabric. Because of Mustard Beetle, Elizabeth is able to simultaneously function as a Fine Artist and a Commercial Illustrator. Elizabeth received her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018 and her BFA in Illustration and Printmaking from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in 2015. Elizabeth has master-printing experience from Gemini G.E.L. and Tandem Press. Elizabeth currently resides in Los Angeles, CA where she is pursuing her fine art as well as her small business.

​For more information visit Elizabeth's website.

Anna Wittstruck

​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.

Susan Wingrove-Reed

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.

Denush Vidanapathirana

​​Denush Vidanapathirana is the Technical Theater Manager for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. Originally from Sri Lanka, working with local theater companies is what first interested him in theater. He then moved to Texas to study at Midwestern State University, where he earned his bachelor's in theater performance. During his time at MSU, he was involved in all aspects of theater production, from acting to design to technical operation, and that variety gave him a deep appreciation for the values that theater stands for. His identity as an artist continues to be shaped by the places he goes to and the people he meets.

Lee Soroko

​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.

K. April Soroko

​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 Theatre; 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.

Leslie Shows

​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.

Helena Sardinha

From the South coast of Brazil, Helena Sardinha is a creative producer residing in Los Angeles. Under her own international production company, Driven Equation, she has built experience in narrative, documentary, and music videos. Helena's films and tv projects were present in festivals such as Sundance, Aspen, Palm Springs, SeriesFest, and many others. Helena participated in the Latine-focused Warner Media fellowship "TFT" and is a recurring faculty member at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Alaska. Her latest short, BEFORE DAWN, KABUL TIME premiered at Tribeca 2022, as part of the Rising Voices initiative created by Lena Waithe and supported by Indeed. Her first feature film, BARRY & JOAN, had its UK theatrical release at Picturehouse Cinemas, in the Spring of 2022. Sardinha is in post production for BEAUTIFUL, FL, a short part of the Disney Launchpad program, and under development for the feature length of HUELLA, in association with 271 Films. Helena Sardinha is a 2022 Sundance Producing Lab fellow.

Richie Schiraldi

​Richie Schiraldi is a Chicago-based devised physical theatre maker, specializing in movement, physical comedy/clown, partner acrobatics, and cyr wheel. He has toured internationally with Aura CuriAtlas, as well as his own company Whisper Theatre. Richie has spent the last decade teaching physical theater, circus, and movement in Chicago to all ages, and has been focused on integrating circus into his theater-making. Richie holds a BFA in Physical Theatre from Coastal Carolina University, in conjunction with Accademia del’Arte in Arezzo, Italy, as well as an MFA in Devised Performance Practices from Columbia College Chicago, in conjunction with Arthaus Berlin (formerly LISPA). His latest artistic obsessions are dreams, the mothman, and being authentically odd. In his spare time, he is also a woodworker, cat dad, board game nerd, part-time chicken, and outdoors enthusiast.

Sara Sadawi

​Sara Sadawi is Syrian multidisciplinary artist born in Ohio, raised in Syria and Canada. She mainly works in ceramics and print-media—exploring the interplay of ceramics and intaglio. She examines themes of functionality and space through material-driven processes while referencing geometry and industrial objects. Her visual vocabulary is made up of abstract shapes inspired by geometry, architecture and ventilation systems. Through the use of clay to create industrial objects, Sadawi attempt to create a correlation between gendered practices, industrial spaces and invisible labor. Most recently her installation Ducts was selected in a group show titled The Sum of Our Shared Selves at the FOFA gallery in Montreal, Quebec. She is currently attending Cranbrook Academy of Art, as an MFA candidate within the Ceramics Department, 2024.

For more information visit Sara's website.

Abel Ryan

​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.

Niki Saludez

​NIKI SALUDEZ is a choreographer and educator based in New York City. With over a decade of dance and performance experience, Niki pulls from his training in street styles, hip hop choreography, freestyle, as well as contemporary dance to provide his students with a diverse and foundational dance education, to build and connect with the community, and to help others cultivate life skills through the art form of dance. Throughout Niki’s career, he has been a part of works both in commercial and concert settings. From being a part of projects with artists such as Don Diablo and Katy Perry, to being a member of Soul Project Dance Company (directed by Candace Brown) and tedted Performance Group (directed by Teddy Tedholm), Niki uses his knowledge from different realms/ideas of movement and career experience to uplift dancers in the art of expression and performance, onstage or on camera. Niki is currently on faculty with Broadway Dance Center and the BDC Children & Teen Program in New York City. Prioritizing safety, inclusion, and positive education, Niki always works to create and facilitate a space where students feel safe expressing themselves fully and authentically, stepping beyond their comfort zones, challenging limiting mindsets, and practicing building supportive mindsets as artists and humans.

Cassidy Russell

​Cassidy Russell (she/her) has been improvising since middle school (cool!). She performs, teaches, and directs all over Chicago—at Second City, the Annoyance Theatre, 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 maintains an active studio art practice. 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.

Amelia Rozear

​Born and raised in coastal New England, Amelia Rozear is a multifaceted artist with a focus on comics and character design. Her work revolves around themes of girlhood, nostalgia and the wonders of the natural world. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design’s illustration department with a BFA and honors in 2022, and still roams the eerie streets and libraries of Providence for scenic inspiration. She always has a sketchbook in hand, and is passionate about sharing her work with other artists online. Between her multiple social media accounts, she has amassed an audience of over 60k art lovers to join her in the love of paint process videos & sketching. 

​For more information visit Amelia's website.

Jen Reid

​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.

Rebecca Poulson

​Rebecca Poulson is a writer and artist who grew up reading and drawing in Sitka, Alaska. She commercial fished and repaired wooden boats before 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 designed the 2023 Alaska Folk Festival poster art. Her work is 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, an upcoming article in "Alaska History" journal, writing at sitkaartblog.wordpress.com, 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 grants on campus and at the Japonski Island Boathouse. She also has fun designing and building 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.