Anu Annam is an internationally acclaimed exhibiting artist, art educator, arts administrator, and curator, working in the field for over 25 years. They teach all ages and abilities at renowned institutions and organizations such as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Long Island, Islip Arts Museum, Girls, Inc., Art League of Long Island, Spirit of Huntington, Teatro Yerbabruja, the Huntington YMCA, the Town of Huntington, and public schools and libraries. They have won numerous teaching grants from the New York State Council on the Arts for their work with at-risk, special needs, ELL, and other marginalized populations. Annam is the Founder and Executive Director of the arts-based organization, designed to fight stigma against mental illness, SEA of Visibility (SEA = Support Expression through the Arts), and the queer organization, BOPPI (Bisexual, Open, Pansexual, People of the Islands) sponsor of “Born this Way/MOSAIC.” These organizations provide robust arts programming, including events, exhibitions, and education (SEA of Visibility Integrative Arts Education) for disenfranchised people. Annam’s Education and Mentorship program, Anu Annam Arts Education, has served many members of the Long Island arts community since 2005, inclusive of students with special needs and typically developing, aged from pre-K, to K-12, college, and lifelong learners. Annam has been educated at Tufts University, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Parsons School of Design, and School of Visual Arts and uses their lived experience with mental illness and traumatic brain injury to aid in the cultural integration of the disabled community through the arts.

Oksana Danziger is a natural born creator with a passion for textile art. She works as a freelance textile artist for numerous studios – including Printfolio, Design Works International and Group Four. Oksana also teaches at Art League of Long Island and conducts workshops in schools through the Huntington Arts Council. She taught in the surface design department at The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) as an adjunct professor. Born in Moscow, Russia where she also received a classical art education from the Moscow School of Art, Oksana continued to study textile design at the Moscow State Textile University where she received a Master’s Degree in 1986. Following graduation, she exhibited tapestry, silk paintings and fabric fine art collages throughout Russia’s galleries and museums. She completed several residencies, including one in Torino, Italy. In 1991, Oksana moved to New York City where she lives and works today. She sold collections of her silk scarves at Henri Bendel in Manhattan and had a solo exhibition of silk paintings in Gallery One in Soho, New York. She regularly exhibits her work at the Art League of Long Island and Long Island Craft Guild. In her spare time, Oksana is a certified yoga instructor and practitioner, teaching classes at local libraries and studios. She is a huge believer in meditation, aiming to fuse her art instruction with mindfulness practice.

Neil Dawson is a Harlem-based, award-winning actor and master teaching artist originally from the Bronx and is equally passionate about both vocations. Favorite acting credits include The Mountaintop (Weston Playhouse), Parable of the Sower (LA Tour), Stick Fly (Majestic Theater), The Blacks (Classic Stage Company), New Amsterdam and Law and Order, with national commercials, voice overs and industrials in the mix. Neil educates young people in theatre throughout the NYC area and is currently a master teaching Artist with The DreamYard Project, New Victory Theater and Theater Development Fund and counts it all joy to share his art form with young people in his hometown. When he’s not teaching, auditioning, or acting he serves as a mentor to high school boys at the Eagle Academy for Young Men. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Washington Professional Actor Training Program.

Meagan Flaherty is a professional artist, born and raised on Long Island where she frequents state and county parks to draw inspiration from the natural world. Prolific since childhood, Meagan has spent more than a decade fine tuning her skills and talents under the instruction of Jeffrey K. Fisher. Her work has been featured in advertisements and publications across the US and displayed in local galleries. Meagan began teaching art classes in 2015. With a passion for art education and vast array of skills and techniques at her command, Meagan has made it her mission to challenge young artists to expand creatively while focusing on observation, communication, and self discovery. In 2020 she was awarded the Carmela Kolman Fellowship in Fine Arts from Gallery North. And in 2021 she was hired as the Program Assistant by Gallery North. She currently teaches classes at Gallery North and Art & Soul Art Studio in Nesconset, NY and is the Artist in Residence at Sweet Briar Nature Center.

Rachael Guma is an educator, filmmaker, animator, and sound artist whose work has been shown internationally. Her teaching artist experience includes Stop-Motion Animation, Foley, Theremin, Sound for Film, Photography, and Shadow Puppetry workshops. She has taught within the New York, Brooklyn, and Long Island public school systems through arts organizations including BRIC (youth and adult education), Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Children’s Museum of the Arts, and Magic Box Productions. In 2020 she was part of a curriculum development team for the Department of Education which developed moving image lessons for teachers to use during the stay-at-home order. In 2016-2017, she participated in the professional development Blueprint for Learning: Moving Image by teaching workshops on sound. Since graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute, her films have screened at the San Francisco Cinematheque, RX Gallery, Mono No Aware, Northern Flickers, UnionDocs, AXWFF, Black Maria, Echo Park Film Center, and Microscope Gallery where she was invited to present her first solo show in 2013. She has been invited as a visiting artist at Brooklyn College, University of Colorado, Boulder, Pratt Institute and Sarah Lawrence College.

Filomena Jack is a BFA graduate and teaches community art classes and lessons in her private studio, classes via library programming, and at various after school programming centers. She is a certified personal development coach and hypnosis practitioner. She has been teaching for more than 18 years to a wide range of communities. Filomena’s artworks range from her series of “Jazzy Plein Air” on site studies, murals located around the Twin Tiers, to an online comic rabbit named Bunzie who teaches his audience about mindfulness and inner strength. The artist hosts free online classes via Facebook in a series called “P.E.P. Club” {pretty easy painting} which is meant to help alleviate some of the stress and anxiety her viewers may be holding during the world’s upheaval. Her YouTube channel has a growing list of free access artistic classes. Filomena weaves her artistic skills, practiced coaching modalities, and humor to encourage and challenge her students. Her teaching style is to have her students be as hands on as possible. For example, instead of creating exact templates for each student she instructs them on how to create their own unique templates, thus adding an additional layer to the learning experience. Ingenuity is encouraged and mistakes are applauded. Filomena published her first art book in 2019, “Bunzie’s Bundalas”, which marries art instruction and mindfulness coloring pages. She had produced an online class that corresponds with the book’s lessons. She is currently working on the second book in the series.

Kasia Klimiuk is a New York-based arts educator, director and performer. She received her MA in Applied Theatre from the City University of New York as well as her NY State Certification in Theatre K-12 at the City College of New York. Kasia has been performing in various mediums for over 25 years, as an improviser, actor, dancer, and singer. Over the last ten years, she has been working as a director and producer with her own theatre company, Our Fabulous Variety Show (OFVS), which she co-founded with Anita Boyer in October 2010. The company has produced close to 30 theatrical productions and small showcases throughout the eastern end of Long Island since its inception, with both Kasia’s direction and playbuilding expertise, and provides inclusive and accessible arts programming at their new studio space, “OFVS at Shine” in Bridgehampton. She is the Teeny Awards Coordinator for East End Arts, which is also known as the Tony Awards for eastern Long Island high school theatre. She is also a teaching artist with New York City Children’s Theater, Marquis Studios, Bay Street, Shine, and the WHBPAC. She has a great deal of experience devising original work, teaching basic acting skills, and facilitating theatre programs for young people from ages 4 to 18 as well as with adults. She believes theatre has the power to transform and transcend into all aspects of our lives and loves using it as a tool to express, enlighten and activate.

Johari Mayfield’s mantra was always Liveinthemovement as a choreographer, activist, healer, teaching artist and ACE certified personal trainer living in New York City. After training extensively in ballet with Sylvester Campbell, she received a scholarship to the Ailey School, where she studied for over two years. She has been a performer in NYC with Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, Joan Miller’s Dance Players, and Peggy Choy Dance Company. As a choreographer, her work has been presented at several different venues including HERE Arts Center, The Gatehouse at Aaron Davis Hall, 45 Bleecker Theater, and Dance Theatre Workshop (now New York Live Arts). She received her ACE certification in 1998 and, since then, has been an avid personal trainer, providing both group and private instruction for a diverse range of movers. In addition to dance, fitness, and choreography, Johari has authored two comic books: Wildcard, written with visual artist Teylor Smirl, and Wildlife. Wildcard was publicly presented in January 2011 as part of the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture’s conference “The State of African American and African Diaspora Studies: Methodology, Pedagogy, and Research.” Johari’s community outreach initiatives have included children’s workshops on healthy eating at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, and movement and fitness with Girls Education and Mentoring Service (GEMS) and volunteer member of Lend a Hand Uganda USA . Currently, she is a teaching artist with National Dance institute, Marquis Studios, Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy and Marquis Studios.

Clement Mensah, an artist, educator and founder of Off the Radar Creative Project, a program that aims to use the gift of creativity through movement to bridge different cultures and bring generations together through self-expression and the exploration of movement. He was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, moved to the Netherlands at the age of 11, graduated from C.I.O.S and the Amsterdam School of Arts with a B.A in dance in 2008. Later he moved to the US as a fellowship student at The Ailey School and then returned to Europe to complete his masters in 2011 at Trinity Laban School of Contemporary Music and Dance in London, UK. As a dance educator, Mr. Mensah has taught nationally and internationally to a wide range of communities. One of his most impactful teaching experiences has been through Battery Dance’s signature teaching program Dancing to Connect, where he taught in over 30 countries including NYC to underprivileged youths. This experience has been captured in the documentary Moving Stories directed by Rob Fruchtman available on Amazon Prime. As a performer and teaching artist, Mr. Mensah currently dances with Reggie Wilson Fist and Heel Performance Group, the Equus Project and DreamYard Project, Inc. He has been part of Battery Dance and Elisa Monte Dance. His teaching approach intersects somatic creative movement methods with social emotional aspects. His approach also includes Physical Listening and Laban techniques. He aims to use the gift of creativity to bridge different cultures and bring generations together through self-expression.

ingrid romero is an artist, educator and organizer, born and raised in New York City – the unceded, traditional lands of the Munsee/Lenape – with deep roots in the Andes of Colombia. ingrid has been organizing for fifteen years, and brings ten years of facilitation, teaching artistry, and youth work experience. their youth work experience includes Sadie Nash Leadership Project, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, Kite’s Nest, and Global Action Project. ingrid has completed trainings and fellowships from School of Unity & Liberation (SOUL), Third World Newsreel, Teaching Artist Project (TAP) and The Laundromat Project. Currently, they work as a teaching artist with Educational Video Center and The Moth, while also serving as Project Co-Director at Mayday Space in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Skye Steele, Puerto Rican-American violinist, songwriter, and educator, has gone from busking in the NYC subways as a teenager, to playing concert stages around the world. He has toured as a solo artist throughout the US and Europe, as well as working as musical director and multi-instrumentalist for platinum-selling singer songwriter Vanessa Carlton. As an improvising violinist he has had the chance to work with jazz legends like Henry Butler, Anthony Braxton, and Lee Konitz, and with country and rock artists including Willie Nelson, Jolie Holland, and Deer Tick. And he has delved deeply into string-playing traditions from Turkey to Brazil, learning from masters like Mestre Salustiano, Seu Luiz Paixao, Najib Shaheen, and Selim Sesler. Teaching has been a passion throughout Skye’s life, informed by his mother’s work as a bilingual public school and Suzuki violin teacher. Whether introducing children to the violin in NYC public schools or working with music teachers decades his senior, Skye puts musical adventure, joy, and connection to inner-life at the center of his teaching. In 2017, Skye created A People’s History of Strings as a way to help young players and the general public have a more historicized and de-colonized encounter with the instrument. Drawing on his travels, family history, and historical research, A People’s History of Strings is a narrative concert and curriculum that provides a framework for culturally sustaining pedagogy in relation to the violin, while revealing and countervailing the eurocentrism and white-supremacy baked into so much conventional string pedagogy.

Julio Montalvo Valentin (They/His/Julio) is the author of three chapbooks, the latest titled “Those Who Pray to Rice” (NightBallet Books, 2019). Julio is a member of the Latino/a/x arts collective called Los Artistas del Barrio Buffalo (LAdB), a Teaching Artist at the Just Buffalo Literary Center, and holds an M.A. in English Literature from Buffalo State College. They have recently completed a month-long project as the Poetry Teaching Artist for the “Woke Words” summer enrichment program at P.S. 18, where the students also created a public poetry mural for the City of Buffalo, N.Y. You can find Julio talking about the politics of rice, working on his poetry caravan project, or looking for the next reading/writing opportunity.

Ivan Velez, a cartoonist known for his pioneering work in independent and mainstream comics, has worked as a popular Teaching Artist for more than 20 years. His programs have been sought after and hosted by such cultural and educational orgs as the New York Public Library, The New York Design Museum, The Met, The Studio Museum Of Harlem, the NYC Parks Department, the Point, and the Bronx Museum Of The Arts. His art programs focus on global history, mythology, multicultural diversity and all the issues that touch our modern lives via the beloved and easily digested art-forms of cartooning, drawing and writing, and is taught to various age ranges from the very young to the elder. He’s been fortunate enough to be a serial grant winner and, mostly due to the NY STATE and BRONX Councils On The Arts, has been able to continue his variety of programs and public art events.

Kerry Warren (she/her/hers) is a biracial New York based actor and teaching artist. She strives to create a classroom of joy and deep practice. She is a member of the Arts In Education Roundtable, Teaching Artist Project alumni, Actors Equity Union, and SAG AFTRA. She received the President Polisi Prize for Artist as Citizen for her educational outreach at The Juilliard School where she received her BFA in Acting. She has taught theater in Botswana, Guatemala, and all five boroughs of NYC with Harlem Children’s Zone, G!RL BE HEARD, Project Art, People’s Theatre Project, the 52nd Street Project, and Arts Connection. She has also performed as an actor on Broadway, Off Broadway, and regionally. Catch her performance as Nurse Varene in New Amsterdam on NBC. kerrywarren.com