Valerie Branch is the founder and artistic director of VB Dance Ensemble, a professional, contemporary dance company focused on bringing cultural awareness and social change into schools around the nation. Her mission is to use the power of dance as a catalyst to empower children to find value in the impact that their voice can have on their life and the lives of others. Branch graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in dance. She has experience touring as a performing artist and dance educator both nationally and internationally and has brought dance into schools throughout the United States, South Africa, India, Singapore, and Grenada. Branch is a Master Teaching Artist with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and holds a National Teaching Artist Credential with Young Audiences Arts for Learning. She advocates for teaching artist representation while creating and promoting innovative strategies that will increase the visibility of teaching artists around the nation.
Summer Brown is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in drawing and painting in the College of Fine Arts. She received her master's degree in museum exhibition planning and design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brown has worked at Staples & Charles, Ltd. as an exhibit designer; Hargrove Inc. as a special events and exhibit designer; the United States Center of Military History as a curatorial assistant; the National Library of Medicine as an exhibition coordinator; and the Washington Latin Public Charter School and the Children's Guild as an art teacher. She is an adjunct lecturer at Prince George’s Community College and teaches classes at Howard University as master instructor. Brown is still a very active practitioner in her craft as she paints, draws, and exhibits her work frequently. She received a regional Emmy Award for art direction for the short film Vote.
Julissa Chapa taught elementary music in the Houston area for twenty years. She earned her master’s degree in music education, received her Kodály Certification from the Kodály Institute of Houston, and trained in Music Learning Theory. She is currently a lecturer and supervisor for student teachers at the University of Houston, teaches summer courses at the Fort Bend Kodály Institute, and regularly presents staff development sessions for districts and conferences across the country. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston, and her research areas are emergent bilinguals in the music classroom and music education accessibility in under-resourced areas. Her ultimate goal is to promote quality music education for all children, upholding Kodály's belief that music is every child’s birthright.
David Dockan is an assistant professor of music education at Louisiana State University where he teaches elementary music methods, courses in teaching music in diverse settings, and where he champions the integration of popular music in the curriculum. His goal is to help teachers design a curriculum that mirrors the diverse musical landscape of their students’ lives. His research has been published in leading journals, including the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, and The Orff Echo, focusing on democratic music education, popular music pedagogies, and inclusive music classrooms. In 2022, he collaborated with Dr. Martina Vasil to develop a masterclass on Orff Schulwerk and popular music education. Dockan envisions classrooms where students create music that reflects their diverse experiences and cultural backgrounds.
For more than forty years, Joan Eckroth-Riley has been sharing her passion for music education. She currently serves at Murray State University in Kentucky as associate professor and coordinator of music education. She is the author of Everyday Improvisation: Interactive Lessons for the Music Classroom and Everyday Composition: Interactive Lessons for the Music Classroom, and a contributing author to Kaleidoscope, which contains lessons on the new core music standards. Eckroth-Riley is a certified recorder and movement instructor for Orff Schulwerk teacher training courses, frequent workshop presenter on standards and assessments for elementary music, and musical clinician around the country. She holds a master’s degree in music education with an emphasis in Orff Schulwerk from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was honored to be named the North Dakota Music Educator of the Year in 2016.
Rebecca Pogue Fields serves as head of elementary school programs at the Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where she facilitates the design, administration, and delivery of arts integrated, in-school residency programs in more than three hundred classrooms each year. She also facilitates theatre education programs and teacher training utilizing the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education model. STEAM learning integrates the arts into the traditional STEM curriculum to enhance creativity and critical thinking skills. Fields enjoys training educators at various levels to introduce best practices in arts integration, transform teacher practices, and establish strategic partnerships. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a fine arts degree in dance and received a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky. Fields has previously worked with Young Audiences Arts for Learning and the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
Michele Henry is a professor of choral music education and the director of music education at Baylor University. Henry teaches undergraduate music education courses, supervises student teachers, and oversees the music education program. She specializes in vocal sight-reading instruction and assessment. Henry is the co-author of the Level Up! sight-reading series which focuses on a systematic approach to individualized sight-reading instruction and assessment. Her research appears in many top journals, as well as Oxford and GIA presses. Henry is on the editorial boards for the Journal of Music Teacher Education, the Southwestern Musician, and Texas Music Education Research. She is also heavily involved with certification policies for music teachers. She holds a doctorate from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree from the University of North Texas.
Jonathan Juravich began teaching art to students in elementary grades near Columbus, Ohio, in 2005, and continues to teach art to young students. His personal and professional focus is the importance of social and emotional learning in the daily lives of young children. This is his topic for research and presentation, including his PhD dissertation, his TED Talk How Do We Teach Empathy?, the limited series podcast The Art of SEL, and his Emmy award-winning drawing program Drawing with Mr. J. In 2018, Juravich was named Ohio Teacher of the Year, and was one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. In 2023, he was named the National Elementary Art Teacher of the Year by the National Art Education Association and the 2024 Ohio Art Educator of the Year. He lives with his family in Columbus, Ohio.
Jann Knighten received degrees in music education from East Carolina University, then attended the University of Texas at Austin. She began her career as a teacher of middle school band in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and completed thirty years of public school teaching in 2009. Knighten represented North Carolina as an educational ambassador for the U.S.-Japan Foundation’s Global Schools Initiative at Hiroshima University and Mihara Junior High School. She is currently the coordinator of the graduate certificate in music education for students with differences and disabilities, and a candidate for a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in special education at the University of Arkansas. Knighten has presented at national and international conferences and professional development sessions in many states. She is the president of the Arkansas Music Educators Association and the president-elect for the Council of Exceptional Children’s Division of Visual and Performing Arts.
Clara Lieu is the founder of Art Prof Projects LLC, an online educational platform for learning about the visual arts. She spent sixteen years in academia as an adjunct instructor, teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design, Wellesley College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Lesley University. For seven years she taught at the Rhode Island School of Design's Project Open Door, an art program for under-served teens in Providence public schools. Lieu has written for the New York Times, lectures widely, and provided expertise on articles for National Public Radio's Weekend Edition and for the Washington Post. Recently she appeared on an episode of The Nature of Things, a Canadian television series of documentary programs. Lieu has been awarded grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation. Her work has been exhibited at the International Print Center New York, the Danforth Museum of Art, the Currier Museum of Art, and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center.
Nolan Jager Loyde received a degree in music education from the University of North Texas, his master’s degree in educational leadership from Stephen F. Austin State University, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in education and community leadership from Texas State University. He serves as the director of fine arts for the Round Rock Independent School District. He has performed and conducted on many world class stages, including the Midwest Clinic and the Texas Music Educators Association Convention. Loyde is a nationally recognized adjudicator, clinician, and advocate, appearing at Music for All and Drum Corps International events and numerous state music educator conferences and marching championships. Loyde is passionate about sharing his experiences and perspectives with educators, students, and community members who advocate for student achievement through the arts.
Raymond McAnally, a native of Franklin, Tennessee, is an award-winning actor, producer writer, and lecturer. Some of his television credits include Black Mirror: San Junipero, which won an Emmy in 2017. He has had guest starring roles on Better Call Saul, Modern Family, Chicago Fire, and 30 Rock, and his feature film credits include Paradise Highway, The Revival, and Compliance. Theatre credits of note include God's Ear; Casa Valentina; One Man, Two Guvnors; Mrs. Mannerly, and The Foreigner, among many others. McAnally’s solo show, Size Matters, received its world premiere at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, was filmed before a live audience at the Franklin Theatre, and now streams on Amazon Prime. His full-length play, The Cruelty of Children, was a semi-finalist at the O’Neill Center in 2019. McAnally has been a lecturer for Rutgers Arts Online since 2013 and guest lectured at colleges and conservatories since 2009. He holds a degree in acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts and a degree from Sewanee.
Serena Rios McRae is a native of Tucson, Arizona, who is passionate about the fine details of nature, prismatic color, and local food. McRae is a working artist, mother, and mental health advocate. She speaks openly about her experiences with postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD, and works to break stigmas around mental illness. McRae follows her impulses to learn many mediums and create art in often unusual forms that include watercolor paintings on animal skulls, murals on taco trucks, intricate relief carvings on tiny pink erasers, and classic watercolor on paper. She is the creator of Affirmations Moms Actually Need and the Pink Eraser Art Project, for which she has written her first book, scheduled to be published this fall. McRae posts on social media @cactustcloudsart and has more than 345,000 followers across multiple platforms. Much of her work is inspired by her experiences with mental illness, and she strives to help others find healing in art.
Dain Olsen is a national leader and specialist in media arts education with more than thirty-five years of experience as a teacher, administrator, and program developer. He is currently president, CEO, and co-founder of the National Association for Media Arts Education, and has authored a book on the subject for Routledge Press. Olsen led the establishment of media arts in Los Angeles Unified School District and the development of National Media Arts Standards, now adopted in thirty-nine states. He has served as a consultant and presenter for numerous state conferences and for organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the College Board, and the National Association for Media Literacy Education. Olsen has also taught at Otis College and the University of California, Los Angeles, and is an intermedia artist in video, sound, interactive, and multimedia theater.
Alfred Watkins retired as director of bands at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia, where he spent thirty-one of his thirty-seven years in the profession. He is currently musical director and conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU) and received an honorary doctorate from the VanderCook College of Music. Concert bands under Watkins’s leadership have performed at thirty-two invitational concert band events, and he has conducted All-State High School Bands in thirty-four states. His concert bands have performed at the Midwest Clinic, Music for All National Festival, and at the Georgia Music Educators Association conventions. Watkins is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the FAMU Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, and has been named to the Hall of Fame for the Bands of America, Conn Selmer, and the Minority Band Directors National Association. The $1.5 million band building at Lassiter High School bears his name.
Adam Yankowy is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and is currently an assistant professor of musical theatre at Michigan State University. He holds degrees in musical theatre and music education and has taught in theatre departments at several universities. Selected performance credits include Babes in Toyland (Lincoln Center), The Pirates of Penzance (New York City Center), Swingin’ Christmas (Carnegie Hall), and Broadway’s Rising Stars (Town Hall). He has earned numerous regional theatre awards for both directing and music direction. Yankowy is the current artistic program director for the New Musical Laboratory at Michigan State University, a program that helps shape and support new musicals in their development process. He also is the host of a musical theatre radio program in East Lansing, Michigan. His research centers on the creation of new musicals and the revision of older musicals as new ones. He continues to work as a director, music director, and performer.
