Interludes

Julia Stark is the arts learning specialist for the Tennessee Arts Commission. A theatre educator and arts administrator, she holds degrees in performing arts outreach and in arts administration.

Dr. Taurus Hines is the dedicated principal of Rozelle Elementary School in Memphis, Tennessee. He is committed to fostering a nurturing and dynamic educational environment.

Jim Holcomb spent twenty-four years in the classroom, both in Tennessee and Mississippi, as an instrumental and vocal music teacher. For twenty-one years he served as supervisor of music and dance programs for Memphis City Schools. In retirement, Holcomb has remained an active professional musician and performer, as well as a brass instructor at the Bellevue School of Performing Arts in Memphis. Holcomb is the secretary for the Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation Board of Directors.

Neporcha Cone is the dean of the MTSU College of Education.

After thirty years of teaching, David Chambers recently retired from his position as a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade elementary music specialist for Fentress County Schools. He is also the choir director for Allardt Presbyterian Church and the founding director of the Fentress County Community Choir. Chambers has served as a TAA elementary music facilitator since 2005.

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.

Brenda Gregory is currently in her eighteenth year as director of choirs and fine arts department chair at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In 2010, the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts named Gregory the Tennessee Music Teacher of theYear. She has been included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and was recognized in 2007 as an Outstanding Young Woman of America.

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.

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.

Arranger, composer, trumpeter, and educator Jamey Simmons grew up in Wisconsin, and earned his degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and at the Eastman School of Music. Simmons is currently director of jazz studies at Middle Tennessee State University where he teaches courses in jazz and directs Jazz Ensemble I. Simmons’s published compositions and arrangements are available through Heritage JazzWorks with Lorenz Music, Sierra Music, and Kjos Music Publishing.

Jody Underwood has dedicated more than twenty years to the field of educational technology, driven by his passion for educating educators. He has designed more than 400 tools used for audio-visual recording.

Kerry Vaughn has been a band director at Spring Station Middle School in Spring Hill, Tennessee, for fourteen years. He has been a dedicated participant at the TAA Summer Institute throughout his career and has served as a facilitator for the Upper Middle/Secondary Instrumental Track at the TAA for the past fourteen years.

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.

Franklin Willis serves as the director of visual and performing arts for Metro Nashville Public Schools, overseeing arts education initiatives across one of the nation’s largest school districts. With more than fifteen years of experience in music education, Willis is a published children’s book author, composer, and adjunct music education professor at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.

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Nancy Beard recently retired from the Shelby County School District, where she worked with English language learners. Prior to this, Beard used the Orff approach to teach music in the Memphis and Shelby County schools. She has also taught band, chorus, and general music in Illinois and Kentucky.

Josh Bennett is the MTSU scenic and properties coordinator with more than eight years of experience in technical theatre.

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.

Paul Chilsen is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed and written theatrical features, documentaries, and television programs. He is currently an associate professor of filmmaking at MTSU. His research focuses on applied cinematic expression, shaping his recent work in international collaborative filmmaking in the Amazon.

Trish Clark is a free-lance costume designer and tailor. She recently retired from MTSU where she taught about stage makeup, wigs, and special effects makeup.

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.

Jennifer Keith is the founder of the Grassland Middle School drama program in the Williamson County Schools. In 2014, she was named Grassland Middle School Teacher of the Year and in 2022 was named as a Tennessee Excellence in Education award finalist. Keith is an avid traveler who regularly brings global experiences back to her students and curriculum.

Jacqueline Komos is an enthusiastic teaching artist and serves as education and engagement manager at Nashville Children's Theatre. In her role, she has the opportunity to utilize the performing arts to help youth, adults, and professionals achieve their full potential and discover all the possibilities life has to offer.

Tommy Macon is the professor of costume design at MTSU, and has been designing and building costumes for thirty years. He has worked professionally at the Nashville Children’s Theatre, Utah Festival Opera and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

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.

Luke McGuire is a teaching artist at Watershed Public Theatre and Nashville Children’s Theatre. While attending MTSU, he was a member of the Story Bandits, who performed stories written by children. A Nashville-based actor, McGuire continues to perform on many stages across Middle Tennessee.

Christine Printz is a music educator and researcher in Deerfield, Illinois, with a doctorate from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Her career includes developing music and media curricula, mentoring teachers, and directing music concerts, competitions, and community performances. She has presented in Brazil, Canada, England, Spain and the United States, and can be contacted at drchristineprintz@gmail.com.

Christine Printz is a music educator and researcher in Deerfield, Illinois, with a doctorate from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Her career includes developing music and media curricula, mentoring teachers, and directing music concerts, competitions, and community performances. She has presented in Brazil, Canada, England, Spain and the United States, and can be contacted at drchristineprintz@gmail.com.

Drew Richardson, known as Drew the Dramatic Fool, is the first person in the 21st century to have new, short, silent films shown in major motion picture theaters. In addition to being a silent film star in the wrong century, he has toured his solo shows at art centers, theatres, and festivals nationally and internationally, including the International Comedy Festival in China. Richardson played with Squonk Opera in the Broadway touring production of Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk and has devised and directed for theatre companies across the United States. He has a degree from Ohio University, and a degree in theatre performance pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University. Richardson studied with Jacques Lecoq in Paris, is a certified Essential Somatics exercise coach, and has a teacher’s certificate from the Michael Chekhov Association. He teaches many varieties of physical acting and comedy for theatre companies, colleges, and universities, both in-person and online, around the world.

Kristi Shamburger is chair of the theatre and dance department at MTSU, a certified Expressive Actor instructor, and has been teaching musical theatre and voice for twenty years.

Sara Simons is an associate professor of instruction at University of Texas at Austin, where she is the head of the bachelor of fine arts theatre education program. Her teaching interests include theatre for social change, process drama, multicultural education, and curriculum design. She teaches classes for pre-service theatre educators, which include designs for instruction and creative drama I and II. Simons received a grant to develop a signature course called Art and the Epidemic, where students examine art created in response to both the AIDS crisis and COVID-19. The University of Texas honored her with the 2020-21 College of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award. Simons has a degree in theatre and women’s studies from Wellesley College, a master’s in theatre education from Emerson College, and a PhD in educational theatre from New York University. Her research has been published in Youth Theatre Journal, TYA Today, The Journal of Applied Arts & Health, and Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Tara Winton is the director of education at the Center for the Arts in downtown Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She has been directing students for more than two decades and teaching theatre professionally for fourteen years. It is her passion to share the art of theatre with a new generation, and impact our community and our world.

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.

Sr. Genemarie Beegan is a Sister of Mercy who teaches art and ceramics at an inner city high school near downtown Chicago. She has taught nearly every grade level across thirty years in the classroom and has spent fifteen years as a graphic designer. She loves seeing the light go on in someone’s eyes when they realize they can create something beautiful.

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.

Heather Daily-Smith has been teaching students the art of visual problem solving, and the application of painting and 3D design for twenty-one years. She is a licensed commercial painter for the home furnishings industry and an ISFD Pinnacle Award-nominated furniture designer.

Shaun Giles has been with the Frist Art Museum since 2005 and has been the community engagement director since 2020.

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Bill Hickerson has been executive director of the West Tennessee Regional Art Center since 1998. For the past eighteen years, he has served as West Tennessee chair of the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) Regional Student Art Exhibition program. He is a past recipient of three TAEA awards including Museum Art Educator of the Year, West Tennessee Art Educator of the Year, and Art Educator of the Year.

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.

Janet Laws is a TAA visual art facilitator. She teaches at Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee. Laws was named as the Middle Tennessee Art Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Art Education Association in 2022.

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.

Abbey Logan is an elementary art teacher with more than eighteen years of experience in the Middle Tennessee area. Logan teaches art to pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students at Plainview Elementary School in Rutherford County and loves to take old things and re-purpose them in new ways.

Victoria May is a visual artist who works in painting, mixed media, charcoal, and photography. Mark making, textures, vintage ephemera, and focused color are important elements in her work. She is a visual art teacher at Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she serves as a sponsor for the National Art Honor Society.

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.

Paige Medlock teaches visual art and art education courses, and supervises student teachers at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) as president-elect and was awarded the TAEA 2024 Art Educator of the Year award for Middle Tennessee. Medlock holds degree in art education from Asbury University in Kentucky, a degree in visual culture from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a practice-based doctorate in visual culture from the University of Stirling, Scotland.  Medlock is a practicing artist with large-scale commissioned stained glass installations in three countries. She presents at regional, state, national, and international conferences on ways that visual art education can navigate trauma and provide pathways to well-being. Her research and artwork focus on visual art as a place where an inner shift can occur that transforms the way people act and interact.

Paige Medlock teaches visual art and art education courses, and supervises student teachers at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) as president-elect and was awarded the TAEA 2024 Art Educator of the Year award for Middle Tennessee. Medlock holds degree in art education from Asbury University in Kentucky, a degree in visual culture from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a practice-based doctorate in visual culture from the University of Stirling, Scotland.  Medlock is a practicing artist with large-scale commissioned stained glass installations in three countries. She presents at regional, state, national, and international conferences on ways that visual art education can navigate trauma and provide pathways to well-being. Her research and artwork focus on visual art as a place where an inner shift can occur that transforms the way people act and interact.

Virginia Nix, TAA facilitator, teaches at Kenrose Elementary in Brentwood, Tennessee. She was recognized as the Elementary Art Educator of the Year in 2022 by the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA). During her time with the TAEA, she served as the exhibitions chair, and developed the STARS Elementary Exhibition, which recognizes elementary school artists from across the state.

Janis Nunnally has previously served as president of TAEA and currently serves as middle level division director for NAEA. She is an art educator at Upperman Middle School in Baxter, Tennessee.

Kelly Orr has been an art educator for more than twenty years, and is currently a visual and media arts instructor at Tullahoma High School and Tullahoma Virtual Academy. She established a media arts program for her school system after procuring more than $30,000 in grant allocations. In February 2025, Orr was selected as the Tennessee Arts Academy Teacher Hero.

Kim Shamblin is a retired art teacher who taught in West Tennessee for twenty-eight years and now resides in northern Louisiana. She has been a part of TAA for more than twenty years and serves as the TAA Connections liaison. Shamblin is an avid quilter and uses her art background to teach other quilters a variety of fabric and design techniques.