Janoah Bailin is a Maine-based circus artist focusing in juggling, unicycling and performance. Ze coaches the Gym Dandies Children’s Circus of Scarbrough and the Children's Circus of Middletown, CT. Janoah is on the Maine Arts Council's Teaching Artist Roster and has curated in- and after-school programs across New England. Ze also studies contemporary movement and has been awarded several Maine Arts Council and New England Foundation for the Arts grants, including the 2020 MAC Fellowship in the Performing Arts and NEFA's 2021 Public Art Learning Fund.

Eric is widely referred to as one of the nation’s best teachers of creativity, and the father of the teaching artist profession. He is CEL's co-founder and Engagement Director. In 2015 he was awarded the nation's highest honor for an arts educator (the Arts Education Leadership Award by Americans For The Arts), and was named one of the 25 most important people in the U.S. arts. In arts learning, he has taught at Juilliard (13 years), Stanford University, NYU, Tanglewood and Lincoln Center Institute (35 years), and The Kennedy Center (12 years). He is the founder and co-designer of the International Teaching Artist Conferences, the recipient of the first honorary doctorate in teaching artistry (New England Conservatory), and was the keynote speaker at UNESCO's first world arts education conference. More about Eric.

Anne Campbell is the Education Director at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, a position she has held since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Smith College and a master’s degree in community education from Goddard College, Anne has spent more than 30 years in the nonprofit realm, primarily in the arts, education, and community development. She plays percussion in the all-female ensemble, Shebang, and dances whenever she can.

Jean Cherouny is a rollerblade painter.  She has taught art for 30 years in Vermont.  Her struggles in learning brought about her eventual choice to use her body, literally skating the paint into her canvases.  She works at BCA Gallery when she is not in her studio or driving her electric car.  Her work is international and she and her husband have plans to move to Aruba where jean will be showing and making paint performances this November. Jean will do workshops all over the world. 

I was born and raised in Bristol Vermont. I flew the coop to leave for India on a backpacking expedition at 18. My next move was attending Rhode Island School of Design for 4 years. I left with my bachelors degree in painting. Most of my twenties I spent adventuring out west, paining, teaching, attending residencies and living on communes. In 2015 I moved back to Vermont. I now own a home here, have made a family, and am in the last year of grad school for a Masters in Art Education.

Julia Ferrari, a printmaker, painter and poet, brings all those fields into the book arts, her profession. She has taught printmaking at the Putney School, Letterpress and Linoleum printmaking at Bennington College and Illustration and Digital design at Keene State College, among others. Julia has a strong belief that art can heal. Because of her background in the visual arts combined with the written word, she challenges her students to combine two or more forms of creativity simultaneously. 

Ashley is a teaching artist, dance educator and choreographer whose work investigates how movement creates a more aware, engaged, and connected community. She has received multiple grants for her work in public schools and community sites and is a Juried Teaching Artist through the Vermont Arts Council. Projects include teacher trainings, school residencies, dance in libraries, restorative justice and correctional facilities programs as well as community-inspired and inclusive original productions. She received her Ed.M from Harvard Graduate School of Education and teaches at the Dance Factory in Springfield, Vermont.

As a Drama Therapist Lowry will invite you to use art, movement, drama, metaphor and play so you can process and explore even the things that are most difficult to talk about. She is trained in Somatic Experiencing, which is an approach that works directly with how trauma and resilience are stored in the body. As a white, Jewish, queer counselor, she utilizes a systems approach in her work exploring how individual and family histories, current family dynamics, culture, peer networks, and larger societal systems all impact our health and wellbeing. She also holds a deep awareness for how oppression and discrimination may impact the individual and our communities. Lowry has particular interest and experience in supporting LGBQ, transgender and gender non-conforming youth, individuals and family systems that have experienced trauma. She also has interest and experience in working with the physical symptoms that may be present as a result of trauma. 

Julianne is the Director of Education at Spruce Peak Arts. With a Master's Degree in Social Work, she has served in a variety of roles working with children and families supporting Early childhood education and promoting Family Centered Care in the medical field. Because of her children she joined the theater community, and created a local musical theater summer camp. She is an active volunteer with Lyric Theater; producer, chair of special effects, co-technical director and stage manager. 

Kevin O’Keefe has traveled the world since 1985 to both teach and study circus, theater and yoga. As the artistic director of Circus Minimus he has directed residencies and performances that have touched the lives of over 100,000 children and their families. In 2001 he was awarded an Excellence in Education award from the IJA. For five years he was an instructor at the Big Apple Circus School in Harlem, New York. He is the founder of the American Youth Circus Organization.  

Lindsay Pontius has been a professional actor, director, and teacher working both regionally and internationally for over 25 years.  Over the last ten years, Pontius developed the Town Hall Theatre  Education Program, serving more than 20 schools and a thousand children in Vermont. She is a founding member of Shakespeare & Company’s nationally award-winning Fall Festival of Shakespeare and has a doctorate in Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Vermont.

Rachel Sargent Mirus is a STEAM teaching artist and science writer. Originally trained in biology, she has worked in research labs and museums across the country. She has taught for museums including the California Academy of Sciences, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and in Vermont at the Montshire and Fairbanks Museums. She now teaches locally for organizations like North Branch Nature Center, Across Roads Center for the Arts, and the Children's Room.

Alexa Rivera is a basket weaver based in Burlington, VT and teaches basket weaving workshops around the state and region.

Gowri is a visual-teaching artist, whose practice includes sculpture, illustration, and writing. Born in England, she moved to the US in 2007. Savoor has been a practicing teaching artist for over 20 years, with experience in arts integration and community building. Gowri is the instigator of A River of Light, a movement committed to bringing art to the community through participatory art events, installations, and lantern parades. She is also the co-founder of Teaching Artists Connect, an organization providing creative and inspiring professional development workshops for teaching artists and educators in North Carolina and beyond.

Meghan is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who enjoys working with a wide range of ages and abilities. She holds masters degrees in counseling/art therapy and fine arts and believes everyone has expressive capacity. Rooted in sculpture, and willing to try anything, Meghan enjoys the wonder and experimentation of art making with kids. Meghan also serves as the Program Documentation and Research Coordinator at Side x Side.

Lauren Larken Scuderi is the co-facilitaor of Waterways Stage, a free theatre and local environmental science program through Very Merry Theatre. She is also the founder of Heart Song LLC an aerial healing arts studio at The Railyard Apothecary.  She loves singing, writing songs and hosting healing inspired co-formance art experiences. http://www.365Songbird.com headshot by Isora Lithgow Creative

Beth Wilbur Van Mierlo is an artist and an educator. Over a decade ago, Beth founded Oak Street Studios, A Young People’s Art Institute, where she serves as director, curriculum developer, and instructor. In the spring of 2013, she co-founded Side x Side, which ignites academic excellence in education through comprehensive arts-based programs. Beth holds a BFA in sculpture and drawing from the University of Southern Maine. She lives with her husband and three children in Portland.