Karol Brown
Drama/Theatre, Spoken Word, & Storytelling
Karol Brown was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She lived in the Seattle area for over 28 years before returning to Dayton in 2015. She has a Bachelor of Science in nutrition from the University of Dayton and a masters in public health education from Loma Linda University. Karol retired after 30 years with the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center as a dietitian and health education program manager.
Karol earned a teaching artist certificate from the Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab. For over 20 years, Karol has shared her passion for Harriet Tubman by portraying her as a wise, cheerful, 92-year-old woman.…
Joanie Calem
Music, Dance/Movement, & Storytelling
Joanie Calem has been a performing musician and music teacher since 1983. She graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, Israel, with a major in piano and went on to study music education at the Levinsky Teaching Seminar in Ramat Aviv, Israel. She studied composition with composer Hagar Kadima in Tel Aviv, Israel, and completed her degree, music in community building, at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Having lived overseas for 23 years, Joanie is well versed in multi-cultural experiences and cross-cultural interchanges. Joanie moved to the Columbus, Ohio, area in 1998 and has been teaching music and performing all over the Midwest ever since.…
Omopé Carter-Daboiku
Wordsmith & Storyteller
An Appalachian of mixed ancestry, Omope Carter Daboiku hails from the Ohio River town of Ironton. She migrated to Cincinnati in 1972 and to Dayton in 2012. A cultural geographer and award-winning teller of tales, Omope became affiliated with the Ohio Arts Council in 1990 and the Cincinnati Arts Association at its inception in 1997 and has performed and led story circles across the U.S. and abroad. In 1993, she spoke at the Art of Survival (Nuremberg, Germany), addressing quilting as a cottage industry used by African American women to support families.…
Lynette Ford
Storytelling & Spoken Word
Fourth-generation storyteller Lynette (Lyn) Ford is a teaching artist with the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, a Thurber House mentor to young writers, a storytelling and story-writing coach, a Certified Laughter yoga teacher, and a great-grandma.
For more than 25 years, Lyn has provided stories for libraries and schools, keynote and closing presentations, workshops at universities, education and literacy conferences, and featured programs at some of the most prestigious storytelling conferences and festivals in the United States, Australia, and Ireland. Lyn’s work has now expanded to online videos and Zoom sessions for classroom presentations in grades PreK-5 and family night Zoom gatherings, with enrichment information to guide reflection and discussion before and after watching videos.…
Sierra Leone
Entrepreneur, Poet, Wholistic Urban Creative Arts & Theatre
Poet, producer, activist, educator, and entrepreneur Sierra Leone captivates audiences with her unassuming ingenuity, profound insight, and comedic sense of “knowing.”
A Governor’s Award winner and writer, Sierra is the president and artistic director of OFP Theatre and Production Company. For more than a decade, Ohio has benefited from Sierra’s vision of creative urban arts as a powerful artistic medium to bring communities together across racial, cultural, ideological, and economic divides. Her project “The Signature: A Poetic Medley Show” presents a hybrid of urban poetry, music, dance, and visual arts from local, regional, and international talent.…
Stevens Puppets
Puppetry
Stevens Puppets teaches workshops and tours fully-staged productions of fairy-tales and classic children’s literature, featuring hand-carved wooden marionettes in front of colorfully hand-painted scenery. The charming puppets come alive in their miniature worlds, transporting their audiences through magical journeys of endearing stories, raucous laughter, and artistic beauty. The puppeteers give life to their little actors, weaving a spell of childhood over audiences of all ages, as they invite everyone along for a trip through “once upon a time.” Stevens Puppets was founded in 1933 by the Peabody Award-winning Martin Stevens, preeminent American puppeteer and founder of the Puppeteers of America.…
