Tom Evert
Dance/Movement
Tom Evert has been a creative force in creating and performing original choreographic works with a company of dancers, working intensively in arts-education programming and creating festival-like community events in Ohio for 38 years.
Tom currently serves as artistic director of DANCE EVERT, which he founded in 1986. He holds BFAs in both painting and dance from Ohio University and has enjoyed a world-class touring career with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City. He has created a major body of work for which he has received eight Individual Excellence Awards in choreography.…
Lynette Ford
Storytelling & Spoken Word
Fourth-generation storyteller Lynette (Lyn) Ford is a teaching artist with the Ohio Teaching Artists Roster and 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. Lyn has also offered storytelling/story-writing residencies for the Ohio Arts Council’s Creative Aging Ohio Initiative.
For more than 30 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.…
Jennifer Hambrick
Poetry
A poet hailed for her “brilliant” imagery, “masterful” craftsmanship, and “uniquely musical voice,” Jennifer Hambrick brings to her work as an Ohio Arts Council Teaching Artist a broad range of teaching experiences with learners of all ages and from all backgrounds and a genuine love of inspiring others to share their stories in the written word. Joining her work as a writer of free verse and prose poetry, haiku, haibun, and non-fiction prose, Jennifer joyfully shares the beauty and wonder of poetry with writers of all ages in learning experiences that honor every writer’s unique voice and empower individual expression.…
Kimberly Jarvis
Dance/Movement
Kimberly Crislip Jarvis is a choreographer, educator, teaching artist, and organizational development consultant whose work bridges the creative arts with education, wellness, and community engagement. She is the founder of Arts + More Services, where she provides customized communication workshops, strategic planning sessions, and staff development retreats for businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions. Her approach uses the arts as a catalyst for clarity, connection, and sustainable growth.
Kimberly holds degrees and certifications from the Scandinavian Institute for Physical Culture in Denmark, the American College of Sports Medicine, Malone University, and the University of Akron.…
Douglas Laubacher
Visual Arts, Comics & Cartooning
I’m a cartoonist from Northeast Ohio. My comic strip “Unbound” runs in a handful of papers spanning Stark, Carroll and Tuscarawas Counties. I have nearly a decade of experience teaching every age group the art of cartooning and cartooning adjacent classes. I’ve taught students as young as 3 and as old as 93. I’ve taught in libraries, senior centers, museums, schools and community centers. I pursued Fine Art and English in College because ever since I was twelve I knew, this is what I wanted todo. I hold a BA in Fine Art from the University of Mount Union, am a certified substitute teacher and a member of the National Cartoonist Society.…
Sara Lawrence-Sucato
Dance/Movement
Sara Lawrence-Sucato (BA Dance & MS Organizational Leadership from Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA) hails from Columbus, Ohio and lives and works in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Sara has worked in various capacities with The Dancing Wheels Company & School since 2006, including professional dancer, tour manager, and rehearsal director. In her capacity as The Dancing Wheels Company & School’s Director of Education, Sara works with a team of Master Teaching Artists to deliver the Dancing Wheels Teacher Certification program, trains new company dancers, oversees and teaches outreach and in-studio classes and programming, and teaches physically integrated dance technique in residencies, workshops, and master classes for The Dancing Wheels Company & School.…
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.…
Ami Majmudar
Dance/Movement: Classical Indian Dance, Creative Writing, & Storytelling
Ami Majmudar is a teacher, author, storyteller, dancer, and choreographer. With a degree in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of California at Davis, Ami began her career as a high school English teacher. While raising her three children, Ami began writing short stories and then books. Her debut novel, The Torchbearers, published by Penguin India, was shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Distinguished Children’s Literature.
Ami learned Bharatanatyam over a rigorous sixteen-year period from her Guru, Mythili Kumar, artistic director of the Abhinaya Dance Company.…
Ray McNiece
Drama/Theatre: Performance Poetry & Storytelling
Ray McNiece is the author of eight books of poems and monologues, most recently Breath Burns Away, New Haiku. He has created two solo theatre works: Dis – Voices From a Shelter and Us? Talking Across America; two music/poetry collaborations: “Mouth Music” and “A Rust bowl Hootenanny;” and an autobiography on stage: The Lives of A Poet. The Orlando Sentinel reporting on Ray’s solo show at the Fringe Festival called him “a modern day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of humor.” In a review of Us?…
Vicki Murphy
Visual Arts: Mosaics
Vicki Murphy is a mosaic artist who works primarily in Ohio and New Orleans. She has trained extensively with master mosaic artist Laurel True of True Mosaics Studio for many years focusing on studio work and professional development in large scale public art. She worked with True on multiple projects in New Orleans including the Global Mosaic Project and Universal Garden’s Lotus Fantasy Bench, the Green Project, and the Edible Schoolyard murals. Vicki’s combined years as artist, educator and licensed social worker give her a unique perspective regarding the healing power of art and the beauty of creative expression.…
Pamela O’Loughlin
Multidisciplinary: Dance, Creative Writing, & Visual Arts
As a multidisciplinary artist, I do not begin with a predetermined style. Instead, my creative process is driven by the unique challenges, opportunities, and questions presented by each project. The problem, situation, or invitation itself becomes the catalyst that shapes the final work. Whether working in paint, sculpture, mixed media, installation, or public art, I approach each commission as a process of discovery. Researching, listening, observing, and developing solutions that respond authentically to a specific place and audience.
In recent years, I have completed several large-scale murals and public-facing projects. These experiences have deepened my interest in creating artwork that transforms environments, invites curiosity, and fosters connection.…
Meghan Patijarevich
Dance/Movement: Ballet, Modern, & Jazz
Meghan Patijarevich is an imaginative and energetic dance educator. She is a native Ohioan and currently resides just outside of Columbus with her husband and daughter. Meghan enjoys bringing creativity, energy and a love of dance into each class she teaches. Her goal is to provide quality dance instruction while maintaining a positive and encouraging learning environment.
She is a graduate from The Ohio State University where she received a Masters of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Dance Education. She studied under Professor Melayne White-Dixon. Prior to that, she received her Bachelors of Arts and K-12 teaching license in Dance from the University of Akron.…
