A B C D E F H I K L M O P R S T W
Photo of Padma Chebrolu

Padma Chebrolu

Indian Dance/Movement

Padma Chebrolu is an accomplished teaching and performing dance artist and is the artistic director of the Cultural Centre of India (CCI) which she founded about 30 years ago in Cincinnati. Her exemplary artistic abilities, leadership, and creativity have created tremendous impact on the arts education and public appreciation for the heritage arts in Ohio’s schools and community organizations.

Padma is the recipient of the 2021 Ohio Heritage Fellowship Award from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) in recognition of the dedication and significant contributions she had on the community through the advancement and preservation of traditional arts.…

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Diana Chittester

Music, Singing/Songwriting, & Guitar

Diana Chittester has been building a reputation as one of the area’s most gifted guitar players, intimate songwriters, and forceful vocalists over the past decade, releasing a series of albums that display her growing confidence and ability to communicate feelings that are deeply personal yet universal.

Diana has shared the stage with Lyle Lovett, Gin Blossoms, The Accidentals, Joan Osborne, Peter Mulvey, Chris Trapper, Lisa Loeb, and Colin Hay; performing at PACs and venues across the Eastern US & Canada including Kent State PAC, Stocker Arts, Showplace Centre, Evening Muse, Music Box Supper Club, and The Ark.…

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Keri Chryst

Music: Jazz, Improvisation, & French Culture

Ohio native, Keri Chryst (Olentangy High School, class of 1992), has been living and working as a professional vocalist, composer- arranger, and educator in Paris, France since 2003. She specializes in both vocal and instrumental jazz music (Bachelor of Music in jazz studies, 1997, and masters in jazz pedagogy, 1998, Northwestern University) and is also well versed in a variety of styles including Broadway, pop, soul, gospel, and classic choral literature.

For much of the year, Keri travels internationally to perform with big bands and jazz combos or with the jazz vocal trio “Sweet System“.…

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Risa Cohen

Music & Dance/Movement

Risa Beth Cohen, M.S.Ed. is an educator, singer/songwriter, and storyteller. She works with people of all ages and abilities, leading music circles and storytelling workshops. As the Founder and Creative Director of Sing into Reading, Risa is passionate about teaching literacy through music and movement. Risa holds a B.F.A. in acting from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and an M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood/ Elementary Education from Bank Street College. In 2016, she was the Featured Teller at “Tellebration” in Toledo, Ohio. She is able to craft music and movement classes to align with any topic, ensuring that they are developmentally appropriate and fun.…

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Kimberly Crislip Jarvis

Dance/Movement

Kimberly Crislip Jarvis is an esteemed teaching artist, choreographer, and administrator, known for her exceptional contributions to the creative arts. With an impressive educational background, Kimberly holds degrees and certifications from respected institutions such as the Scandinavian Institute for Physical Culture in Denmark, the American College of Sports Medicine, Malone University, and the University of Akron.

Throughout her career, Kimberly has collaborated with Kent State University, Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Mississippi, and Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, where she had the privilege of working alongside esteemed dancers such as Merce Cunningham, Meredeth Monk, Craig Patterson, Patricia Lent, Susanna Chaffey, Jennifer Way, Milton Myers, and Dianne McIntyre.…

Photo of Griset Damas-Roche

Griset Damas-Roche

Dance/Movement, Flamenco

Born in Havana, Griset Damas-Roche studied ballet from a very young age at the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba before joining the world-famous National Ballet of Cuba. Then she achieved the Soloist spot in Ballet Espanol de La Habana. In 1998 she moved to Bogotá, Colombia, where she opened the doors to flamenco dance for more than 3,500 students as a teacher and choreographer. For about 17 years she successfully directed her own school and dance company. In 2014, Griset moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she began teaching at the established Flamenco del Corazon studio.…

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Sheela Das

Music: Multi-Instrumentalist & Songwriting

Sheela Das is the artistic director and founder of Creative Concepts in Music. With more than a decade of teaching through the arts, she has directed, produced, and delivered compelling workshops and original stage and video productions for students, community members, and professional venues alike.

From songwriting workshops, instrumental music, and playwriting and puppetry camps, to classroom residencies, Sheela brings her multi-instrumental talent to the joy of hundreds of audiences each year. She has composed more than 350 original, interactive songs to teach the curriculum in grades K-12 in subjects from social emotional learning to language arts and science.…

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Amy Dennison

Music, Wind Instruments, Instrument Making, & Active Music Making (preschool – seniors)

Amy Dennison retired in September 2021 from the University of Cincinnati (UC) College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). During her 20-year tenure at UC she held the positions of program manager, director, director of education and assistant dean. She is the coauthor of “One Voice – Music and Stories in the Classroom.” Primarily a woodwind specialist, Ms. Dennison also plays several string instruments including the mountain dulcimer, the cello, and most recently, the ukulele. She performs in a harp/flute duo, the New Horizons Orchestra (cello), the Queen City Freedom Band (oboe), and the wind player in the Twi-lites, a cover band that features music for the baby boomer crowds.…

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Jerzy Drozd

Visual Arts, Comics & Graphic Novels

Jerzy Drozd leads cartooning workshops for children and teens in libraries and schools, as well as for teachers who want to bring comics to the classroom. He wrote and drew Science Comics: Rockets with his wife, Anne Drozd, and is one of the artists of The Warren Commission Report. He also podcasts about comics and how to make them.

Jerzy has drawn special projects for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Marvel Comics, VIZ Media, and others. He is currently working on his next middle grade graphic novel, The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue.…

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Sarah Dugger

Visual Arts: Design, Surface Design, Silkscreen, Painting, & Murals

Sarah Dugger has 25 years of experience in the commercial textiles and fine art fields. After graduating from Bowling Green State University in 1997 with a BFA in Surface Design she started working in NYC and then San Francisco designing textiles for Nicole Miller, Victoria’s Secret and Pottery Barn. She was a part of the Salami Factory co-op in Fairfax, California which inspired her to pursue fine art painting. Over the course of the past 12 years she has consistently juried into group and solo exhibitions in such places as; The Brownsville Museum of Art, Columbus International airport and the Hamptons Fine Art Fair.…

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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 33 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.…

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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.…